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For the past 150 years, Britain has been a nation of bike lovers. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:07 | |
And for much of that time, one make has been associated with quality, | 0:00:08 | 0:00:12 | |
innovation and Britishness - | 0:00:12 | 0:00:15 | |
Raleigh bikes. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:16 | |
Born in the back streets of Nottingham, | 0:00:18 | 0:00:20 | |
Raleigh grew to become the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:25 | |
For over a century, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:27 | |
the company was known for its simple and practical bikes, | 0:00:27 | 0:00:29 | |
built to last a lifetime. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
A few of the oldest still survive today. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
I feel really proud to own this bicycle. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
To me, this is a work of art. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
For generations, its designs were thought second to none, | 0:00:42 | 0:00:46 | |
enjoyed by adults and children alike. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
To be out in the fresh air where the smells you got were flowers, | 0:00:50 | 0:00:55 | |
trees and everything, I thought that was wonderful. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
Through rare and previously unseen archive film, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
we'll reveal the craft skills behind Raleigh bikes. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
The frame is the basis | 0:01:06 | 0:01:08 | |
to which all the other parts will be attached. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
So, let's see how it's made. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
We'll hear from its team racers and from the dealers who sold the bikes. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:17 | |
Then you say, well, you don't even need to start saving up. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
You can just pay a few shillings a week and it'll be yours. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:25 | |
Come into the shop and see what we've got. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
And we'll find out what went wrong | 0:01:29 | 0:01:31 | |
and the impact it had on Raleigh's workers. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:35 | |
I was almost in tears because you'd built your life round that work | 0:01:35 | 0:01:39 | |
and to lose your friends like that, to vanish off into the distance, | 0:01:39 | 0:01:44 | |
it was really sad. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:46 | |
This is the epic tale of the ups and downs of Raleigh bikes. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
This is Nottingham city centre, filmed in 1902. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:06 | |
By this time, the Raleigh Cycle Company | 0:02:09 | 0:02:11 | |
had already been making bikes like these in the city for over a decade. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:15 | |
Employing around 850 workers, | 0:02:17 | 0:02:20 | |
its factory was turning out nearly 10,000 bikes a year, | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
which sold across the globe, each with a lifetime guarantee. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:27 | |
The extraordinary story of how Raleigh came to be | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
begins with the adventures of a young British lawyer | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
called Frank Bowden. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
One man who knows his story better than anyone is his great-grandson, | 0:02:40 | 0:02:44 | |
Gregory Houston Bowden. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:46 | |
Great-Grandfather was ahead of his time in many ways, really. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:53 | |
In his whole approach to life. He was a very clever man. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
In 1870, 22-year-old Frank got a job in Hong Kong | 0:03:00 | 0:03:04 | |
and here he made his fortune through shrewd investments. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
But within a decade, poor health had forced him home. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
Back in England, he took up cycling on the advice of a doctor | 0:03:13 | 0:03:17 | |
after being given just six months to live. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
A year later, he was not only alive, | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
but fitter and healthier than ever before. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
Great-Grandfather certainly had no doubt at all | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
that cycling had completely saved his life | 0:03:32 | 0:03:35 | |
and taken him from being at death's door with six months to live, | 0:03:35 | 0:03:40 | |
to being a normally fit, healthy person. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
And of course, he felt a tremendous sense of gratitude to cycling. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:49 | |
Looking to combine his new-found love of cycling | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
with his business skills, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
it was here in Nottingham that Frank Bowden came across a small workshop | 0:03:55 | 0:03:59 | |
making a handful of bikes a week from a courtyard in Raleigh Street. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:04 | |
He was so impressed, he bought the business, | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
and in 1888, | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
the Raleigh Cycle Company was born. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
Taking the heron from the Bowden family crest as its emblem, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:17 | |
under Frank's guidance, quality and innovation would be its hallmark. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
In fact, the company's earliest bikes were so well made, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
some still exist today. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
This is collector Colin Kirsch, | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
and he's riding a very special Raleigh Road Racer. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
Hand-built in 1890, it's the oldest known Raleigh bicycle in Britain. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:45 | |
It sort of transports you into another era, a lost era. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
Particularly a time beyond cars and motorbikes. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:57 | |
If you're riding in the countryside, the surroundings haven't changed. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:05 | |
How much closer can you get to feeling it's the 1890s? | 0:05:05 | 0:05:09 | |
I quite like companies that were innovative and set the fashion. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:20 | |
So the early Raleigh, 1889-1890, | 0:05:20 | 0:05:25 | |
they were the first on the scene | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
with a detachable chain wheel, for example. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
Being able to replace the chain wheel | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
with another of a different size | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
was one of the few ways to change gear. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
And even though it could take five minutes to do, | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
it was a major selling point. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
I feel really proud to own this bicycle. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
It's a wonderful piece of engineering. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
It's fabulous to ride, | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
and to me, I would describe this as a work of art. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
The early bikes were good, but Frank Bowden had bigger plans. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:03 | |
By the 1900s, | 0:06:03 | 0:06:04 | |
he'd not only moved production to a new five-acre factory | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
in Nottingham, he'd also gone global, | 0:06:08 | 0:06:11 | |
creating an export business that would last for decades. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
With the new factory came new technology. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:18 | |
Frame joints could be brazed in liquid brass | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
instead of open furnaces, saving time and money... | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
whilst new presses could transform sheet steel into parts | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
like the bottom bracket, | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
meaning Raleigh could do away with cast-iron components. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:36 | |
The all-steel bicycle was born. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
They were stronger than the competition | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
and with the acquisition of gear manufacturer Sturmey Archer, | 0:06:42 | 0:06:46 | |
easier to ride too. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
The detachable chain wheel replaced | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
by a ground-breaking three-speed hub, | 0:06:50 | 0:06:52 | |
enabling Raleigh riders to change gear at the flick of a lever. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
This unique archive footage | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
is taken from the first filmed Raleigh advert, | 0:07:00 | 0:07:03 | |
made in the late 1920s. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
But Frank Bowden never saw it, because he died in 1921. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:10 | |
By that time, he'd transformed a backstreet workshop | 0:07:10 | 0:07:14 | |
