1948 Raleigh Record Ace (RRA)

kohl57@yahoo.com

Old School Hero
Best of British? I think so... the classic late 40s Raleigh Record Ace (RRA) which was the absolute top of the range back then and built to custom order with your pick of the choicest British components of the day.

This example was beautifully restored by Paul Raley, winning "Best of British" at the Cirque du Cyclisme in 2002 and I acquired it in 2004.

Unique to the RRA were the exquisite special components made by Raleigh only for this model including the alloy/steel pedals, chainring, hollow bb spindle and the stem. I am still looking for the latter, its design emulates the distinctive frame lugs of this model.

This is fitted with a very early example of the Sturmey-Archer FC four-speed close ratio time trialling hub gear with alloy housing, date coded 4.49

More photos and full details here:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/Pet ... -RRA-1948/

A real tribute to the glories of the British cycle industry at its heyday and the kind of machine one feels honoured to be able to own, ride and preserve. And at age 63, she remains silky smooth, sure and swift awheel!
 

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1948 RRA more photos

a few more photos as requested
 

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1948 RRA still more photos

and a few more
 

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Spokesmann":33n0dnuy said:
kamikaze1988":33n0dnuy said:
singlespeeds rule!!!

I Think you'll find this machine has 4.

Indeed and the Sturmey-Archer FC close-ratio hub gear is one of their most sublime.. three very close ratio racing/time trialling gears and a very low one for hills and starts. A smoothness and effortless transitional shifting you can never get with a derailleur. I got a 48t RRA chainring now to replace the 46t on her now to really get her up to speed and teach those carbon-fibre and spandex lads a thing or two....

The great Ray Booty was the first to break the four-hour record on a 100-mile time trial in 1956 on an RRA with an Sturmey-Archer AC (3-speed) close ratio hub.
 
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