tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8492685525705691186.post2525788913481222483..comments2024-03-28T11:56:48.304-04:00Comments on The Retrogrouch: Bike Shorts: How a Bicycle Is MadeBrookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12110998345857993287noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8492685525705691186.post-28212383810457467882016-04-16T10:06:09.644-04:002016-04-16T10:06:09.644-04:00Those bike-boom era Raleigh Records were pretty ba...Those bike-boom era Raleigh Records were pretty bad. (Trust me, I worked on a lot of them!) But the low-end Atalas from that era were really scary.<br /><br />It's interesting that after WWII, Britain and the US celebrated their industrial might. The US boasted about its automobile and then-nascent aerospace industry, while in the film you posted, the Brits did it with bikes.Justine Valinottihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10852069587181432102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8492685525705691186.post-19865529712747246082016-04-13T11:48:19.218-04:002016-04-13T11:48:19.218-04:00I hear a lot of stories about bike-boom era bikes ...I hear a lot of stories about bike-boom era bikes from Britain and Europe that were an abomination of quality control -- like they were just caught completely off-guard and unable to keep up. It's one of the reasons that Japanese brands were able to make such inroads to the quality bike market. Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12110998345857993287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8492685525705691186.post-10794606335447467642016-04-13T10:54:47.704-04:002016-04-13T10:54:47.704-04:00Don't know what era your dad's Sports is f...Don't know what era your dad's Sports is from, but my '71 Sports is soldiering on, despite its dents and scrapes. Simple, low-tech,and heavy? Yes, and yes, the brakes leave much to be desired compared to today's designs - someday i'll fit up alloy rims- but it is perhaps one of the more reliable bikes i've owned. i ride it almost every day.<br /> <br />i will allow that during the Mid-70's Bike Boom, Raleigh did turn out a lot of junk -i'm thinking specifically of the Record model. At our shop we observed that with the Record, Raleigh had perfected the brazeless lug... their Q.C. went out the window due to overproduction. mike w.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10317710564489321690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8492685525705691186.post-14666759249048443672016-04-12T16:35:28.522-04:002016-04-12T16:35:28.522-04:00Thanks so much for posting this. Every couple of ...Thanks so much for posting this. Every couple of years when I'm visiting my dad I work on his Raleigh Sports. I'm always a bit taken aback by what a piece of junk it is. Crudely machined cranks, brakes, wheels, etc., poorly aligned bearing surfaces (dump enough grease in them, they're fine), misaligned dropouts and braze-ons. Give me a Dutch bike of the same era any day, at least they cared a little bit. tjanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06131191327216687024noreply@blogger.com