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I enjoyed the program last night,a lot of cycling history there,unfortunately thrown away by poor management in the later years,I worked there for a couple of years in the fabrication shop as a frame welder and did enjoy my time there but you could see the amount of waste both in parts and manpower,unimaginable amount of cycle parts just thrown away on a grand scale,I bet the scrap merchants were rubbing their hands, and the amount of people spending hours walking round aimlessly but looking busy,them guys got it off to a fine art,but to get back to the program,yes very good and the passion from the former workers about the job really came across,a sad loss for Nottingham and the cycle industry

 

Rog

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Enjoyed it spotted a few people I knew, not sure if I had near miss or not, passed all the testing for apprentice tool setter in 81 turned it down & went to Wimpy on Beechdale Road.

 

Right I'm now going to get my Chopper out!

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Watching it took me back to the early years of my apprenticeship as a toolmaker at the local technical college using Ward turret/capstan lathes that were long obsolete or hardly ever used in a toolroom.

Also saw some cold extruders making parts,  I became very familiar with cold extruders making suspension components (ball studs) at a rate of 1200+ per hour. Even saw some hot upsetters that were making brackets in the movie. We used larger ones to upset axle flanges for axle half shafts for rear wheel drive vehicles. Alas like Raleigh no more, all gone to China and in October this year Australia's car industry will be gone forever with the closure of Holden and Toyota and the loss of skills at many levels in many trade and engineering roles. All sacrificed by stupid politicians and economists on the altar of free trade and global economic rationalisation.

When we have no skills to make or repair anything anymore the stupid will wonder what went wrong.

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As an engineering apprentice it took me a while to get my head around how a Sturmey Archer 3 Speed Hub gear worked (Planetary gears) Apparently you can now get 14 speed hub gears.

 

If you have an enquiring mind and want to know how some seriously cool mechanical systems work check this out - lots to wander through with some great animations

http://www.mekanizmalar.com/transmission.html

 

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So glad that program was uploaded to YT.  Although I never worked at Raleigh it was such an important employer in Nottingham. I did have a Humber bike. It was built like a tank, and seemed just about as heavy.

 

Seems like the key industries in Nottingham when I was growing up were, Raleigh, Players, Boots, and Ericssons.  If any of them still exist I doubt they are anything like they once were.

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Although I never worked for Raleigh I did go the factory every day as a contractor. The was the press shop, massive presses stamping out pistons for Lockheed and Girling disc brakes. The moped assembly shop, the Sturmey Archer shop., the chroming shop where I believe they were the biggest users of chrome in the UK. They were also the largest users of cyanide for hardening steel. The waste cyanide was taken to Portishead docks near Bristol in metal barrels, loaded onto the deck of a ship and dumped over board mid Atlantic! Try that today..

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On Triumph road there was a little corner café we used regularly, Alan Sillitoes mam worked there.

An amusing sight was the knocking off grand prix. At knock off time all the workers gathered at the gates held back by a security guard. Five o'clock he stood aside and a flood of humanity charged out like their backsides were on fire.

 

In the mid '60s they bought out a company, Cox safety seats of Watford, they were the must have seat for any serious sports car enthusiast. Lotus fitted them as standard and the seat slide mechanisms went to every car manufacturer in the UK. Due to that I went to every one of them except Aston Martin. Even Rolls Royce used them.

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It annoys me intensely, that even on local radio, the boneheaded presenters pronounce it Raaaaaaaaaleigh. Tw4ts.

Everyone knows round here that it's pronounced the same as rally !

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If only Raleigh management hadn't been so hide bound and stuck in the '40s/'50s, they might have kept up with the times instead of holding on to outmoded hierarchies and practices.

Although I've been a union member all my working life I have to say they didn't help and also contributed to the decline.

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On 16 March 2017 at 1:05 PM, radfordred said:

Enjoyed it spotted a few people I knew, not sure if I had near miss or not, passed all the testing for apprentice tool setter in 81 turned it down & went to Wimpy on Beechdale Road.

 

Right I'm now going to get my Chopper out!

Clive the 'ted' did the disco at the Variety for years. Wednesday night wasn't it?

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At the time I was there,late 90's there was no passion about cycling or cycles from the so called management team,they were all out for themselves,I remember one night we were called into the office to look at this latest frame "they" had designed,it was Y shaped and made of steel,when I passed the comment that it had already been done by the American cycle manufactureres two years previous, and in aluminium,I got a bit of a roasting frome the department manager for "Having no interest" in the meeting,Me,who went to work every day and night on my bike and spent many weekends out with other like minded friends on our bikes,discussed latest cycle parts and new designs from othe manufacturers, we were "bike mad",and they who went to work in their cars and played golf at the weekends,who do you think had an interest and passion in cycling and cycles

 

Rog

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On Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 6:35 AM, letsavagoo said:

Clive the 'ted' did the disco at the Variety for years. Wednesday night wasn't it?

 

Yes he did think Rock n Roll night was Thursdays a lot of those clips where taken from England their England. (If it does not play try it in Chrome)

 

I was told over the weekend Clive still plays @ The Catchems corner? Anyone confirm?  

 

 

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I've got England their England on DVD. In fact I've got the series of 4 relating to Raleigh as one featured Alan Oakley who was my boss when I was there. I still bump into Hodgo (Clive) now and then. Although I've not seen him for a while.

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  • 11 months later...

Did a couple of months at Raleigh in 73 first job there was fitting triggers to three speed bike's, that made your fingers sore!.  Then got to making seats for the chopper bike!. That was really exciting!!. Time to leave.

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I worked at Raleigh for about 18 months in early ‘70s on exports, mainly putting nuts and washers on wheels. Boring but good craic and stopgap before going in the building trade. When that slumped late 70s went down the pit. When the pits finished guess what..went back to Raleigh, which had changed unbelievably.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That was just a great bit of engineering that worked well. And I think they did a 4 speed as well, but can't swear to it.

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They still do a four speed hub gear as well as plenty of other gear hubs,I have some Sturmey Archer parts on my trike, the drum brakes, very reliable and more or less impossible to wear out, great bit of kit

 

Rog

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In the 1960s, my dad was doing a lot of work with Raleigh, and they asked him to test a new SA 5-speed hub gear which could fit into a derailleur hub.

 

He had it fitted to his Raleigh Record Ace tourer, and with the five-speed derailleur and double chainset, it gave a total of fifty gear combinations.

 

 

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7 hours ago, IAN123. said:

Oz mentioned the 3 speed hub..

Yes Ian, I had a Trent Tourist with a three speed Sturmey-Archer rear hub and a dynamo in the front wheel hub for the lights.

I was always jealous of my mates Sun racing bike, lightweight alloy frame, 5 speed derailleur rear hub and a "double - clanger" on the pedals. No weight at all so he left me behind on the hills as the Trent Tourist was built like a brick sh*t house and weighed a ton. Funny but he couldn't keep up with me going down hill as once you got that weight moving it flew, just had to watch the brakes at the bottom though as it took some stopping.

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