Pedalling Dreams: The Raleigh Story


Pedalling Dreams: The Raleigh Story

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For the past 150 years, Britain has been a nation of bike lovers.

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And for much of that time, one make has been associated with quality,

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innovation and Britishness -

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Raleigh bikes.

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Born in the back streets of Nottingham,

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Raleigh grew to become the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world.

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For over a century,

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the company was known for its simple and practical bikes,

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built to last a lifetime.

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A few of the oldest still survive today.

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I feel really proud to own this bicycle.

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To me, this is a work of art.

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For generations, its designs were thought second to none,

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enjoyed by adults and children alike.

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To be out in the fresh air where the smells you got were flowers,

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trees and everything, I thought that was wonderful.

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Through rare and previously unseen archive film,

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we'll reveal the craft skills behind Raleigh bikes.

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The frame is the basis

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to which all the other parts will be attached.

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So, let's see how it's made.

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We'll hear from its team racers and from the dealers who sold the bikes.

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Then you say, well, you don't even need to start saving up.

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You can just pay a few shillings a week and it'll be yours.

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Come into the shop and see what we've got.

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And we'll find out what went wrong

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and the impact it had on Raleigh's workers.

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I was almost in tears because you'd built your life round that work

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and to lose your friends like that, to vanish off into the distance,

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it was really sad.

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This is the epic tale of the ups and downs of Raleigh bikes.

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This is Nottingham city centre, filmed in 1902.

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By this time, the Raleigh Cycle Company

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had already been making bikes like these in the city for over a decade.

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Employing around 850 workers,

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its factory was turning out nearly 10,000 bikes a year,

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which sold across the globe, each with a lifetime guarantee.

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The extraordinary story of how Raleigh came to be

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begins with the adventures of a young British lawyer

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called Frank Bowden.

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One man who knows his story better than anyone is his great-grandson,

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Gregory Houston Bowden.

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Great-Grandfather was ahead of his time in many ways, really.

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In his whole approach to life. He was a very clever man.

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In 1870, 22-year-old Frank got a job in Hong Kong

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and here he made his fortune through shrewd investments.

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But within a decade, poor health had forced him home.

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Back in England, he took up cycling on the advice of a doctor

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after being given just six months to live.

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A year later, he was not only alive,

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but fitter and healthier than ever before.

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Great-Grandfather certainly had no doubt at all

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that cycling had completely saved his life

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and taken him from being at death's door with six months to live,

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to being a normally fit, healthy person.

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And of course, he felt a tremendous sense of gratitude to cycling.

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Looking to combine his new-found love of cycling

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with his business skills,

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it was here in Nottingham that Frank Bowden came across a small workshop

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making a handful of bikes a week from a courtyard in Raleigh Street.

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He was so impressed, he bought the business,

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and in 1888,

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the Raleigh Cycle Company was born.

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Taking the heron from the Bowden family crest as its emblem,

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under Frank's guidance, quality and innovation would be its hallmark.

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In fact, the company's earliest bikes were so well made,

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some still exist today.

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This is collector Colin Kirsch,

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and he's riding a very special Raleigh Road Racer.

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Hand-built in 1890, it's the oldest known Raleigh bicycle in Britain.

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It sort of transports you into another era, a lost era.

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Particularly a time beyond cars and motorbikes.

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If you're riding in the countryside, the surroundings haven't changed.

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How much closer can you get to feeling it's the 1890s?

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I quite like companies that were innovative and set the fashion.

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So the early Raleigh, 1889-1890,

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they were the first on the scene

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with a detachable chain wheel, for example.

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Being able to replace the chain wheel

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with another of a different size

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was one of the few ways to change gear.

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And even though it could take five minutes to do,

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it was a major selling point.

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I feel really proud to own this bicycle.

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It's a wonderful piece of engineering.

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It's fabulous to ride,

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and to me, I would describe this as a work of art.

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The early bikes were good, but Frank Bowden had bigger plans.

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By the 1900s,

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he'd not only moved production to a new five-acre factory

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in Nottingham, he'd also gone global,

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creating an export business that would last for decades.

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With the new factory came new technology.

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Frame joints could be brazed in liquid brass

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instead of open furnaces, saving time and money...

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whilst new presses could transform sheet steel into parts

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like the bottom bracket,

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meaning Raleigh could do away with cast-iron components.

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The all-steel bicycle was born.

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They were stronger than the competition

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and with the acquisition of gear manufacturer Sturmey Archer,

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easier to ride too.

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The detachable chain wheel replaced

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by a ground-breaking three-speed hub,

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enabling Raleigh riders to change gear at the flick of a lever.

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This unique archive footage

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is taken from the first filmed Raleigh advert,

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made in the late 1920s.

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But Frank Bowden never saw it, because he died in 1921.

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By that time, he'd transformed a backstreet workshop

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into what was claimed to be

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the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world,

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inspiring thousands of people

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to enjoy the health benefits

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of the pastime that had once saved his life.

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I'm rather proud of him for doing that.

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I think he was far-sighted, ahead of his time,

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a passionate enthusiast and somebody who had the determination and energy

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to carry his, after all, very grand schemes through to fruition.

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Frank's son Harold continued to expand the company

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and by the 1930s, Raleigh was a household name.

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This was the golden age of the bicycle,

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when thousands rode Raleighs for their daily commute.

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The company introduced its first assembly lines to satisfy demand.

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Yet its focus remained on quality and craftsmanship

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over mass production.

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And while traditional bikes like these

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remained the company's core business,

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another market was taking off.

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Children's bikes.

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Then, as now,

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one of life's great rites of passage was getting your first bike

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and being taught how to ride it.

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In 1930,

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ten-year-old Margaret Dutton from Huddersfield

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was given her first bike by her father.

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I just liked the whole look of it.

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The tyres looked good, it was shining, it was lovely, nice saddle.

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I thought, ooh, I could ride that.

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Dad said, "That's the best you can get, a Raleigh bike."

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I said, "Will you ride with me, because I might be a bit nervous?"

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He said, "Of course I will."

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I felt on top of the world.

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He taught me to ride my bike and, really, I never looked back.

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At Whitsun in 1930, Margaret and her dad set off on an epic adventure.

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To cycle the 100 miles from Huddersfield to Rhyl in a day,

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through some of Britain's most beautiful rolling countryside.

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It was like magic, you know?

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To be out in the fresh air where the smells you got

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were flowers and trees and everything.

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I thought that was wonderful.

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There was hardly any traffic at all

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and we went right through the countryside.

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It was pretty difficult going up hills,

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but I did have gears on my bike,

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I had three gears and always,

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when you got to the top there was a lovely downhill.

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Dad would come and ride beside me.

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Then we used to chat a bit and he would say, "How are you liking it,

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"Margaret? What do you think?"

