Frank Bowden, a sickly lawyer and businessman given less than six months to live, purchased a bike from the Nottingham workshop under advice from his doctor, who told him “If you want to save your life, take up cycling.” Given the robust history of Raleigh, I suspect I am not alone.Īmong the most recognized bicycle brands in the world, the Raleigh Cycle Company emerged from a modest twelve-person operation on Raleigh Street in Nottingham, England producing just three bicycles a week in 1886. The feeling of freedom that bicycle gave me, the speed that whipped my ponytail into knots as I rode, the badges of honor resulting from crusted blood on my post-crash knees - those memories and feelings engrained that Raleigh, my first bicycle, in my memory forever, and founded an obsession for bicycling and the Raleigh brand that has followed me ever since. The bike that my father and I wheeled away from the shop was blue and beautiful, and made worthier in my eyes by the jealousy of my older neighbor, Stephen, who insisted that “Raleigh bikes are the best bikes in the world.” Soon afterward, dad even removed the training wheels. I also remember the spokey dokes and streamers I selected from the pegboard display - and the gleeful feeling that bike provided me with while growing up. I distinctly remember straddling the bike in the shop, tilting from side to side as my toes reached for the ground but the training wheels caught me just in time. My first trip to a real bike shop resulted in the purchase of a brand new Raleigh.

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