My TI-Raleigh SBDU 2019 Review

2020 is moving fast, it will soon be February. I’ve already added two frames since the New Year and I’m aware I haven’t yet recapped the last year for My TI-Raleigh SBDU. So here is my SBDU 2019 review of new arrivals.

No long boring post today, just a quick recap of the lovely frames that made their way into my SBDU Collection. There will be a link to each frame under each section for more reading. However, before heading into the review, I need to mention how the year started… with Roy Schuiten no less!

January

Roy Schuiten

I didn’t work on this bike, or even see this bike, but when Roy’s son, Rob Schuiten, got in touch for help with information, I had to help. Rob was kind enough to share his progress of the restoration while I gave him info relating to his bike and the tubing it was built from.

Now back to the new arrivals and my SBDU 2019 Review!

March

SB1995

The very 1st day of March was the day I introduced SB1995. This is a renovation… but like no other!

It was built for the author of the Penguin Book of The Bicycle, in 1978. He then had it renovated by SBDU Ilkeston at the end of 1982. Once it was collected, it was placed high up out of harms way at the top of a dark wardrobe… until I bought it 37 years later, in time warp condition. SB1995 is quite possibly one of the most remarkable surviving pristine examples of SBDU paintwork anywhere.

April

SB3235

I seem to have picked up a few frames from Germany, and this one is a beauty! A perfect partner to my SH377T track frame in the same colours. SB3235 dates to 1979 and displays the period features you would expect to see on this age Raleigh SBDU Reynolds 753 frame… Prugnat 62D lugs, RGF BB, drilled Campagnolo 1010/B ends, single taper seat stays and large over size seat stay caps.

May

SB2589

Now something a little different. SB2589 in original paint.

Another frame bought from Hilary Stone…

This frame has an interesting history – Gerald O’Donovan had a weekend cottage on the Lincolnshire coast and over the years he supplied his friends who lived in the village with bikes – this was one of them. It has slightly larger clearances than for the standard race frames and has miniature Raleigh badges on each seatstay cap…

Hilary Stone

Cees Priem CP.1.79

Another TI-Raleigh team frame added to my collection following an email tip off. And cheap too!

Yep, a Ti-Raleigh team frame, on eBay and bought for just over £200. This is the 1979 frame for Cees Priem (CP.1.79).

I don’t really need to say much more about this frame. Any Raleigh team frame is great to have, and even better that it is from TI-Raleigh. It is my size and I’m looking forward to painting this back into the TI colours.

July

G4582 ‘DR’

G4582 was a step into the period before Raleigh’s SBDU Ilkeston. This frame fitted in perfectly with my plan to expand either side of the SBDU. Not only does this frame satisfy that plan, it is also a team frame from the 1972 TI-Raleigh team. The ‘DR’ initials represent Dave Rollinson.

It also came with a great selection of original team components.

October

SB8850

I wasn’t planning on buying this frame – I waited until the last few seconds of the eBay auction and added a speculative bid… which won! SB8850 arrived soon after the auction ended.

It isn’t the best spec’d bike, and uses a lot of SR components. But it was complete. I’ve stripped it down to give it a clean and a service and plan to build back up ‘as is’, and replace components over time.

SB5422

I’ve placed this one under October for the review but it actually entered my house at the end of August. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to be trusted with bikes and frames before any deal is done. This was the case with SB5422. I had this on approval with the full permission to take this apart and check it over before buying.

So I did take it apart…

This bike proved to be a bit of a mystery as it had different number stamped on the BB shell and the fork steerer. But some good investigative work solved that mystery.

SB5422 will be the first bike build of 2020.

December

C4619

The year was coming to an end. I’d added some fabulous frames over the previous 11 months and would have been happy to end the year with those. Then a post on Facebook popped up from a guy in Australia who was selling a bit of a mystery frame. What exactly was it?

C4619 is a Raleigh, but based on what may have been a Carlton Giro D’Italia, but more probably a Carlton BMB Team frame. It is also finished in a scheme similar to the Raleigh Ruberg team frames and also the short lived MK 1 Raleigh Professional. Whatever it turns out to be, it is a beautiful frame with amazing colours and chrome.

WB1002137

It was just before Christmas and I took yet another step outside of the SBDU. This one however, isn’t from before the Ilkeston period, it is from the start of the 1980s and has the frame number of WB1002137.

I picked up this rather tatty frame from my workplace – Recyke y’Bike, a bicycle charity in Newcastle upon Tyne where we refurbish donated bikes. The frame has certainly seen better days, but the condition doesn’t concern me. It is going to help me answer the many questions I receive about Worksop built 531 frames and how they differ from their related SBDU 531 frames. However, as I discovered, under that corrosion is some bright, strong and shiny Reynolds tubing, so this could also make a great build.

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That’s it for my SBDU 2019 Review.

Nine amazing new additions to my SBDU/Raleigh collection, taking the total up to 47 (I think!).

2020 has already started well, and I’ve added two new frames. The first was HK276, and there will be so much more to come with this one. The second is SB1038, an original 531 Team Pro, sadly without a fork, but bought for it’s originality.

Next Up On the Blog Soon

I’ve just taken a set of images of a cleaned up HK276 and there will be a post about the significance of this frame. Not only significant for my collection, but also for TI-Raleigh.

I will also start the build of SB5422 with it’s 50th Anniversary Campagnolo Super Record Groupset.

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