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"Whoa," I said, "Dad, it's great, is this, it's lovely."

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It was early evening by the time Margaret and her dad got to Rhyl.

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The following day, they set off for home again.

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For a ten-year-old,

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it was a remarkable achievement

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and one of the proudest moments of Margaret's life.

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I boasted to all my friends, "Anyway, I cycled to Rhyl."

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And they used to say, "You couldn't cycle all that way in one day."

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I said, "Go and ask my dad - he was with me."

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The company continued to expand throughout the interwar years

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and in 1932, it bought one of its main rivals, Humber.

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But by then, it had another serious competitor.

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Based in Birmingham, Hercules was founded in 1910

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and by the mid-1930s,

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claimed, like Raleigh, to be the largest cycle manufacturer

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in the world.

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Mass production, rather than quality and innovation, was its aim.

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And Hercules claimed it could make a bike in less than ten minutes.

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That's why it didn't have the cachet of the Raleigh,

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and of course less than half the price,

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as schoolboy Ron McGill discovered.

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My father had said to me, "I think I'll buy you a bike for Christmas."

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I said OK. We went to the shop and there were the gleaming Raleighs -

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costly. He said,

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"No, you settle for a Hercules."

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So I had to buy the Hercules bike,

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which was good, it was a good, sound bike.

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But the Raleigh was a little bit upmarket

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and we...he never really had the money to buy me

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a really expensive bike.

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Ron never did get his Raleigh, and by the end of the decade,

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the big bicycle companies had more to think about than just sales.

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AIR-RAID SIREN

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In September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany.

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In Nottingham, Raleigh's bicycle production was slashed

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to just 5% of normal output, and instead,

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as this rarely seen film footage reveals,

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the company switched to the manufacturer of munitions.

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What bikes they did make were mostly for use by the Armed Forces,

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like this experimental folding model, designed for the commandos.

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Among those who joined the workforce

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was 14-year-old Harry Hardy.

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As a boy, I was doing all the jobs the men were doing.

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Yes, you got a bit tired at the end

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of the day, because sometimes we worked six till six, you know?

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Aye.

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But, the war was on

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and we were always happy because we were doing things for the war.

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We were making Army bikes and we felt a bit proud of doing them,

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you know?

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By the time the fighting was over,

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the factory had produced over 380 million parts for the Armed Forces.

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Company chairman Sir Harold Bowden, had this message.

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I would like to take this opportunity of paying my tribute

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to all our staff and employees

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for their great and sustained effort.

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For this factory has been working

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on a three-shift basis, night and day,

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for six, long, weary years.

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We shall, in the future, once again resume our position

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as leaders of the cycle industry throughout the world.

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Raleigh had done its bit for Britain,

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but now it was time to get back to building bikes.

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After buying competitor Rudge Whitworth,

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Raleigh launched its first post-war trade fair.

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These pictures showed the latest models

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being revealed to its enthusiastic dealers.

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And to prove to the world that it was back in business,

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the company released this film to show off

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its hi-tech production techniques.

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Here is a factory in the heart of industrial Britain,

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a planned response to the world's demand for bicycles.

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We'll go into the chief designer's office

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and hear him tell two visitors just how a bicycle is made.

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I could go miles and miles on one of these, Father.

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So you should - there's 100 years of bicycle manufacture

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behind that model.

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It's our latest type - strong, reliable yet light in weight.

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From the designer's office,

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the film takes us through every stage of the process

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of building a bicycle.

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It begins with the frame.

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The frame is the basis to which all the other parts will be attached.

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So let's see how it's made.

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The frame is made light and strong by using steel tubes.

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The tubing is made by this machine.

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Strips of steel are fed into one end and turned into a tubular shape

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by heavy rollers.

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The joint is sealed by this powerful flame.

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As the finished tube comes out of the machine,

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it is cut to the required lengths.

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How are the tubes held together to form the frame?

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Well, they are securely jointed together by these bracket pieces.

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Although obviously staged for the purposes of this film,

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visits to the factory like this really did happen,

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particularly for Raleigh's dealers.

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It was hoped that if they understood the craft skills involved

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in the production process, it would inspire them to sell more bikes.

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Arnold Sumner was 15

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when he was taken on a tour of the factory in 1950.

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His family had sold Raleigh bikes in St-Annes-on-Sea since the 1920s.

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The Raleigh factory was an amazing place.

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'Here, red-hot bars of steel are being forged.'

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The first thing that hit me was

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an orchestra of industrial sounds of different frequencies.

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And there were so many of these wonderful, skilled,

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skilled people in the factory.

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'The front fork and back stay

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'are polished by holding them against emery wheels.'

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I came across a man who was assembling the hub.

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This man, he will put his hand in a box full of ball bearings

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and by magic, he'd throw the ball bearings at his finger

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and the ball bearings would just go right round.

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'This worker can fill over 1,000 hubs in an eight-hour day.'

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To me, I thought this fella's a miracle man.

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I came across another place

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and these guys were dipping the frames into this tank

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of black liquid.

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'This gives the bicycle its lustre and shine

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'and enables it to keep its new appearance for a long time.'

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And when I went into this wheel assembly plant,

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you'd have a long row of women and they were there all day

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lacing them up, building wheels.

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'These girls are so expert that they can fit a tyre and a tube

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'in 50 seconds.'

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I've never stopped thinking, such a deep impression it made

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going round the Raleigh works.

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I'm 81 now, but the memories of that visit

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to the Raleigh bicycle works are still fresh in my mind.

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So that's how a bicycle is made.

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Yes, careful designing,

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reliable materials and expert craftsmanship

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in every stage of manufacture

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turn out a British bicycle second to none.

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The factory was a place of wonder to 15-year-old Arnold,

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and many on the payroll thought of it as a great place to work

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although it did have its downsides.

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A growing assembly line meant some jobs were becoming boring

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and repetitive while others were dangerous and noisy.

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And as they were paid according to how many parts they made,

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the company's craftsmen had to work hard for their money.

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The toughest thing for me was doing the jobs and passing them

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to the next operator because he couldn't keep going

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unless you were doing your job.

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They'd give you a good doing if you ain't keeping up

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and keeping them going because they say, if you don't dab in,

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we'll get no money in the tin at the weekend, so you dabbed in.

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Despite the hardships,

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Harold Bowden took a paternalistic approach to leadership

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so employees were thought of as part of the Raleigh family.

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And outside of work, they were well looked after.

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Home movies show workers and their families

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enjoying a sports day on the company's playing fields.

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And there were regular dances held at the firm's own ballroom.

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Raleigh had its own medical centre and convalescent home

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but top of the list for many

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was the annual paid outing

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and the favourite destination was Blackpool.

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You never got days out like that with anybody else, did you?

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And it was all paid for.