into what was claimed to be | 0:07:14 | 0:07:15 | |
the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world, | 0:07:15 | 0:07:19 | |
inspiring thousands of people | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
to enjoy the health benefits | 0:07:21 | 0:07:23 | |
of the pastime that had once saved his life. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
I'm rather proud of him for doing that. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
I think he was far-sighted, ahead of his time, | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
a passionate enthusiast and somebody who had the determination and energy | 0:07:32 | 0:07:39 | |
to carry his, after all, very grand schemes through to fruition. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
Frank's son Harold continued to expand the company | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
and by the 1930s, Raleigh was a household name. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
This was the golden age of the bicycle, | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
when thousands rode Raleighs for their daily commute. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
The company introduced its first assembly lines to satisfy demand. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:04 | |
Yet its focus remained on quality and craftsmanship | 0:08:04 | 0:08:08 | |
over mass production. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:10 | |
And while traditional bikes like these | 0:08:10 | 0:08:12 | |
remained the company's core business, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
another market was taking off. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
Children's bikes. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:21 | |
Then, as now, | 0:08:21 | 0:08:22 | |
one of life's great rites of passage was getting your first bike | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 | |
and being taught how to ride it. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
In 1930, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:33 | |
ten-year-old Margaret Dutton from Huddersfield | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
was given her first bike by her father. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
I just liked the whole look of it. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
The tyres looked good, it was shining, it was lovely, nice saddle. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
I thought, ooh, I could ride that. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
Dad said, "That's the best you can get, a Raleigh bike." | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
I said, "Will you ride with me, because I might be a bit nervous?" | 0:09:01 | 0:09:07 | |
He said, "Of course I will." | 0:09:07 | 0:09:08 | |
I felt on top of the world. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:12 | |
He taught me to ride my bike and, really, I never looked back. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:17 | |
At Whitsun in 1930, Margaret and her dad set off on an epic adventure. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:25 | |
To cycle the 100 miles from Huddersfield to Rhyl in a day, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
through some of Britain's most beautiful rolling countryside. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
It was like magic, you know? | 0:09:36 | 0:09:37 | |
To be out in the fresh air where the smells you got | 0:09:38 | 0:09:42 | |
were flowers and trees and everything. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
I thought that was wonderful. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
There was hardly any traffic at all | 0:09:53 | 0:09:55 | |
and we went right through the countryside. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
It was pretty difficult going up hills, | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
but I did have gears on my bike, | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
I had three gears and always, | 0:10:05 | 0:10:08 | |
when you got to the top there was a lovely downhill. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
Dad would come and ride beside me. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
Then we used to chat a bit and he would say, "How are you liking it, | 0:10:15 | 0:10:21 | |
"Margaret? What do you think?" | 0:10:21 | 0:10:22 | |
"Whoa," I said, "Dad, it's great, is this, it's lovely." | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
It was early evening by the time Margaret and her dad got to Rhyl. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
The following day, they set off for home again. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
For a ten-year-old, | 0:10:38 | 0:10:39 | |
it was a remarkable achievement | 0:10:39 | 0:10:41 | |
and one of the proudest moments of Margaret's life. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:45 | |
I boasted to all my friends, "Anyway, I cycled to Rhyl." | 0:10:45 | 0:10:49 | |
And they used to say, "You couldn't cycle all that way in one day." | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
I said, "Go and ask my dad - he was with me." | 0:10:53 | 0:10:56 | |
The company continued to expand throughout the interwar years | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
and in 1932, it bought one of its main rivals, Humber. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:10 | |
But by then, it had another serious competitor. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
Based in Birmingham, Hercules was founded in 1910 | 0:11:15 | 0:11:20 | |
and by the mid-1930s, | 0:11:20 | 0:11:21 | |
claimed, like Raleigh, to be the largest cycle manufacturer | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
in the world. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:27 | |
Mass production, rather than quality and innovation, was its aim. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:32 | |
And Hercules claimed it could make a bike in less than ten minutes. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:37 | |
That's why it didn't have the cachet of the Raleigh, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
and of course less than half the price, | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
as schoolboy Ron McGill discovered. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
My father had said to me, "I think I'll buy you a bike for Christmas." | 0:11:45 | 0:11:49 | |
I said OK. We went to the shop and there were the gleaming Raleighs - | 0:11:50 | 0:11:55 | |
costly. He said, | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
"No, you settle for a Hercules." | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
So I had to buy the Hercules bike, | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
which was good, it was a good, sound bike. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
But the Raleigh was a little bit upmarket | 0:12:04 | 0:12:08 | |
and we...he never really had the money to buy me | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
a really expensive bike. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
Ron never did get his Raleigh, and by the end of the decade, | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
the big bicycle companies had more to think about than just sales. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:22 | |
AIR-RAID SIREN | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
In September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:30 | |
In Nottingham, Raleigh's bicycle production was slashed | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
to just 5% of normal output, and instead, | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
as this rarely seen film footage reveals, | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
the company switched to the manufacturer of munitions. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
What bikes they did make were mostly for use by the Armed Forces, | 0:12:47 | 0:12:52 | |
like this experimental folding model, designed for the commandos. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:56 | |
Among those who joined the workforce | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
was 14-year-old Harry Hardy. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:02 | |
As a boy, I was doing all the jobs the men were doing. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
Yes, you got a bit tired at the end | 0:13:07 | 0:13:10 | |
of the day, because sometimes we worked six till six, you know? | 0:13:10 | 0:13:15 | |
Aye. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:16 | |
But, the war was on | 0:13:17 | 0:13:20 | |
and we were always happy because we were doing things for the war. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:25 | |
We were making Army bikes and we felt a bit proud of doing them, | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
you know? | 0:13:28 | 0:13:29 | |
By the time the fighting was over, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
the factory had produced over 380 million parts for the Armed Forces. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:38 | |
Company chairman Sir Harold Bowden, had this message. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:43 | |
I would like to take this opportunity of paying my tribute | 0:13:43 | 0:13:48 | |
to all our staff and employees | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
for their great and sustained effort. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
For this factory has been working | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
on a three-shift basis, night and day, | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
for six, long, weary years. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
We shall, in the future, once again resume our position | 0:14:03 | 0:14:08 | |
as leaders of the cycle industry throughout the world. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:13 | |
Raleigh had done its bit for Britain, | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
but now it was time to get back to building bikes. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
