I picked this diminutive little Raleigh frame up recently. It's a 23.5cm frame and is built with all the features of an adult road bike and as such is not possible to build up in to a complete cycle - ie it has braze-ons for the gear levers but there is no way that a lever would fit, it would foul with the steerer tube.
At a guess the frame dates from the eighties, it has a Cinelli bottom bracket shell, a Zeus fork crown and Raleigh drop outs. Overall it is surprisingly heavy but then again the only difference between this and a large frame is about four feet of thin wall lightweight tubing...
I'm told that Raleigh produced frames like this as samples for their sales guys to take around to distributors as they are a lot more portable than a full sized job. I've also seen mention that they were made as retirement presents. Perhaps they were both? If anyone out there can enlighten further, please do.
At a guess the frame dates from the eighties, it has a Cinelli bottom bracket shell, a Zeus fork crown and Raleigh drop outs. Overall it is surprisingly heavy but then again the only difference between this and a large frame is about four feet of thin wall lightweight tubing...
I'm told that Raleigh produced frames like this as samples for their sales guys to take around to distributors as they are a lot more portable than a full sized job. I've also seen mention that they were made as retirement presents. Perhaps they were both? If anyone out there can enlighten further, please do.
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