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I took my wife with me and we'd have a walk up and down the prom,

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go on the pier.

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Up the Tower.

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Lovely.

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We used to paddle and go out as far as we could,

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as far as...it didn't get up your trousers or something like that.

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And then at night, the lights would come on and we'd get on a bus

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and go round the lights.

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It was a cracking do.

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It made you feel that you were wanted

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and they were looking after you in all respects.

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Yes.

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Raleigh realised the importance of leisure time,

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not just for its workers but also as a way of promoting its latest bikes.

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In the 1950s,

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the company's marketing material focused on the great outdoors,

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portraying a new bicycle golden age

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in which cycling was a lifestyle choice.

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Raleigh bikes were used not just to get you to work,

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but as a means of escape, too,

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usually with the companion of your dreams.

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Much of this artwork featured the traditional roadster,

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perfect for cycle touring,

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but the company had to find ways

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to sell its drop-handlebar sports bikes too.

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Back in the 1890s,

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it had done this through the sponsorship

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of successful sprint racers like world champion AA Zimmerman.

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But it had been decades since it had signed a superstar racer.

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That was until Reg Harris came along.

0:21:560:22:00

We pick out the event of the day

0:22:000:22:02

at the meeting of the Buckshee Wheelers.

0:22:020:22:04

The 1,000 metres international cycle sprint.

0:22:040:22:06

Taking part, British amateur sprint champion, Reg Harris,

0:22:060:22:09

Holland's champ and the two Manchester Wheelers,

0:22:090:22:13

Dove and Barrister.

0:22:130:22:14

At the half distance, Harris was well in the lead.

0:22:140:22:17

Amateur champion Reg turned pro when he signed to Raleigh in 1949,

0:22:170:22:23

the same year that he won the first

0:22:230:22:26

of four world professional sprint titles,

0:22:260:22:28

launching the memorable slogan,

0:22:280:22:31

Reg Rides a Raleigh.

0:22:310:22:32

With his charm and good looks, he was soon as well known

0:22:340:22:37

as sporting heroes like Stanley Matthews and Stirling Moss,

0:22:370:22:41

and just as well liked.

0:22:410:22:43

To a popular cyclist from Manchester

0:22:430:22:45

goes the sporting public's highest honour.

0:22:450:22:47

Harris, who won his world title...

0:22:470:22:49

Reg's success sold bikes and his name was associated with

0:22:490:22:53

one of the company's best-loved models, the Lenton Sports.

0:22:530:22:57

Aimed at the sports rider as well as the leisure cyclist,

0:22:580:23:02

the bike was as good on country lanes as it was on time trials.

0:23:020:23:06

And with the Reg Harris seal of approval,

0:23:070:23:10

selling it was like a ride in the park for dealers like Arnold Sumner.

0:23:100:23:14

You'd say to the customer, now,

0:23:140:23:16

if you want something really different,

0:23:160:23:18

something that you're going to be able to get to work faster on

0:23:180:23:22

and at the weekend you can go off into the country,

0:23:220:23:25

you'd better have a Raleigh Lenton.

0:23:250:23:28

Made famous by Reg Harris.

0:23:280:23:30

You all know about Reg Harris, the fastest cyclist in the world.

0:23:300:23:35

These are the sort of bikes that he would want YOU to buy.

0:23:350:23:39

This is your inspiration.

0:23:390:23:41

To get on your bike, get fit

0:23:410:23:44

and to do the sort of times that Reg Harris did.

0:23:440:23:47

Being a canny salesman,

0:23:490:23:50

Arnold was not above using social occasions

0:23:500:23:53

as a way to sell the bikes.

0:23:530:23:55

As a member of the Cycle Touring Club,

0:23:550:23:58

he often went on group trips into the countryside

0:23:580:24:01

and riding his own Raleigh Lenton, he had a captive audience.

0:24:010:24:05

Of course, you were riding on your Raleigh Lenton bicycle

0:24:060:24:09

and you seemed to be going along better than all the others,

0:24:090:24:13

then when you are chatting to them, you could say, "Here you are,

0:24:130:24:17

"have a ride on this, see what you think."

0:24:170:24:19

And then, after about half an hour riding, you say,

0:24:210:24:24

"Well, what do you think?"

0:24:240:24:27

And the person had to say,

0:24:270:24:29

"Well, it's certainly better than my old bike.

0:24:290:24:32

"Yes, when I save up enough money I must really get one of these."

0:24:320:24:36

And then you say, "Well, you don't even need to start saving up,

0:24:360:24:40

"you can just pay a few shillings a week and it'll be yours.

0:24:400:24:44

"Come into the shop.

0:24:450:24:46

"Come into the shop and see what we've got."

0:24:460:24:49

And yes, going out riding in a group of people,

0:24:510:24:56

making direct comparisons with some of the rubbish bicycles

0:24:560:25:01

that they had certainly helped cycle sales.

0:25:010:25:05

Reg Harris boosted sales to men,

0:25:070:25:10

so the company attempted to do the same for women

0:25:100:25:12

by signing a female racing star.

0:25:120:25:14

But their target was one acquisition they failed to make.

0:25:150:25:19

Her name was Eileen Sheridan.

0:25:190:25:22

Some men believe a woman's place is in the home, but Eileen's husband

0:25:220:25:25

likes to get her out of the house, even if only into the garage.

0:25:250:25:28

For in this home-made gymnasium, he supervises the exacting training

0:25:280:25:32

that has brought her 11 championship medals

0:25:320:25:35

and 23 national place-to-place records.

0:25:350:25:37

Eileen was Britain's top time-trial rider

0:25:370:25:41

and as a record-breaking amateur,

0:25:410:25:43

she'd had the major manufacturers chasing her signature.

0:25:430:25:47

Well, first of all, Raleigh were after me,

0:25:470:25:51

but they offered me so very little.

0:25:510:25:54

I think they thought, "It's a girl, she won't win."

0:25:540:25:56

Then Hercules sent me a telegram

0:25:560:25:59

and they made me a marvellous offer,

0:25:590:26:02

so that was a very great relief.

0:26:020:26:04

Raleigh missed out when Eileen signed for competitor Hercules

0:26:060:26:10

in 1951.

0:26:100:26:12

Her challenge was to break as many distance and place-to-place records

0:26:120:26:16

as she could and as a result, raise the brand's profile.

0:26:160:26:20

Nicknamed "The Pocket Hercules"

0:26:230:26:25

because she was only 4 foot 11 inches tall,

0:26:250:26:28

Eileen was known for her infectious smile, even when racing.

0:26:280:26:32

I was just happy...

0:26:360:26:37

..and I suppose that was good for advertisements.

0:26:390:26:42

They all felt that if they rode a Hercules, they were all smiling.

0:26:430:26:47

Maybe they were.