After buying competitor Rudge Whitworth, | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
Raleigh launched its first post-war trade fair. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
These pictures showed the latest models | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
being revealed to its enthusiastic dealers. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
And to prove to the world that it was back in business, | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
the company released this film to show off | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
its hi-tech production techniques. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
Here is a factory in the heart of industrial Britain, | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
a planned response to the world's demand for bicycles. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
We'll go into the chief designer's office | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
and hear him tell two visitors just how a bicycle is made. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
I could go miles and miles on one of these, Father. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:00 | |
So you should - there's 100 years of bicycle manufacture | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
behind that model. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
It's our latest type - strong, reliable yet light in weight. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:09 | |
From the designer's office, | 0:15:10 | 0:15:12 | |
the film takes us through every stage of the process | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
of building a bicycle. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
It begins with the frame. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
The frame is the basis to which all the other parts will be attached. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:22 | |
So let's see how it's made. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:23 | |
The frame is made light and strong by using steel tubes. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
The tubing is made by this machine. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
Strips of steel are fed into one end and turned into a tubular shape | 0:15:33 | 0:15:38 | |
by heavy rollers. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:39 | |
The joint is sealed by this powerful flame. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
As the finished tube comes out of the machine, | 0:15:47 | 0:15:49 | |
it is cut to the required lengths. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:51 | |
How are the tubes held together to form the frame? | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
Well, they are securely jointed together by these bracket pieces. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:58 | |
Although obviously staged for the purposes of this film, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
visits to the factory like this really did happen, | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
particularly for Raleigh's dealers. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
It was hoped that if they understood the craft skills involved | 0:16:07 | 0:16:11 | |
in the production process, it would inspire them to sell more bikes. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
Arnold Sumner was 15 | 0:16:17 | 0:16:18 | |
when he was taken on a tour of the factory in 1950. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:22 | |
His family had sold Raleigh bikes in St-Annes-on-Sea since the 1920s. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:28 | |
The Raleigh factory was an amazing place. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
'Here, red-hot bars of steel are being forged.' | 0:16:31 | 0:16:35 | |
The first thing that hit me was | 0:16:35 | 0:16:37 | |
an orchestra of industrial sounds of different frequencies. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:42 | |
And there were so many of these wonderful, skilled, | 0:16:43 | 0:16:48 | |
skilled people in the factory. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
'The front fork and back stay | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
'are polished by holding them against emery wheels.' | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
I came across a man who was assembling the hub. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
This man, he will put his hand in a box full of ball bearings | 0:17:03 | 0:17:07 | |
and by magic, he'd throw the ball bearings at his finger | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
and the ball bearings would just go right round. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
'This worker can fill over 1,000 hubs in an eight-hour day.' | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
To me, I thought this fella's a miracle man. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
I came across another place | 0:17:26 | 0:17:28 | |
and these guys were dipping the frames into this tank | 0:17:28 | 0:17:33 | |
of black liquid. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:35 | |
'This gives the bicycle its lustre and shine | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
'and enables it to keep its new appearance for a long time.' | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
And when I went into this wheel assembly plant, | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
you'd have a long row of women and they were there all day | 0:17:47 | 0:17:52 | |
lacing them up, building wheels. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:55 | |
'These girls are so expert that they can fit a tyre and a tube | 0:17:56 | 0:18:00 | |
'in 50 seconds.' | 0:18:00 | 0:18:01 | |
I've never stopped thinking, such a deep impression it made | 0:18:02 | 0:18:07 | |
going round the Raleigh works. | 0:18:07 | 0:18:09 | |
I'm 81 now, but the memories of that visit | 0:18:10 | 0:18:15 | |
to the Raleigh bicycle works are still fresh in my mind. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:19 | |
So that's how a bicycle is made. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
Yes, careful designing, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:23 | |
reliable materials and expert craftsmanship | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
in every stage of manufacture | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
turn out a British bicycle second to none. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
The factory was a place of wonder to 15-year-old Arnold, | 0:18:31 | 0:18:36 | |
and many on the payroll thought of it as a great place to work | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
although it did have its downsides. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
A growing assembly line meant some jobs were becoming boring | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
and repetitive while others were dangerous and noisy. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:50 | |
And as they were paid according to how many parts they made, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:54 | |
the company's craftsmen had to work hard for their money. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:58 | |
The toughest thing for me was doing the jobs and passing them | 0:18:58 | 0:19:02 | |
to the next operator because he couldn't keep going | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
unless you were doing your job. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
They'd give you a good doing if you ain't keeping up | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
and keeping them going because they say, if you don't dab in, | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
we'll get no money in the tin at the weekend, so you dabbed in. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:22 | |
Despite the hardships, | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
Harold Bowden took a paternalistic approach to leadership | 0:19:25 | 0:19:28 | |
so employees were thought of as part of the Raleigh family. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:32 | |
And outside of work, they were well looked after. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
Home movies show workers and their families | 0:19:38 | 0:19:40 | |
enjoying a sports day on the company's playing fields. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
And there were regular dances held at the firm's own ballroom. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
Raleigh had its own medical centre and convalescent home | 0:19:51 | 0:19:55 | |
but top of the list for many | 0:19:55 | 0:19:57 | |
was the annual paid outing | 0:19:57 | 0:19:59 | |
and the favourite destination was Blackpool. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
You never got days out like that with anybody else, did you? | 0:20:04 | 0:20:08 | |
And it was all paid for. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:10 | |
I took my wife with me and we'd have a walk up and down the prom, | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
go on the pier. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
Up the Tower. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:22 | |
Lovely. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
We used to paddle and go out as far as we could, | 0:20:27 | 0:20:31 | |
as far as...it didn't get up your trousers or something like that. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:36 | |
And then at night, the lights would come on and we'd get on a bus | 0:20:38 | 0:20:42 | |
and go round the lights. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
It was a cracking do. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
It made you feel that you were wanted | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
and they were looking after you in all respects. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:57 | |
Yes. | 0:20:57 | 0:20:58 | |
Raleigh realised the importance of leisure time, | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
not just for its workers but also as a way of promoting its latest bikes. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:08 | |
In the 1950s, | 0:21:10 | 0:21:11 | |
