History

In the early 1970’s Raleigh began supplying state-of-the-art racing bikes to top riders including John Howard, John Allis, and Dave Chauner, who played a critical role in ratcheting up the speed of races from 25 mph to 29 mph.

In 1973 Raleigh took a bold step by inviting a four-rider Raleigh/CRCofA team, Howard, Allis, Bill Humphreys, and Stan Swaim to compete in the 8 Day, 775 mile Tour of Ireland.

Howard won a stage and finished third overall, Allis was fifth, while Humphreys and Swaim held their own.

In 1973 Raleigh Bicycles was the first sponsor to fund and support the most prolific US cycling team of the modern era.

This 14-man team included seven Olympians and four Hall of Fame inductees, all were National Team members who competed and won major cycling events throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico during the early 70’s.

Peter Nye, Historian, US Bicycling Hall of Fame, had this to say, at the 1999 “Raleigh Boys Reunion” organized by BikeGuy. “With Lance Armstrong and Bobby Julich enjoying podium finishes in international races on both sides of the Atlantic, we have Raleigh’s sponsorship of the Century Road Club of America’s road team to thank.