0:26:470:26:48

Within a few years,

0:26:490:26:51

Eileen had broken all the women's records by a large margin,

0:26:510:26:55

but perhaps her greatest achievement

0:26:550:26:57

was captured in this newsreel from 1954 when she set a new record

0:26:570:27:02

for the journey from Land's End to John O'Groats,

0:27:020:27:05

completing the gruelling 872 miles

0:27:050:27:09

in 2 days, 11 hours and 7 minutes.

0:27:090:27:13

For Hercules, Eileen's success meant sales.

0:27:140:27:18

Well, one of the professionals in the Hercules team said,

0:27:200:27:23

"You know, Eileen, they sold thousands and thousands of bikes

0:27:230:27:28

"when you were getting those records. Thousands," they said.

0:27:280:27:31

So the fact that I was a pocket Hercules or whatever...

0:27:330:27:37

..it sort of went down very well.

0:27:380:27:40

By this time, Hercules and a few other bike companies

0:27:410:27:45

were owned by tubing manufacturer Tube Investments.

0:27:450:27:49

Together, they were now even bigger than Raleigh

0:27:490:27:52

and in an industry driven by mergers and acquisitions,

0:27:520:27:56

it was turning into a battle

0:27:560:27:58

in which only the strongest would survive.

0:27:580:28:00

Nevertheless, Raleigh was still a global brand,

0:28:010:28:04

producing a million bikes a year,

0:28:040:28:06

most of which were exported to happy customers around the world.

0:28:060:28:10

However, its bikes didn't just go overseas to be sold,

0:28:110:28:15

many went abroad with their intrepid owners,

0:28:150:28:18

part of a growing fashion for cycle touring on the Continent,

0:28:180:28:22

a pastime made easier with new lightweight bikes

0:28:220:28:26

and derailleur gears.

0:28:260:28:28

The company didn't introduce the derailleur until 1955

0:28:280:28:33

and few models had them.

0:28:330:28:36

This one was fitted alongside the existing three-speed hub

0:28:360:28:40

by engineer David Sore, before he set off Austria.

0:28:400:28:43

The experience would change his life.

0:28:440:28:46

It was so enjoyable travelling in Austria.

0:28:510:28:55

Travelling in this beautiful mountainous terrain.

0:28:560:29:01

Finding yourself going up long gradients...

0:29:020:29:07

..and I never had to walk up a hill.

0:29:080:29:11

Eventually you would reach a summit.

0:29:140:29:17

It was inspiring.

0:29:190:29:20

But you didn't want to race down

0:29:250:29:28

because you had to tell yourself

0:29:280:29:31

that you were travelling on those roads

0:29:310:29:35

for perhaps the only time you would ever travel on them.

0:29:350:29:39

You needed to go down slowly enough

0:29:390:29:43

so you took in all the wonderful views.

0:29:430:29:46

After several tours in Europe,

0:29:490:29:51

David decided he loved cycling so much

0:29:510:29:54

he would leave his job and take his bike around the world.

0:29:540:29:58

The journey took him three and a half years.

0:30:000:30:02

The period of travelling, when I look back on it,

0:30:030:30:07

it was a life-changing, life-enhancing experience.

0:30:070:30:11

The Raleigh bike had become such an integral part of my life.

0:30:130:30:19

And an experience like that,

0:30:220:30:25

it stays with you...

0:30:250:30:27

..and you continually relive it, as I do now.

0:30:280:30:32

Throughout the 1950s,

0:30:400:30:42

confidence at Raleigh remained high and the company continue to buy out

0:30:420:30:46

its main competitors, including Triumph and in 1957, BSA.

0:30:460:30:52

But there was trouble ahead.

0:30:520:30:53

That year, war hero Viscount Montgomery

0:30:540:30:58

came to Nottingham to open a huge new factory

0:30:580:31:00

but a dramatic slump in the market meant it would stay empty for years.

0:31:000:31:06

The cause was a fall in exports

0:31:070:31:09

and a rise in the popularity of the car.

0:31:090:31:12

As living standards increased,

0:31:120:31:15

so too did car ownership and the bike fell out of favour.

0:31:150:31:19

Cycling to work was seen as a preserve of the poor

0:31:200:31:23

and more commuters decided to drive.

0:31:230:31:25

Busy roads made cycling increasingly dangerous too.

0:31:260:31:30

More cars meant more accidents,

0:31:300:31:32

so many cyclists decided to give up their bike.

0:31:320:31:36

The impact on the industry was enormous.

0:31:370:31:39

By the end of the decade, bicycle production in the UK

0:31:390:31:43

had fallen by 40%.

0:31:430:31:45

Something had to change.

0:31:450:31:47

In 1960, Raleigh was swallowed up

0:31:490:31:51

in a merger with its main competitor, Tube Investments.

0:31:510:31:55

The bicycle business that had begun life in a back street in Nottingham

0:31:560:32:00

was now part of a group that controlled 75% of the UK market.

0:32:000:32:06

I think we were all rather sad that it had been taken over.

0:32:060:32:10

On the other hand, it was much better that that happened

0:32:110:32:15

than that Raleigh and TI slowly killed each other off,

0:32:150:32:18

which was the alternative.

0:32:180:32:20

Raleigh kept its name and absorbed Tube Investments' brands,

0:32:210:32:25

including old rival Hercules.

0:32:250:32:27

But what the management hoped would be a new golden age

0:32:270:32:30

was just the start of a long period of uncertainty and unrest.

0:32:300:32:35

Morale on the shop floor declined as redundancies loomed

0:32:360:32:40

and when chairman Sir Harold Bowden died in 1960,

0:32:400:32:44

the company lost the sense of paternalism

0:32:440:32:47

that had made it special.

0:32:470:32:48

Discontent was on the rise

0:32:500:32:52

and it was reflected in a ground-breaking feature film

0:32:520:32:55

released that year.

0:32:550:32:56

Set in the Raleigh factory,

0:33:090:33:11

Saturday Night And Sunday Morning told the tale of Arthur Seaton,

0:33:110:33:15

a rebellious anti-hero

0:33:150:33:16

fed up with his life on the bicycle production line.

0:33:160:33:20

'954.'

0:33:220:33:24

It was based on a book written by ex-Raleigh worker Alan Sillitoe.

0:33:260:33:31

'950 bloody five.

0:33:340:33:36

'Another few more and that's the lot for a Friday.

0:33:370:33:41

'£14, three and tuppence for a thousand of these a day.

0:33:410:33:44

'No wonder I've always got a bad back.'

0:33:440:33:47

With its gritty realism, controversial storyline

0:33:470:33:50

and career-defining performance by Albert Finney,

0:33:500:33:53

the film became a smash hit.

0:33:530:33:56

'I'd like to see anybody try to grind me down.

0:33:560:33:58

'That'd be the day.