the company's marketing material focused on the great outdoors, | 0:21:11 | 0:21:15 | |
portraying a new bicycle golden age | 0:21:15 | 0:21:18 | |
in which cycling was a lifestyle choice. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
Raleigh bikes were used not just to get you to work, | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
but as a means of escape, too, | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
usually with the companion of your dreams. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
Much of this artwork featured the traditional roadster, | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
perfect for cycle touring, | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
but the company had to find ways | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
to sell its drop-handlebar sports bikes too. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
Back in the 1890s, | 0:21:43 | 0:21:45 | |
it had done this through the sponsorship | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
of successful sprint racers like world champion AA Zimmerman. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:52 | |
But it had been decades since it had signed a superstar racer. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
That was until Reg Harris came along. | 0:21:56 | 0:22:00 | |
We pick out the event of the day | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
at the meeting of the Buckshee Wheelers. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
The 1,000 metres international cycle sprint. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
Taking part, British amateur sprint champion, Reg Harris, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
Holland's champ and the two Manchester Wheelers, | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
Dove and Barrister. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:14 | |
At the half distance, Harris was well in the lead. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
Amateur champion Reg turned pro when he signed to Raleigh in 1949, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:23 | |
the same year that he won the first | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
of four world professional sprint titles, | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
launching the memorable slogan, | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
Reg Rides a Raleigh. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:32 | |
With his charm and good looks, he was soon as well known | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
as sporting heroes like Stanley Matthews and Stirling Moss, | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
and just as well liked. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
To a popular cyclist from Manchester | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
goes the sporting public's highest honour. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
Harris, who won his world title... | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
Reg's success sold bikes and his name was associated with | 0:22:49 | 0:22:53 | |
one of the company's best-loved models, the Lenton Sports. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:57 | |
Aimed at the sports rider as well as the leisure cyclist, | 0:22:58 | 0:23:02 | |
the bike was as good on country lanes as it was on time trials. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:06 | |
And with the Reg Harris seal of approval, | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
selling it was like a ride in the park for dealers like Arnold Sumner. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:14 | |
You'd say to the customer, now, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
if you want something really different, | 0:23:16 | 0:23:18 | |
something that you're going to be able to get to work faster on | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
and at the weekend you can go off into the country, | 0:23:22 | 0:23:25 | |
you'd better have a Raleigh Lenton. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
Made famous by Reg Harris. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
You all know about Reg Harris, the fastest cyclist in the world. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:35 | |
These are the sort of bikes that he would want YOU to buy. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:39 | |
This is your inspiration. | 0:23:39 | 0:23:41 | |
To get on your bike, get fit | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
and to do the sort of times that Reg Harris did. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
Being a canny salesman, | 0:23:49 | 0:23:50 | |
Arnold was not above using social occasions | 0:23:50 | 0:23:53 | |
as a way to sell the bikes. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:55 | |
As a member of the Cycle Touring Club, | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
he often went on group trips into the countryside | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
and riding his own Raleigh Lenton, he had a captive audience. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:05 | |
Of course, you were riding on your Raleigh Lenton bicycle | 0:24:06 | 0:24:09 | |
and you seemed to be going along better than all the others, | 0:24:09 | 0:24:13 | |
then when you are chatting to them, you could say, "Here you are, | 0:24:13 | 0:24:17 | |
"have a ride on this, see what you think." | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
And then, after about half an hour riding, you say, | 0:24:21 | 0:24:24 | |
"Well, what do you think?" | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
And the person had to say, | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
"Well, it's certainly better than my old bike. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
"Yes, when I save up enough money I must really get one of these." | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
And then you say, "Well, you don't even need to start saving up, | 0:24:36 | 0:24:40 | |
"you can just pay a few shillings a week and it'll be yours. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
"Come into the shop. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:46 | |
"Come into the shop and see what we've got." | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
And yes, going out riding in a group of people, | 0:24:51 | 0:24:56 | |
making direct comparisons with some of the rubbish bicycles | 0:24:56 | 0:25:01 | |
that they had certainly helped cycle sales. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
Reg Harris boosted sales to men, | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
so the company attempted to do the same for women | 0:25:10 | 0:25:12 | |
by signing a female racing star. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
But their target was one acquisition they failed to make. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:19 | |
Her name was Eileen Sheridan. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
Some men believe a woman's place is in the home, but Eileen's husband | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
likes to get her out of the house, even if only into the garage. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
For in this home-made gymnasium, he supervises the exacting training | 0:25:28 | 0:25:32 | |
that has brought her 11 championship medals | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
and 23 national place-to-place records. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
Eileen was Britain's top time-trial rider | 0:25:37 | 0:25:41 | |
and as a record-breaking amateur, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:43 | |
she'd had the major manufacturers chasing her signature. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:47 | |
Well, first of all, Raleigh were after me, | 0:25:47 | 0:25:51 | |
but they offered me so very little. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
I think they thought, "It's a girl, she won't win." | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
Then Hercules sent me a telegram | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
and they made me a marvellous offer, | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
so that was a very great relief. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
Raleigh missed out when Eileen signed for competitor Hercules | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
in 1951. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:12 | |
Her challenge was to break as many distance and place-to-place records | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
as she could and as a result, raise the brand's profile. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:20 | |
Nicknamed "The Pocket Hercules" | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
because she was only 4 foot 11 inches tall, | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
Eileen was known for her infectious smile, even when racing. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:32 | |
I was just happy... | 0:26:36 | 0:26:37 | |
..and I suppose that was good for advertisements. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
They all felt that if they rode a Hercules, they were all smiling. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
Maybe they were. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:48 | |
Within a few years, | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
Eileen had broken all the women's records by a large margin, | 0:26:51 | 0:26:55 | |
but perhaps her greatest achievement | 0:26:55 | 0:26:57 | |
was captured in this newsreel from 1954 when she set a new record | 0:26:57 | 0:27:02 | |
for the journey from Land's End to John O'Groats, | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
completing the gruelling 872 miles | 0:27:05 | 0:27:09 | |
in 2 days, 11 hours and 7 minutes. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
For Hercules, Eileen's success meant sales. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:18 | |
Well, one of the professionals in the Hercules team said, | 0:27:20 | 0:27:23 | |
"You know, Eileen, they sold thousands and thousands of bikes | 0:27:23 | 0:27:28 | |