0:33:580:33:59

'What I'm out for is a good time.

0:34:010:34:04

'All the rest is propaganda.'

0:34:040:34:05

In the real world, the threat of job losses and pay cuts

0:34:080:34:12

was making real-life Arthur Seatons out of the once-loyal workforce,

0:34:120:34:15

sparking a series of industrial disputes.

0:34:150:34:19

Raleigh was having an identity crisis.

0:34:190:34:23

Bike sales continue to fall too

0:34:230:34:25

as the young generation rebelled against the old way of life

0:34:250:34:28

embodied by Raleigh's traditional roadsters.

0:34:280:34:32

What the company needed was a new design

0:34:320:34:34

that captured the spirit of the times.

0:34:340:34:37

And he's getting away on a revolutionary bicycle.

0:34:380:34:40

The cyclist is Alex Moulton,

0:34:400:34:42

well-known designer of suspension units for cars.

0:34:420:34:45

Five years of development

0:34:450:34:46

have produced the first bike with suspension.

0:34:460:34:49

Designer Alex Moulton's revolutionary small-wheeled bike

0:34:490:34:53

came along at just the right time.

0:34:530:34:55

He offered to make it with Raleigh but the company turned him down,

0:34:550:34:59

only to copy it with its own version.

0:34:590:35:01

The RSW 16 had fat tyres instead of suspension

0:35:010:35:06

and was a slow ride,

0:35:060:35:08

but it marked the beginning of a new era for Raleigh

0:35:080:35:11

in which its designs became both fashionable and fun.

0:35:110:35:14

MUSIC: Devil Gate Drive by Suzi Quatro

0:35:140:35:17

Best of all was the Chopper.

0:35:200:35:21

Released in 1970, it's arguably Raleigh's most iconic bike.

0:35:220:35:27

Motoring journalist Mark Hughes got one for his tenth birthday.

0:35:280:35:33

There was just no way, once you'd seen that as a ten-year-old kid,

0:35:330:35:37

there was no way you couldn't have that.

0:35:370:35:40

It was just irresistible.

0:35:400:35:44

It was just lust.

0:35:440:35:46

That's the only way you could describe it.

0:35:460:35:48

It was the nearest...

0:35:480:35:49

Ten-year-old lust.

0:35:490:35:51

# ..down to Devil Gate Drive. #

0:35:530:35:55

As a boy, Mark had ambitions of becoming a racing driver.

0:35:550:35:58

But in the meantime, the Chopper was the next-best thing.

0:36:000:36:03

With its small front wheel and big back wheel,

0:36:050:36:08

that's what Formula 1 cars of the time looked like.

0:36:080:36:11

This is like something from a different planet.

0:36:120:36:14

Best of all, it had a gear stick, a proper gear stick like a car.

0:36:160:36:20

The pedals going round and round,

0:36:220:36:23

in my head they were the revs of the engine

0:36:230:36:26

and I'd be making the noise inside my head

0:36:260:36:28

and then you change the gear when you got maximum revs

0:36:280:36:30

and the next gear and you had to do them very fast.

0:36:300:36:34

The big thing for me was to always go as fast as possible at all times,

0:36:340:36:39

brake as late as possible,

0:36:390:36:41

go through the corner with as much lean as possible

0:36:410:36:44

without the pedal quite hitting the ground.

0:36:440:36:46

That's what it was all about.

0:36:460:36:48

There were downsides to the Chopper, though.

0:36:490:36:51

With most of its weight at the back, it was easy to tip up

0:36:520:36:55

and the gear stick could cause painful accidents.

0:36:550:36:58

But having mastered it,

0:37:000:37:01

Mark will always have a place in his heart for his old bike.

0:37:010:37:05

If I'm walking the dog and see a nice little mud path

0:37:060:37:08

with the right sequence of corners in it, I think,

0:37:080:37:11

oh, I'd love the Chopper down here.

0:37:110:37:12

The Chopper would be fantastic round this corner, still now.

0:37:120:37:15

The Chopper was an instant hit

0:37:150:37:18

but there's controversy behind the bike's success

0:37:180:37:21

because two men claimed to have designed it.

0:37:210:37:24

-Hello.

-Ah, good morning.

0:37:240:37:26

-I understand you want a word with me.

-Yes, I do, George.

0:37:260:37:30

Alan Oakley was Raleigh's design director.

0:37:300:37:33

He'd been with the company since the 1940s

0:37:340:37:37

and had been responsible for the RSW 16.

0:37:370:37:41

He was absolutely dedicated to Raleigh.

0:37:410:37:44

One of his friends said, Alan was Raleigh and Raleigh was Alan.

0:37:440:37:47

And the passion of designing

0:37:490:37:51

and designing bikes and also the engineering part of it,

0:37:510:37:56

he just loved it.

0:37:560:37:59

The story goes that the company wanted a new bike to rival

0:37:590:38:03

the Schwinn Sting-Ray, a low-rider design

0:38:030:38:06

that had taken America by storm.

0:38:060:38:07

This early attempt was made by Raleigh in America.

0:38:090:38:12

Launched in Britain as the Mustang in 1966, it was a flop,

0:38:130:38:18

so it was up to Alan Oakley to come up with something better.

0:38:180:38:23

One of the super things that happened to me was in 1967

0:38:230:38:27

and my then board said, "Get on an aeroplane and go to America.

0:38:270:38:32

"Go anywhere else you like, but come back with a better product

0:38:320:38:35

"than currently they've got or we are producing for them."

0:38:350:38:39

According to Raleigh folklore, inspired by his trip,

0:38:400:38:44

Alan scribbled the first designs for the Chopper on the plane home.

0:38:440:38:47

Back in Nottingham,

0:38:490:38:50

he and his team put his plans into action and the Chopper was born.

0:38:500:38:54

Alan died in 2012, but it's a story his wife, Karen, can confirm.

0:38:560:39:01

Alan brought the design back and they created it at the Raleigh,

0:39:030:39:08

the team completely.

0:39:080:39:10

And looking through his briefcase, I found this,

0:39:120:39:15

which I'm sure is the original design,

0:39:150:39:19

which would then become the iconic Chopper bike, I think.

0:39:190:39:23

The company liked the idea of Alan's original sketches so much,

0:39:230:39:28

it used the concept in its advertising campaign.

0:39:280:39:31

But there's a problem because designer Tom Karen

0:39:310:39:35

also claims to have designed the Chopper.

0:39:350:39:38

I just had no idea that somebody at Raleigh

0:39:390:39:43

had ambitions to design the Chopper.

0:39:430:39:46

It never occurred to me.

0:39:470:39:50

Tom ran design agency Ogle

0:39:500:39:52

and says Raleigh gave him the brief

0:39:520:39:55

to design the Schwinn rival

0:39:550:39:57

and he's got convincing evidence too.