"when you were getting those records. Thousands," they said. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
So the fact that I was a pocket Hercules or whatever... | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
..it sort of went down very well. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:40 | |
By this time, Hercules and a few other bike companies | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
were owned by tubing manufacturer Tube Investments. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:49 | |
Together, they were now even bigger than Raleigh | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
and in an industry driven by mergers and acquisitions, | 0:27:52 | 0:27:56 | |
it was turning into a battle | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
in which only the strongest would survive. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:00 | |
Nevertheless, Raleigh was still a global brand, | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
producing a million bikes a year, | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
most of which were exported to happy customers around the world. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
However, its bikes didn't just go overseas to be sold, | 0:28:11 | 0:28:15 | |
many went abroad with their intrepid owners, | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
part of a growing fashion for cycle touring on the Continent, | 0:28:18 | 0:28:22 | |
a pastime made easier with new lightweight bikes | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
and derailleur gears. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:28 | |
The company didn't introduce the derailleur until 1955 | 0:28:28 | 0:28:33 | |
and few models had them. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:36 | |
This one was fitted alongside the existing three-speed hub | 0:28:36 | 0:28:40 | |
by engineer David Sore, before he set off Austria. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:43 | |
The experience would change his life. | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
It was so enjoyable travelling in Austria. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:55 | |
Travelling in this beautiful mountainous terrain. | 0:28:56 | 0:29:01 | |
Finding yourself going up long gradients... | 0:29:02 | 0:29:07 | |
..and I never had to walk up a hill. | 0:29:08 | 0:29:11 | |
Eventually you would reach a summit. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
It was inspiring. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:20 | |
But you didn't want to race down | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
because you had to tell yourself | 0:29:28 | 0:29:31 | |
that you were travelling on those roads | 0:29:31 | 0:29:35 | |
for perhaps the only time you would ever travel on them. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:39 | |
You needed to go down slowly enough | 0:29:39 | 0:29:43 | |
so you took in all the wonderful views. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:46 | |
After several tours in Europe, | 0:29:49 | 0:29:51 | |
David decided he loved cycling so much | 0:29:51 | 0:29:54 | |
he would leave his job and take his bike around the world. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:58 | |
The journey took him three and a half years. | 0:30:00 | 0:30:02 | |
The period of travelling, when I look back on it, | 0:30:03 | 0:30:07 | |
it was a life-changing, life-enhancing experience. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:11 | |
The Raleigh bike had become such an integral part of my life. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:19 | |
And an experience like that, | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
it stays with you... | 0:30:25 | 0:30:27 | |
..and you continually relive it, as I do now. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:32 | |
Throughout the 1950s, | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
confidence at Raleigh remained high and the company continue to buy out | 0:30:42 | 0:30:46 | |
its main competitors, including Triumph and in 1957, BSA. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:52 | |
But there was trouble ahead. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:53 | |
That year, war hero Viscount Montgomery | 0:30:54 | 0:30:58 | |
came to Nottingham to open a huge new factory | 0:30:58 | 0:31:00 | |
but a dramatic slump in the market meant it would stay empty for years. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:06 | |
The cause was a fall in exports | 0:31:07 | 0:31:09 | |
and a rise in the popularity of the car. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:12 | |
As living standards increased, | 0:31:12 | 0:31:15 | |
so too did car ownership and the bike fell out of favour. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:19 | |
Cycling to work was seen as a preserve of the poor | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
and more commuters decided to drive. | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
Busy roads made cycling increasingly dangerous too. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:30 | |
More cars meant more accidents, | 0:31:30 | 0:31:32 | |
so many cyclists decided to give up their bike. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:36 | |
The impact on the industry was enormous. | 0:31:37 | 0:31:39 | |
By the end of the decade, bicycle production in the UK | 0:31:39 | 0:31:43 | |
had fallen by 40%. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:45 | |
Something had to change. | 0:31:45 | 0:31:47 | |
In 1960, Raleigh was swallowed up | 0:31:49 | 0:31:51 | |
in a merger with its main competitor, Tube Investments. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:55 | |
The bicycle business that had begun life in a back street in Nottingham | 0:31:56 | 0:32:00 | |
was now part of a group that controlled 75% of the UK market. | 0:32:00 | 0:32:06 | |
I think we were all rather sad that it had been taken over. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:10 | |
On the other hand, it was much better that that happened | 0:32:11 | 0:32:15 | |
than that Raleigh and TI slowly killed each other off, | 0:32:15 | 0:32:18 | |
which was the alternative. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:20 | |
Raleigh kept its name and absorbed Tube Investments' brands, | 0:32:21 | 0:32:25 | |
including old rival Hercules. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:27 | |
But what the management hoped would be a new golden age | 0:32:27 | 0:32:30 | |
was just the start of a long period of uncertainty and unrest. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:35 | |
Morale on the shop floor declined as redundancies loomed | 0:32:36 | 0:32:40 | |
and when chairman Sir Harold Bowden died in 1960, | 0:32:40 | 0:32:44 | |
the company lost the sense of paternalism | 0:32:44 | 0:32:47 | |
that had made it special. | 0:32:47 | 0:32:48 | |
Discontent was on the rise | 0:32:50 | 0:32:52 | |
and it was reflected in a ground-breaking feature film | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
released that year. | 0:32:55 | 0:32:56 | |
Set in the Raleigh factory, | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
Saturday Night And Sunday Morning told the tale of Arthur Seaton, | 0:33:11 | 0:33:15 | |
a rebellious anti-hero | 0:33:15 | 0:33:16 | |
fed up with his life on the bicycle production line. | 0:33:16 | 0:33:20 | |
'954.' | 0:33:22 | 0:33:24 | |
It was based on a book written by ex-Raleigh worker Alan Sillitoe. | 0:33:26 | 0:33:31 | |
'950 bloody five. | 0:33:34 | 0:33:36 | |
'Another few more and that's the lot for a Friday. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
'£14, three and tuppence for a thousand of these a day. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
'No wonder I've always got a bad back.' | 0:33:44 | 0:33:47 | |
With its gritty realism, controversial storyline | 0:33:47 | 0:33:50 | |
and career-defining performance by Albert Finney, | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
the film became a smash hit. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:56 | |
'I'd like to see anybody try to grind me down. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
'That'd be the day. | 0:33:58 | 0:33:59 | |
'What I'm out for is a good time. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:04 | |
'All the rest is propaganda.' | 0:34:04 | 0:34:05 | |
In the real world, the threat of job losses and pay cuts | 0:34:08 | 0:34:12 | |
was making real-life Arthur Seatons out of the once-loyal workforce, | 0:34:12 | 0:34:15 | |
sparking a series of industrial disputes. | 0:34:15 | 0:34:19 | |
Raleigh was having an identity crisis. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
Bike sales continue to fall too | 0:34:23 | 0:34:25 | |
as the young generation rebelled against the old way of life | 0:34:25 | 0:34:28 | |
embodied by Raleigh's traditional roadsters. | 0:34:28 | 0:34:32 | |
What the company needed was a new design | 0:34:32 | 0:34:34 | |
that captured the spirit of the times. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:37 | |
And he's getting away on a revolutionary bicycle. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:40 | |
The cyclist is Alex Moulton, | 0:34:40 | 0:34:42 | |
well-known designer of suspension units for cars. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:45 | |
Five years of development | 0:34:45 | 0:34:46 | |
have produced the first bike with suspension. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:49 | |
Designer Alex Moulton's revolutionary small-wheeled bike | 0:34:49 | 0:34:53 | |
came along at just the right time. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:55 | |
He offered to make it with Raleigh but the company turned him down, | 0:34:55 | 0:34:59 | |
only to copy it with its own version. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:01 | |
The RSW 16 had fat tyres instead of suspension | 0:35:01 | 0:35:06 | |
and was a slow ride, | 0:35:06 | 0:35:08 | |
but it marked the beginning of a new era for Raleigh | 0:35:08 | 0:35:11 | |
in which its designs became both fashionable and fun. | 0:35:11 | 0:35:14 | |
MUSIC: Devil Gate Drive by Suzi Quatro | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
Best of all was the Chopper. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:21 | |
Released in 1970, it's arguably Raleigh's most iconic bike. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:27 | |
Motoring journalist Mark Hughes got one for his tenth birthday. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:33 | |
There was just no way, once you'd seen that as a ten-year-old kid, | 0:35:33 | 0:35:37 | |
there was no way you couldn't have that. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:40 | |
It was just irresistible. | 0:35:40 | 0:35:44 | |
It was just lust. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:46 | |
That's the only way you could describe it. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:48 | |
It was the nearest... | 0:35:48 | 0:35:49 | |
Ten-year-old lust. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:51 | |
# ..down to Devil Gate Drive. # | 0:35:53 | 0:35:55 | |
As a boy, Mark had ambitions of becoming a racing driver. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:58 | |
But in the meantime, the Chopper was the next-best thing. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:03 | |
With its small front wheel and big back wheel, | 0:36:05 | 0:36:08 | |
that's what Formula 1 cars of the time looked like. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:11 | |
This is like something from a different planet. | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
Best of all, it had a gear stick, a proper gear stick like a car. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:20 | |
The pedals going round and round, | 0:36:22 | 0:36:23 | |
in my head they were the revs of the engine | 0:36:23 | 0:36:26 | |
and I'd be making the noise inside my head | 0:36:26 | 0:36:28 | |
and then you change the gear when you got maximum revs | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
and the next gear and you had to do them very fast. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:34 | |
The big thing for me was to always go as fast as possible at all times, | 0:36:34 | 0:36:39 | |
brake as late as possible, | 0:36:39 | 0:36:41 | |
go through the corner with as much lean as possible | 0:36:41 | 0:36:44 | |
without the pedal quite hitting the ground. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:46 | |
That's what it was all about. | 0:36:46 | 0:36:48 | |
There were downsides to the Chopper, though. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:51 | |
With most of its weight at the back, it was easy to tip up | 0:36:52 | 0:36:55 | |
and the gear stick could cause painful accidents. | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
But having mastered it, | 0:37:00 | 0:37:01 | |
Mark will always have a place in his heart for his old bike. | 0:37:01 | 0:37:05 | |
If I'm walking the dog and see a nice little mud path | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
with the right sequence of corners in it, I think, | 0:37:08 | 0:37:11 | |
oh, I'd love the Chopper down here. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:12 | |
The Chopper would be fantastic round this corner, still now. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:15 | |
The Chopper was an instant hit | 0:37:15 | 0:37:18 | |
but there's controversy behind the bike's success | 0:37:18 | 0:37:21 | |
because two men claimed to have designed it. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:24 | |
-Hello. -Ah, good morning. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
-I understand you want a word with me. -Yes, I do, George. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:30 | |
Alan Oakley was Raleigh's design director. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:33 | |
He'd been with the company since the 1940s | 0:37:34 | 0:37:37 | |
and had been responsible for the RSW 16. | 0:37:37 | 0:37:41 | |
He was absolutely dedicated to Raleigh. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:44 | |
One of his friends said, Alan was Raleigh and Raleigh was Alan. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:47 | |
And the passion of designing | 0:37:49 | 0:37:51 | |
and designing bikes and also the engineering part of it, | 0:37:51 | 0:37:56 | |
he just loved it. | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
The story goes that the company wanted a new bike to rival | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
the Schwinn Sting-Ray, a low-rider design | 0:38:03 | 0:38:06 | |
that had taken America by storm. | 0:38:06 | 0:38:07 | |
This early attempt was made by Raleigh in America. | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
Launched in Britain as the Mustang in 1966, it was a flop, | 0:38:13 | 0:38:18 | |
so it was up to Alan Oakley to come up with something better. | 0:38:18 | 0:38:23 | |
One of the super things that happened to me was in 1967 | 0:38:23 | 0:38:27 | |
and my then board said, "Get on an aeroplane and go to America. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:32 | |
"Go anywhere else you like, but come back with a better product | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
"than currently they've got or we are producing for them." | 0:38:35 | 0:38:39 | |
According to Raleigh folklore, inspired by his trip, | 0:38:40 | 0:38:44 | |
Alan scribbled the first designs for the Chopper on the plane home. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
Back in Nottingham, | 0:38:49 | 0:38:50 | |
he and his team put his plans into action and the Chopper was born. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:54 | |
Alan died in 2012, but it's a story his wife, Karen, can confirm. | 0:38:56 | 0:39:01 | |
Alan brought the design back and they created it at the Raleigh, | 0:39:03 | 0:39:08 | |
the team completely. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:10 | |
And looking through his briefcase, I found this, | 0:39:12 | 0:39:15 | |
which I'm sure is the original design, | 0:39:15 | 0:39:19 | |
which would then become the iconic Chopper bike, I think. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:23 | |
The company liked the idea of Alan's original sketches so much, | 0:39:23 | 0:39:28 | |
it used the concept in its advertising campaign. | 0:39:28 | 0:39:31 | |
But there's a problem because designer Tom Karen | 0:39:31 | 0:39:35 | |
also claims to have designed the Chopper. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
I just had no idea that somebody at Raleigh | 0:39:39 | 0:39:43 | |
had ambitions to design the Chopper. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:46 | |
It never occurred to me. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
Tom ran design agency Ogle | 0:39:50 | 0:39:52 | |
and says Raleigh gave him the brief | 0:39:52 | 0:39:55 | |
to design the Schwinn rival | 0:39:55 | 0:39:57 | |
and he's got convincing evidence too. | 0:39:57 | 0:39:59 | |
What we have here is a copy of the first sketch I made | 0:39:59 | 0:40:05 | |
after a meeting with Raleigh... | 0:40:05 | 0:40:07 | |
..and out of my usual way of operating, | 0:40:09 | 0:40:11 | |
I had sketchbooks and I would put ideas down there | 0:40:11 | 0:40:15 | |
and it features, of course, | 0:40:15 | 0:40:17 | |
the big wheel at the back and the front wheel... | 0:40:17 | 0:40:21 | |
being small which is key because | 0:40:21 | 0:40:24 | |
they made it like a dragster or a Formula 1 car | 0:40:24 | 0:40:28 | |
where all the power comes from the back. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:32 | |
Then it had a nice, straight frame, | 0:40:32 | 0:40:34 | |
unlike the Schwinn that they were trying to compete with, | 0:40:34 | 0:40:38 | |
which had a very curvaceous frame. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:40 | |
I knew it was a very good design... | 0:40:42 | 0:40:44 | |
..so I don't know what more I can do to prove it. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
The Design Council has given credit for the Chopper to Tom, | 0:40:49 | 0:40:53 | |
but whatever really happened, | 0:40:53 | 0:40:55 | |
the bike has become an icon of the '70s | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
and one which will always be synonymous with the name Raleigh. | 0:40:58 | 0:41:02 | |
The Chopper's success was good for morale as well as sales | 0:41:04 | 0:41:07 | |
and by the end of the '70s, industrial relations had improved. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:11 | |
But work on the assembly line | 0:41:13 | 0:41:14 | |
could still be boring and repetitive. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:16 | |
Clive Hodgson, seen here in this archive film, | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
would be the first to admit it. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
He lived for the weekend. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:25 | |
I think a lot of people would do that | 0:41:26 | 0:41:28 | |
if they are working in that type of work, you know. | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
Or a monotonous job. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:34 | |
You'd find some outlet in your mind | 0:41:34 | 0:41:36 | |
to break away from that, otherwise | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
you'd end up going round the bend, I think, round the twist. | 0:41:38 | 0:41:41 | |
We're going to carry on now with a super number from 1958. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
This is Big Joe Turner and Boogie Boogie Country Girl. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:47 | |
Take it away. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:48 | |
Clive's outlet was rock'n'roll, and as a part-time DJ, | 0:41:51 | 0:41:55 | |
he spent most weekends playing '50s records at clubs around the country. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:59 | |
He even managed to bring a bit of the weekend | 0:42:00 | 0:42:02 | |
back to the daily grind of the assembly line. | 0:42:02 | 0:42:06 | |
Of course I knew a lot of the words to the songs. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
We used to have a laugh and sing some of them. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:11 | |
We got different people who used to sing different parts and we used to | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