0:39:570:39:59

What we have here is a copy of the first sketch I made

0:39:590:40:05

after a meeting with Raleigh...

0:40:050:40:07

..and out of my usual way of operating,

0:40:090:40:11

I had sketchbooks and I would put ideas down there

0:40:110:40:15

and it features, of course,

0:40:150:40:17

the big wheel at the back and the front wheel...

0:40:170:40:21

being small which is key because

0:40:210:40:24

they made it like a dragster or a Formula 1 car

0:40:240:40:28

where all the power comes from the back.

0:40:280:40:32

Then it had a nice, straight frame,

0:40:320:40:34

unlike the Schwinn that they were trying to compete with,

0:40:340:40:38

which had a very curvaceous frame.

0:40:380:40:40

I knew it was a very good design...

0:40:420:40:44

..so I don't know what more I can do to prove it.

0:40:460:40:49

The Design Council has given credit for the Chopper to Tom,

0:40:490:40:53

but whatever really happened,

0:40:530:40:55

the bike has become an icon of the '70s

0:40:550:40:58

and one which will always be synonymous with the name Raleigh.

0:40:580:41:02

The Chopper's success was good for morale as well as sales

0:41:040:41:07

and by the end of the '70s, industrial relations had improved.

0:41:070:41:11

But work on the assembly line

0:41:130:41:14

could still be boring and repetitive.

0:41:140:41:16

Clive Hodgson, seen here in this archive film,

0:41:180:41:21

would be the first to admit it.

0:41:210:41:23

He lived for the weekend.

0:41:230:41:25

I think a lot of people would do that

0:41:260:41:28

if they are working in that type of work, you know.

0:41:280:41:32

Or a monotonous job.

0:41:320:41:34

You'd find some outlet in your mind

0:41:340:41:36

to break away from that, otherwise

0:41:360:41:38

you'd end up going round the bend, I think, round the twist.

0:41:380:41:41

We're going to carry on now with a super number from 1958.

0:41:410:41:44

This is Big Joe Turner and Boogie Boogie Country Girl.

0:41:440:41:47

Take it away.

0:41:470:41:48

Clive's outlet was rock'n'roll, and as a part-time DJ,

0:41:510:41:55

he spent most weekends playing '50s records at clubs around the country.

0:41:550:41:59

He even managed to bring a bit of the weekend

0:42:000:42:02

back to the daily grind of the assembly line.

0:42:020:42:06

Of course I knew a lot of the words to the songs.

0:42:060:42:08

We used to have a laugh and sing some of them.

0:42:080:42:11

We got different people who used to sing different parts and we used to

0:42:110:42:14

have a laugh. One of the favourites what we used to get on with

0:42:140:42:17

was one called Ain't Got No Home by Clarence "Frogman" Henry.

0:42:170:42:20

It went something like this.

0:42:200:42:22

# I ain't got no home Da-da-da-da da-da-da

0:42:220:42:24

# And no place to roam

0:42:240:42:26

# I ain't got no home and no place to roam. #

0:42:260:42:30

RECORD PLAYS: # I'm a lonely boy

0:42:310:42:34

# I ain't got a home

0:42:340:42:36

FROG VOICE: # I ain't got a mudder

0:42:370:42:39

# I ain't got a fadder

0:42:400:42:42

# I ain't got a sister

0:42:420:42:44

# Nor even a brudder

0:42:450:42:47

# I'm a lonely frog

0:42:480:42:51

# I ain't got a home. #

0:42:510:42:54

I enjoyed it because it just took away that monotony

0:42:540:42:58

and people began to know me after a time

0:42:580:43:01

and they used to say, hey up, he's going off again.

0:43:010:43:04

Elvis is going off or whatever, you know.

0:43:040:43:07

Away from all the singing,

0:43:130:43:15

the company had been looking to increase its market share

0:43:150:43:18

in the one place where it had never really gained a foothold,

0:43:180:43:22

continental Europe.

0:43:220:43:23

And the quickest route to sales was through a successful racing team.

0:43:230:43:27

The best way to promote bikes

0:43:290:43:31

is trying to get to the biggest level you can get to

0:43:310:43:35

and the Tour de France is possibly the biggest thing,

0:43:350:43:39

if not equal to the Olympic Games.

0:43:390:43:42

The people who go

0:43:420:43:44

are in their hundreds of thousands,

0:43:440:43:46

millions over a three-week period,

0:43:460:43:48

so if you could have success in the Tour de France,

0:43:480:43:52

especially with television, it's free advertising.

0:43:520:43:57

So in 1974,

0:43:580:44:00

the company opened a new factory in Ilkeston

0:44:000:44:02

called the Specialist Bike Development Unit.

0:44:020:44:05

Here, in contrast to Nottingham's assembly lines,

0:44:070:44:10

bespoke, hand-crafted racing bikes were made

0:44:100:44:13

for a brand-new TI Raleigh racing team.

0:44:130:44:17

Each rider had an individual bike that was made for him.

0:44:170:44:21

They say there's two ways you ride a bike.

0:44:230:44:25

You either sit in it or you sit on it.

0:44:250:44:28

If you sit in the bike, you are part of the bike.

0:44:280:44:31

If you sit on the bike,

0:44:310:44:32

because it's a little bit too long or you're a little bit too high,

0:44:320:44:37

you waste energy.

0:44:370:44:39

With super-lightweight 753 tubing,

0:44:390:44:42

silver brazing and the latest Campagnolo derailleur gears,

0:44:420:44:47

the bikes made at the SBDU were world-class,

0:44:470:44:51

and in a short time, the team began to compete in

0:44:510:44:54

and then win some of Europe's top races.

0:44:540:44:57

The real breakthrough came in 1977

0:44:580:45:01

when Raleigh won the team prize in the Tour de France

0:45:010:45:05

and as a result, hundreds of cycle dealers

0:45:050:45:08

across Europe began stocking Raleigh bikes.

0:45:080:45:11

And there was better news to come just three years later.

0:45:120:45:15

Cycling, and the Tour de France has been won

0:45:150:45:18

by Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands

0:45:180:45:20

riding a British Raleigh.

0:45:200:45:21

It's the first time the Nottingham-based Raleigh company

0:45:210:45:24

has won the coveted individual first place.

0:45:240:45:26

Now Zoetemelk's win will help them further their share

0:45:260:45:29

of the valuable Continental market

0:45:290:45:31

where sales now total a quarter of a million a year,

0:45:310:45:34

from almost nothing a few years ago.

0:45:340:45:36

Thanks to the craftsmen of the SBDU,

0:45:370:45:40

Raleigh had become a serious player in the European market

0:45:400:45:44

and its racing team was the best on the planet.