have a laugh. One of the favourites what we used to get on with | 0:42:14 | 0:42:17 | |
was one called Ain't Got No Home by Clarence "Frogman" Henry. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:20 | |
It went something like this. | 0:42:20 | 0:42:22 | |
# I ain't got no home Da-da-da-da da-da-da | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
# And no place to roam | 0:42:24 | 0:42:26 | |
# I ain't got no home and no place to roam. # | 0:42:26 | 0:42:30 | |
RECORD PLAYS: # I'm a lonely boy | 0:42:31 | 0:42:34 | |
# I ain't got a home | 0:42:34 | 0:42:36 | |
FROG VOICE: # I ain't got a mudder | 0:42:37 | 0:42:39 | |
# I ain't got a fadder | 0:42:40 | 0:42:42 | |
# I ain't got a sister | 0:42:42 | 0:42:44 | |
# Nor even a brudder | 0:42:45 | 0:42:47 | |
# I'm a lonely frog | 0:42:48 | 0:42:51 | |
# I ain't got a home. # | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
I enjoyed it because it just took away that monotony | 0:42:54 | 0:42:58 | |
and people began to know me after a time | 0:42:58 | 0:43:01 | |
and they used to say, hey up, he's going off again. | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 | |
Elvis is going off or whatever, you know. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
Away from all the singing, | 0:43:13 | 0:43:15 | |
the company had been looking to increase its market share | 0:43:15 | 0:43:18 | |
in the one place where it had never really gained a foothold, | 0:43:18 | 0:43:22 | |
continental Europe. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:23 | |
And the quickest route to sales was through a successful racing team. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:27 | |
The best way to promote bikes | 0:43:29 | 0:43:31 | |
is trying to get to the biggest level you can get to | 0:43:31 | 0:43:35 | |
and the Tour de France is possibly the biggest thing, | 0:43:35 | 0:43:39 | |
if not equal to the Olympic Games. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
The people who go | 0:43:42 | 0:43:44 | |
are in their hundreds of thousands, | 0:43:44 | 0:43:46 | |
millions over a three-week period, | 0:43:46 | 0:43:48 | |
so if you could have success in the Tour de France, | 0:43:48 | 0:43:52 | |
especially with television, it's free advertising. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:57 | |
So in 1974, | 0:43:58 | 0:44:00 | |
the company opened a new factory in Ilkeston | 0:44:00 | 0:44:02 | |
called the Specialist Bike Development Unit. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:05 | |
Here, in contrast to Nottingham's assembly lines, | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
bespoke, hand-crafted racing bikes were made | 0:44:10 | 0:44:13 | |
for a brand-new TI Raleigh racing team. | 0:44:13 | 0:44:17 | |
Each rider had an individual bike that was made for him. | 0:44:17 | 0:44:21 | |
They say there's two ways you ride a bike. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:25 | |
You either sit in it or you sit on it. | 0:44:25 | 0:44:28 | |
If you sit in the bike, you are part of the bike. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
If you sit on the bike, | 0:44:31 | 0:44:32 | |
because it's a little bit too long or you're a little bit too high, | 0:44:32 | 0:44:37 | |
you waste energy. | 0:44:37 | 0:44:39 | |
With super-lightweight 753 tubing, | 0:44:39 | 0:44:42 | |
silver brazing and the latest Campagnolo derailleur gears, | 0:44:42 | 0:44:47 | |
the bikes made at the SBDU were world-class, | 0:44:47 | 0:44:51 | |
and in a short time, the team began to compete in | 0:44:51 | 0:44:54 | |
and then win some of Europe's top races. | 0:44:54 | 0:44:57 | |
The real breakthrough came in 1977 | 0:44:58 | 0:45:01 | |
when Raleigh won the team prize in the Tour de France | 0:45:01 | 0:45:05 | |
and as a result, hundreds of cycle dealers | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
across Europe began stocking Raleigh bikes. | 0:45:08 | 0:45:11 | |
And there was better news to come just three years later. | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
Cycling, and the Tour de France has been won | 0:45:15 | 0:45:18 | |
by Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands | 0:45:18 | 0:45:20 | |
riding a British Raleigh. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:21 | |
It's the first time the Nottingham-based Raleigh company | 0:45:21 | 0:45:24 | |
has won the coveted individual first place. | 0:45:24 | 0:45:26 | |
Now Zoetemelk's win will help them further their share | 0:45:26 | 0:45:29 | |
of the valuable Continental market | 0:45:29 | 0:45:31 | |
where sales now total a quarter of a million a year, | 0:45:31 | 0:45:34 | |
from almost nothing a few years ago. | 0:45:34 | 0:45:36 | |
Thanks to the craftsmen of the SBDU, | 0:45:37 | 0:45:40 | |
Raleigh had become a serious player in the European market | 0:45:40 | 0:45:44 | |
and its racing team was the best on the planet. | 0:45:44 | 0:45:46 | |
Meanwhile, another sport had taken off | 0:45:47 | 0:45:49 | |
that was set to transform the world of cycling | 0:45:49 | 0:45:52 | |
and appeal to fashion-conscious youngsters. | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
It was called bicycle motocross - BMX for short. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:02 | |
Originating in America, the BMX craze was sweeping across Britain. | 0:46:05 | 0:46:09 | |
These small, agile bikes brought a new level of fun to cycling, | 0:46:11 | 0:46:15 | |
their lightweight design enabling riders | 0:46:15 | 0:46:18 | |
to perform jumps and tricks with ease. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:20 | |
The three-speed Grifter, launched in 1976, was similar, | 0:46:21 | 0:46:26 | |
but BMX bikes were single speed | 0:46:26 | 0:46:28 | |
and the company was reluctant to get involved. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:31 | |
Raleigh was in a difficult position | 0:46:32 | 0:46:35 | |
because BMX was a single-speed bicycle. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:37 | |
Raleigh had a sister company called Sturmey Archer | 0:46:37 | 0:46:40 | |
who made three-speed gears | 0:46:40 | 0:46:42 | |
and all our kids' bikes had three-speed gears | 0:46:42 | 0:46:46 | |
and therefore for me to say we need BMX, | 0:46:46 | 0:46:49 | |
everyone was going, "But that doesn't have any use." | 0:46:49 | 0:46:52 | |
You can do a three-speed BMX. | 0:46:52 | 0:46:54 | |
Yvonne Rix was an influential figure at Raleigh, | 0:46:55 | 0:46:58 | |
who transformed the ladies' market | 0:46:58 | 0:47:01 | |
with a range of bikes designed just for women, | 0:47:01 | 0:47:04 | |
advertised like fashion accessories in the latest colours. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:07 | |
In the early '80s, | 0:47:09 | 0:47:11 | |
she convinced the company that it should start making BMX bikes | 0:47:11 | 0:47:14 | |
and in 1982, the Burner was launched. | 0:47:14 | 0:47:17 | |
To begin with, no-one knew if it would sell. | 0:47:18 | 0:47:21 | |
When I actually went down to the factory and saw all these bicycles | 0:47:21 | 0:47:27 | |
coming down in bright red and yellow and green | 0:47:27 | 0:47:30 | |
and I thought, oh, my goodness me. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:33 | |
But Yvonne's instincts were proved right | 0:47:33 | 0:47:36 | |
and the Burner flew off the production lines. | 0:47:36 | 0:47:39 | |
To give its publicity an extra push, | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
the company began to sign up the best riders in the country | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
for a new team, | 0:47:45 | 0:47:47 | |
and one teenager from Walthamstow was top of its list of targets. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:52 | |
His name was Andy Ruffell. | 0:47:52 | 0:47:54 | |
Whatever you're looking for, you'll find it in BMX. | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
There really are no words to describe a sport like ours. | 0:47:58 | 0:48:02 | |
MUSIC: Wild Boys by Duran Duran | 0:48:02 | 0:48:04 | |
Riding for competitor Mongoose, | 0:48:04 | 0:48:07 | |
Andy had a huge fan base and had already achieved the rare feat | 0:48:07 | 0:48:11 | |
of becoming national champion in both BMX racing and freestyle. | 0:48:11 | 0:48:15 | |
But a move to Raleigh was too good to refuse. | 0:48:16 | 0:48:20 | |
It felt like I'd arrived. | 0:48:21 | 0:48:24 | |
You know, having been through, you know, | 0:48:26 | 0:48:29 | |
my whole childhood on Raleigh Grifters and, you know, | 0:48:29 | 0:48:32 | |
getting a Raleigh Chopper, that kind of stuff, | 0:48:32 | 0:48:34 | |
it felt like a full circle thing. | 0:48:34 | 0:48:36 | |
It just doesn't get any better than that. | 0:48:36 | 0:48:39 | |
Andy and the team were hired to raise the profile | 0:48:42 | 0:48:44 | |
of the company's BMX bikes. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:47 | |
Not just by winning races on them | 0:48:47 | 0:48:49 | |
but also through publicity appearances | 0:48:49 | 0:48:51 | |
which could draw in over 2,000 fans. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:54 | |
It was always strange because we were teenagers | 0:48:56 | 0:48:58 | |
and yet we were treated kind of like pop stars, I guess. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:01 | |
I think one of the most amazing things for me was | 0:49:01 | 0:49:04 | |
the lengths that these kids would go to to get an autograph | 0:49:04 | 0:49:08 | |
and also where they would want autographs. | 0:49:08 | 0:49:11 | |
# Wild boys... # | 0:49:11 | 0:49:12 | |
We had girls that would want autographs in strange places | 0:49:12 | 0:49:18 | |
and then there was kids where I would sign their foreheads. | 0:49:18 | 0:49:22 | |
You know, "Andy Ruffell, Raleigh number one" | 0:49:22 | 0:49:25 | |
on the top of their forehead. Really strange. | 0:49:25 | 0:49:27 | |
Andy finished the season as British champion before leaving the sport | 0:49:31 | 0:49:35 | |
to pursue a life in the media, | 0:49:35 | 0:49:37 | |
but Raleigh will always remain close to his heart. | 0:49:37 | 0:49:41 | |
I think I'm really fortunate that the last year of my career | 0:49:41 | 0:49:45 | |
was with one of the biggest brands in the world | 0:49:45 | 0:49:48 | |
and I'm very proud of that. | 0:49:48 | 0:49:50 | |
You know, we were successful - Raleigh sold a lot of bikes | 0:49:50 | 0:49:53 | |
and I had the best time ever. | 0:49:53 | 0:49:55 | |
Andy left the sport he loved just as the BMX boom began to fade. | 0:49:57 | 0:50:02 | |
Meanwhile, the company switched its attentions | 0:50:03 | 0:50:06 | |
to another American invasion - mountain bikes - | 0:50:06 | 0:50:09 | |
launching the Maverick in 1985. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:12 | |
Although, with stiff competition from American brands, | 0:50:12 | 0:50:15 | |
sales were initially disappointing. | 0:50:15 | 0:50:17 | |
We always had a credibility problem because the imported bikes were all | 0:50:19 | 0:50:24 | |
lightweight and things like that and Raleigh still had this image of | 0:50:24 | 0:50:28 | |
being sturdy and reliable and, you know, dare I say heavy. | 0:50:28 | 0:50:33 | |
Still, over the next few years, | 0:50:35 | 0:50:37 | |
the company formed a new mountain bike racing team, | 0:50:37 | 0:50:40 | |
launched an upmarket model with Shimano gears called the M-Trax | 0:50:40 | 0:50:45 | |
and introduced shock absorbers on the Activator. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:48 | |
Raleigh would go on to sell over three million mountain bikes. | 0:50:48 | 0:50:52 | |
However, the mountain bike boom | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
led to the decline of the traditional racer | 0:50:55 | 0:50:58 | |
and Raleigh disbanded its racing team, | 0:50:58 | 0:51:00 | |
closing down the factory in Ilkeston, | 0:51:00 | 0:51:03 | |
but not before it had produced a pair of bikes | 0:51:03 | 0:51:06 | |
that would make history. | 0:51:06 | 0:51:08 | |
In 1986, broadcaster Nicholas Crane and his cousin Richard | 0:51:09 | 0:51:14 | |
set off on an extraordinary cycling adventure, | 0:51:14 | 0:51:17 | |
riding bikes they'd had made at the SBDU. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:21 | |
He hasn't looked at his photos for 30 years. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:26 | |
This is us on the beach in the Bay of Bengal at Patenga Point | 0:51:26 | 0:51:31 | |
on the 1st of May 1986 | 0:51:31 | 0:51:34 | |
with our brand-new, straight from the factory, | 0:51:34 | 0:51:39 | |
Raleigh bikes twinkling in the Bangladeshi sun | 0:51:39 | 0:51:42 | |
and I can tell from the way we're standing | 0:51:42 | 0:51:45 | |
that we're both absolutely desperate to get on those amazing bikes | 0:51:45 | 0:51:50 | |
and start pedalling towards the Himalayas. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
Nick and Richard were attempting to cycle over 3,300 miles | 0:51:53 | 0:51:58 | |
from Bangladesh, across the Himalayas, | 0:51:58 | 0:52:01 | |
to a place in north-western China | 0:52:01 | 0:52:03 | |
which they'd calculated to be the point on the planet | 0:52:03 | 0:52:07 | |
furthest from the open sea - | 0:52:07 | 0:52:09 | |
what they called the centre of the earth. | 0:52:09 | 0:52:11 | |
Getting there over mountains and across deserts | 0:52:14 | 0:52:17 | |
would push man and machine to their limits. | 0:52:17 | 0:52:21 | |
No-one had ever done it before. | 0:52:21 | 0:52:23 | |
It's always going to be more exciting | 0:52:24 | 0:52:28 | |
if you think you're doing something | 0:52:28 | 0:52:31 | |
that either not many people do | 0:52:31 | 0:52:33 | |
and best of all, if nobody's ever done. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:35 | |
That's an amazing feeling. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:37 | |
The best way to achieve their goal | 0:52:40 | 0:52:43 | |
was to travel fast and light, | 0:52:43 | 0:52:45 | |
so they carried no tent or food and little water. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:48 | |
Instead, they relied on their ability to get from place to place | 0:52:51 | 0:52:55 | |
as quickly as possible and the kindness of strangers along the way. | 0:52:55 | 0:53:00 | |
The risk has enormous rewards and the more exposed you become, | 0:53:01 | 0:53:07 | |
the more the joys of humanity get reaffirmed. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:11 | |
It took them 58 days, but after surviving blizzards, | 0:53:14 | 0:53:19 | |
sandstorms and just a couple of punctures, | 0:53:21 | 0:53:25 | |
Nick and Richard finally made it to the centre of the Earth. | 0:53:25 | 0:53:28 | |
And it was thanks in part to their hand-built bikes. | 0:53:31 | 0:53:35 | |
When I look at this last picture of us holding the bikes up, | 0:53:37 | 0:53:40 | |
it is interesting that the language of this image | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
is of two bikes being celebrated. | 0:53:43 | 0:53:46 | |
The bikes were this mechanical constant. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:52 | |
The only variables were our bodies and minds. | 0:53:53 | 0:53:57 | |
Today, 30 years after making history, | 0:54:02 | 0:54:05 | |
Nick still has a souvenir of his journey. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:08 | |
Come and look in here. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:11 | |
This is the Raleigh, this is the bike that I rode with Dick | 0:54:15 | 0:54:19 | |
to the place in the world most distant from the open sea, | 0:54:19 | 0:54:22 | |
the centre of the Earth, | 0:54:22 | 0:54:23 | |
and it's pretty much exactly as it was the day we finished the ride. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:28 | |
It's still part of my life and it's an immaculate bike. | 0:54:28 | 0:54:32 | |
The tyres are still pumped up and it still works perfectly | 0:54:32 | 0:54:36 | |
and it's been knocked about a bit because it was a rough old ride | 0:54:36 | 0:54:40 | |
but I'm never going to let it go. | 0:54:40 | 0:54:43 | |
In 1987, the year after Nick and Richard's epic journey, | 0:54:44 | 0:54:49 | |
a series of buyouts began that signalled the end of the glory days | 0:54:49 | 0:54:53 | |
for Raleigh in the UK. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:55 | |
After the mountain bike boom, sales had continued to drop | 0:54:56 | 0:55:00 | |
and by 1998, they were the lowest they'd been since 1970. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:04 | |
Raleigh was falling out of fashion. | 0:55:04 | 0:55:07 | |
The company was finding it impossible to square its ambition | 0:55:08 | 0:55:11 | |
to make high quality as well as mass-produced bikes | 0:55:11 | 0:55:16 | |
and the growth in rival manufacturers | 0:55:16 | 0:55:18 | |
made the situation worse. | 0:55:18 | 0:55:20 | |
In 1999, it made a shock announcement. | 0:55:21 | 0:55:25 | |
100 years of British biking tradition came to an end today | 0:55:26 | 0:55:29 | |
when the cycle maker Raleigh | 0:55:29 | 0:55:31 | |
auctioned off its manufacturing equipment. | 0:55:31 | 0:55:33 | |
From now on, the bike frames will be made abroad | 0:55:33 | 0:55:35 | |
and the factory in Nottingham will concentrate on | 0:55:35 | 0:55:38 | |
assembly and painting. | 0:55:38 | 0:55:39 | |
But that was only the beginning. | 0:55:41 | 0:55:42 | |
Three years later, | 0:55:43 | 0:55:45 | |
Raleigh announced it was closing its Nottingham factories for good. | 0:55:45 | 0:55:48 | |
From then on, its bikes would be made in the Far East. | 0:55:48 | 0:55:51 | |
Clive Hodgson was one of the remaining 281 assembly workers | 0:55:53 | 0:55:57 | |
who lost their jobs. | 0:55:57 | 0:56:00 | |
He'd worked at Raleigh for over 40 years. | 0:56:00 | 0:56:02 | |
To finish just like that | 0:56:04 | 0:56:05 | |
and everybody vanishing into the distance, | 0:56:05 | 0:56:07 | |
really sad, really sad. | 0:56:07 | 0:56:09 | |
You know, when it finally came to an end, | 0:56:09 | 0:56:11 | |
I was almost in tears because you'd built your life round that work... | 0:56:11 | 0:56:16 | |
..and to lose your friends like that, | 0:56:17 | 0:56:19 | |
to vanish off into the distance, | 0:56:19 | 0:56:21 | |
it was really sad. | 0:56:21 | 0:56:23 | |
# Monday, I'm going to rock with Jane... # | 0:56:23 | 0:56:25 | |
They were the best years of my life. | 0:56:26 | 0:56:29 | |
The people I've met and the work I did, I really enjoyed it. | 0:56:29 | 0:56:33 | |
It was a really sad moment, yeah. | 0:56:34 | 0:56:37 | |
# Saturday and Sunday Any chick will do. # | 0:56:37 | 0:56:39 | |
Today, Raleigh is owned by Dutch company Accell | 0:56:43 | 0:56:47 | |
and its bikes continue to be made overseas. | 0:56:47 | 0:56:50 | |
The Raleigh brand is not as popular as it once was | 0:56:51 | 0:56:55 | |
but as the fashion for cycling continues to increase, | 0:56:55 | 0:56:58 | |
there is optimism for the future. | 0:56:58 | 0:57:00 | |
It's even launched a new road racing team, | 0:57:01 | 0:57:05 | |
hoping to live up to past glories. | 0:57:05 | 0:57:07 | |
For us at Team Raleigh, the future is looking really bright. | 0:57:07 | 0:57:11 | |
The bikes that we're using, the Militis, | 0:57:11 | 0:57:14 | |
is a top-of-the-range bike from Raleigh. | 0:57:14 | 0:57:17 | |
It's carbonfibre, light, | 0:57:17 | 0:57:19 | |
comes in at just on seven kilos, under seven kilos. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:24 | |
But it'll set you back about £6,000. | 0:57:24 | 0:57:26 | |
It's a nice bike using the old colours | 0:57:26 | 0:57:30 | |
which everybody where we've been, | 0:57:30 | 0:57:34 | |
they love the Raleigh bike. | 0:57:34 | 0:57:35 | |
They still relate it back, especially the old fogeys, | 0:57:35 | 0:57:40 | |
as we call them, | 0:57:40 | 0:57:41 | |
it just brings back memories of the '70s and the '80s for them. | 0:57:41 | 0:57:45 | |
It remains to be seen how successful Raleigh will be | 0:57:46 | 0:57:50 | |
as bespoke bikes produced by rival companies | 0:57:50 | 0:57:52 | |
are now associated with the quality and craftsmanship | 0:57:52 | 0:57:56 | |
Raleigh was once a byword for. | 0:57:56 | 0:57:58 | |
Whatever the future holds for Raleigh, | 0:58:01 | 0:58:03 | |
for some people, the name will always conjure up | 0:58:03 | 0:58:06 | |
images from the past. | 0:58:06 | 0:58:08 | |
From happy memories of time spent learning to ride your first bike, | 0:58:08 | 0:58:12 | |
to days out touring the British countryside. | 0:58:12 | 0:58:16 | |
From the simplicity of riding in the street with friends | 0:58:16 | 0:58:19 | |
to epic journeys far and wide. | 0:58:19 | 0:58:22 | |
Raleigh, for better or worse, | 0:58:22 | 0:58:25 | |
will always be associated with the golden age of the British bicycle. | 0:58:25 | 0:58:30 |