0:45:440:45:46

Meanwhile, another sport had taken off

0:45:470:45:49

that was set to transform the world of cycling

0:45:490:45:52

and appeal to fashion-conscious youngsters.

0:45:520:45:55

It was called bicycle motocross - BMX for short.

0:45:580:46:02

Originating in America, the BMX craze was sweeping across Britain.

0:46:050:46:09

These small, agile bikes brought a new level of fun to cycling,

0:46:110:46:15

their lightweight design enabling riders

0:46:150:46:18

to perform jumps and tricks with ease.

0:46:180:46:20

The three-speed Grifter, launched in 1976, was similar,

0:46:210:46:26

but BMX bikes were single speed

0:46:260:46:28

and the company was reluctant to get involved.

0:46:280:46:31

Raleigh was in a difficult position

0:46:320:46:35

because BMX was a single-speed bicycle.

0:46:350:46:37

Raleigh had a sister company called Sturmey Archer

0:46:370:46:40

who made three-speed gears

0:46:400:46:42

and all our kids' bikes had three-speed gears

0:46:420:46:46

and therefore for me to say we need BMX,

0:46:460:46:49

everyone was going, "But that doesn't have any use."

0:46:490:46:52

You can do a three-speed BMX.

0:46:520:46:54

Yvonne Rix was an influential figure at Raleigh,

0:46:550:46:58

who transformed the ladies' market

0:46:580:47:01

with a range of bikes designed just for women,

0:47:010:47:04

advertised like fashion accessories in the latest colours.

0:47:040:47:07

In the early '80s,

0:47:090:47:11

she convinced the company that it should start making BMX bikes

0:47:110:47:14

and in 1982, the Burner was launched.

0:47:140:47:17

To begin with, no-one knew if it would sell.

0:47:180:47:21

When I actually went down to the factory and saw all these bicycles

0:47:210:47:27

coming down in bright red and yellow and green

0:47:270:47:30

and I thought, oh, my goodness me.

0:47:300:47:33

But Yvonne's instincts were proved right

0:47:330:47:36

and the Burner flew off the production lines.

0:47:360:47:39

To give its publicity an extra push,

0:47:390:47:42

the company began to sign up the best riders in the country

0:47:420:47:45

for a new team,

0:47:450:47:47

and one teenager from Walthamstow was top of its list of targets.

0:47:470:47:52

His name was Andy Ruffell.

0:47:520:47:54

Whatever you're looking for, you'll find it in BMX.

0:47:540:47:57

There really are no words to describe a sport like ours.

0:47:580:48:02

MUSIC: Wild Boys by Duran Duran

0:48:020:48:04

Riding for competitor Mongoose,

0:48:040:48:07

Andy had a huge fan base and had already achieved the rare feat

0:48:070:48:11

of becoming national champion in both BMX racing and freestyle.

0:48:110:48:15

But a move to Raleigh was too good to refuse.

0:48:160:48:20

It felt like I'd arrived.

0:48:210:48:24

You know, having been through, you know,

0:48:260:48:29

my whole childhood on Raleigh Grifters and, you know,

0:48:290:48:32

getting a Raleigh Chopper, that kind of stuff,

0:48:320:48:34

it felt like a full circle thing.

0:48:340:48:36

It just doesn't get any better than that.

0:48:360:48:39

Andy and the team were hired to raise the profile

0:48:420:48:44

of the company's BMX bikes.

0:48:440:48:47

Not just by winning races on them

0:48:470:48:49

but also through publicity appearances

0:48:490:48:51

which could draw in over 2,000 fans.

0:48:510:48:54

It was always strange because we were teenagers

0:48:560:48:58

and yet we were treated kind of like pop stars, I guess.

0:48:580:49:01

I think one of the most amazing things for me was

0:49:010:49:04

the lengths that these kids would go to to get an autograph

0:49:040:49:08

and also where they would want autographs.

0:49:080:49:11

# Wild boys... #

0:49:110:49:12

We had girls that would want autographs in strange places

0:49:120:49:18

and then there was kids where I would sign their foreheads.

0:49:180:49:22

You know, "Andy Ruffell, Raleigh number one"

0:49:220:49:25

on the top of their forehead. Really strange.

0:49:250:49:27

Andy finished the season as British champion before leaving the sport

0:49:310:49:35

to pursue a life in the media,

0:49:350:49:37

but Raleigh will always remain close to his heart.

0:49:370:49:41

I think I'm really fortunate that the last year of my career

0:49:410:49:45

was with one of the biggest brands in the world

0:49:450:49:48

and I'm very proud of that.

0:49:480:49:50

You know, we were successful - Raleigh sold a lot of bikes

0:49:500:49:53

and I had the best time ever.

0:49:530:49:55

Andy left the sport he loved just as the BMX boom began to fade.

0:49:570:50:02

Meanwhile, the company switched its attentions

0:50:030:50:06

to another American invasion - mountain bikes -

0:50:060:50:09

launching the Maverick in 1985.

0:50:090:50:12

Although, with stiff competition from American brands,

0:50:120:50:15

sales were initially disappointing.

0:50:150:50:17

We always had a credibility problem because the imported bikes were all

0:50:190:50:24

lightweight and things like that and Raleigh still had this image of

0:50:240:50:28

being sturdy and reliable and, you know, dare I say heavy.

0:50:280:50:33

Still, over the next few years,

0:50:350:50:37

the company formed a new mountain bike racing team,

0:50:370:50:40

launched an upmarket model with Shimano gears called the M-Trax

0:50:400:50:45

and introduced shock absorbers on the Activator.

0:50:450:50:48

Raleigh would go on to sell over three million mountain bikes.

0:50:480:50:52

However, the mountain bike boom

0:50:530:50:55

led to the decline of the traditional racer

0:50:550:50:58

and Raleigh disbanded its racing team,

0:50:580:51:00

closing down the factory in Ilkeston,

0:51:000:51:03

but not before it had produced a pair of bikes

0:51:030:51:06

that would make history.

0:51:060:51:08

In 1986, broadcaster Nicholas Crane and his cousin Richard

0:51:090:51:14

set off on an extraordinary cycling adventure,

0:51:140:51:17

riding bikes they'd had made at the SBDU.

0:51:170:51:21

He hasn't looked at his photos for 30 years.

0:51:230:51:26

This is us on the beach in the Bay of Bengal at Patenga Point

0:51:260:51:31

on the 1st of May 1986

0:51:310:51:34

with our brand-new, straight from the factory,

0:51:340:51:39

Raleigh bikes twinkling in the Bangladeshi sun

0:51:390:51:42

and I can tell from the way we're standing

0:51:420:51:45

that we're both absolutely desperate to get on those amazing bikes

0:51:450:51:50

and start pedalling towards the Himalayas.

0:51:500:51:53

Nick and Richard were attempting to cycle over 3,300 miles

0:51:530:51:58

from Bangladesh, across the Himalayas,

0:51:580:52:01

to a place in north-western China

0:52:010:52:03

which they'd calculated to be the point on the planet

0:52:030:52:07

furthest from the open sea -

0:52:070:52:09

what they called the centre of the earth.

0:52:090:52:11

Getting there over mountains and across deserts

0:52:140:52:17

would push man and machine to their limits.

0:52:170:52:21

No-one had ever done it before.

0:52:210:52:23

It's always going to be more exciting

0:52:240:52:28

if you think you're doing something

0:52:280:52:31

that either not many people do

0:52:310:52:33

and best of all, if nobody's ever done.

0:52:330:52:35

That's an amazing feeling.

0:52:350:52:37

The best way to achieve their goal

0:52:400:52:43

was to travel fast and light,

0:52:430:52:45

so they carried no tent or food and little water.

0:52:450:52:48

Instead, they relied on their ability to get from place to place

0:52:510:52:55

as quickly as possible and the kindness of strangers along the way.

0:52:550:53:00

The risk has enormous rewards and the more exposed you become,

0:53:010:53:07

the more the joys of humanity get reaffirmed.

0:53:070:53:11

It took them 58 days, but after surviving blizzards,

0:53:140:53:19

sandstorms and just a couple of punctures,

0:53:210:53:25

Nick and Richard finally made it to the centre of the Earth.

0:53:250:53:28

And it was thanks in part to their hand-built bikes.

0:53:310:53:35

When I look at this last picture of us holding the bikes up,

0:53:370:53:40

it is interesting that the language of this image

0:53:400:53:43

is of two bikes being celebrated.

0:53:430:53:46

The bikes were this mechanical constant.

0:53:480:53:52

The only variables were our bodies and minds.

0:53:530:53:57

Today, 30 years after making history,

0:54:020:54:05

Nick still has a souvenir of his journey.

0:54:050:54:08

Come and look in here.

0:54:090:54:11

This is the Raleigh, this is the bike that I rode with Dick

0:54:150:54:19

to the place in the world most distant from the open sea,

0:54:190:54:22

the centre of the Earth,

0:54:220:54:23

and it's pretty much exactly as it was the day we finished the ride.

0:54:230:54:28

It's still part of my life and it's an immaculate bike.

0:54:280:54:32

The tyres are still pumped up and it still works perfectly

0:54:320:54:36

and it's been knocked about a bit because it was a rough old ride

0:54:360:54:40

but I'm never going to let it go.

0:54:400:54:43

In 1987, the year after Nick and Richard's epic journey,

0:54:440:54:49

a series of buyouts began that signalled the end of the glory days

0:54:490:54:53

for Raleigh in the UK.

0:54:530:54:55

After the mountain bike boom, sales had continued to drop

0:54:560:55:00

and by 1998, they were the lowest they'd been since 1970.

0:55:000:55:04

Raleigh was falling out of fashion.

0:55:040:55:07

The company was finding it impossible to square its ambition

0:55:080:55:11

to make high quality as well as mass-produced bikes

0:55:110:55:16

and the growth in rival manufacturers

0:55:160:55:18

made the situation worse.

0:55:180:55:20

In 1999, it made a shock announcement.

0:55:210:55:25

100 years of British biking tradition came to an end today

0:55:260:55:29

when the cycle maker Raleigh

0:55:290:55:31

auctioned off its manufacturing equipment.

0:55:310:55:33

From now on, the bike frames will be made abroad

0:55:330:55:35

and the factory in Nottingham will concentrate on

0:55:350:55:38

assembly and painting.

0:55:380:55:39

But that was only the beginning.

0:55:410:55:42

Three years later,

0:55:430:55:45

Raleigh announced it was closing its Nottingham factories for good.

0:55:450:55:48

From then on, its bikes would be made in the Far East.

0:55:480:55:51

Clive Hodgson was one of the remaining 281 assembly workers

0:55:530:55:57

who lost their jobs.

0:55:570:56:00

He'd worked at Raleigh for over 40 years.

0:56:000:56:02

To finish just like that

0:56:040:56:05

and everybody vanishing into the distance,

0:56:050:56:07

really sad, really sad.

0:56:070:56:09

You know, when it finally came to an end,

0:56:090:56:11

I was almost in tears because you'd built your life round that work...

0:56:110:56:16

..and to lose your friends like that,

0:56:170:56:19

to vanish off into the distance,

0:56:190:56:21

it was really sad.

0:56:210:56:23

# Monday, I'm going to rock with Jane... #

0:56:230:56:25

They were the best years of my life.

0:56:260:56:29

The people I've met and the work I did, I really enjoyed it.

0:56:290:56:33

It was a really sad moment, yeah.

0:56:340:56:37

# Saturday and Sunday Any chick will do. #

0:56:370:56:39

Today, Raleigh is owned by Dutch company Accell

0:56:430:56:47

and its bikes continue to be made overseas.

0:56:470:56:50

The Raleigh brand is not as popular as it once was

0:56:510:56:55

but as the fashion for cycling continues to increase,

0:56:550:56:58

there is optimism for the future.

0:56:580:57:00

It's even launched a new road racing team,

0:57:010:57:05

hoping to live up to past glories.

0:57:050:57:07

For us at Team Raleigh, the future is looking really bright.

0:57:070:57:11

The bikes that we're using, the Militis,

0:57:110:57:14

is a top-of-the-range bike from Raleigh.

0:57:140:57:17

It's carbonfibre, light,

0:57:170:57:19

comes in at just on seven kilos, under seven kilos.

0:57:190:57:24

But it'll set you back about £6,000.

0:57:240:57:26

It's a nice bike using the old colours

0:57:260:57:30

which everybody where we've been,

0:57:300:57:34

they love the Raleigh bike.

0:57:340:57:35

They still relate it back, especially the old fogeys,

0:57:350:57:40

as we call them,

0:57:400:57:41

it just brings back memories of the '70s and the '80s for them.

0:57:410:57:45

It remains to be seen how successful Raleigh will be

0:57:460:57:50

as bespoke bikes produced by rival companies

0:57:500:57:52

are now associated with the quality and craftsmanship

0:57:520:57:56

Raleigh was once a byword for.

0:57:560:57:58

Whatever the future holds for Raleigh,

0:58:010:58:03

for some people, the name will always conjure up

0:58:030:58:06

images from the past.

0:58:060:58:08

From happy memories of time spent learning to ride your first bike,

0:58:080:58:12

to days out touring the British countryside.

0:58:120:58:16

From the simplicity of riding in the street with friends

0:58:160:58:19

to epic journeys far and wide.

0:58:190:58:22

Raleigh, for better or worse,

0:58:220:58:25

will always be associated with the golden age of the British bicycle.

0:58:250:58:30

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