Raleigh for the Masses: A Timeline of a Bicycle Giant’s Evolution

5 minute read

Among the most recognized bicycle brands in the world, the Raleigh Cycle Company traces its roots to a twelve-person workshop on Raleigh Street in Nottingham, England, producing just three bicycles a week. From that modest 1886 start, formalized as a company in December 1887, Raleigh grew into the largest bicycle manufacturing plant in the world within a decade, then rode a long and varied path through gearing innovation, wartime production shifts, motorized detours, folding bikes, choppers, BMX and mountain bikes on its way to a 2012 sale to Accell Group NV.

Here is a chronological timeline of key corporate and product events at Raleigh, spanning from 1886 to 2014, based on the sources used for an accompanying Ebykr article on its history, “Raleigh for the Masses: Evolution of a Bicycle Giant.”

26 events

1886

Company Founding

A twelve-person workshop on Raleigh Street in Nottingham, England produced just three bicycles a week, the modest origin point of what would become the Raleigh Cycle Company.

1886

Founder’s Arrival

Frank Bowden, a lawyer and businessman given less than six months to live, purchased a bicycle from the Nottingham workshop on his doctor’s advice that cycling might save his life. Impressed with his recovery and his purchase, Bowden bought interest in the small company that made it.

December 1887

Company Founding

The Raleigh Cycle Company was formally established, setting the bicycle on its rapid path toward mass production.

c. 1896

Infrastructure Milestone

Just nine years after its founding, Raleigh moved into a 7.5 acre factory in Radford, establishing the largest bicycle manufacturing plant in the world. The newly public company employed 850 workers and produced over 30,000 bicycles a year.

1902

Acquisition

Raleigh purchased Sturmey Archer, setting itself up to offer three-speed internal gearing on its bikes. The Sturmey Archer hub, feared by head mechanics for its complexity, would become legendary in its own right.

1932

Acquisition

Amid the Depression, which hit industry and export sectors hard across Europe and North America, Raleigh fared relatively well and purchased Humber Cycles, continuing to profit as the Depression years pressed on toward the war.

1930s

Strategic Pivot

Raleigh tried its hand at automobile and motorcycle manufacture during the decade, but by 1938 the company dropped its motorized products entirely to concentrate on pedal power, as the three-speed bicycle settled into its utilitarian role for transportation.

World War II

Manufacturing Shift

Raleigh production facilities were relinquished to munitions manufacture during the war years.

Late 1940s

Production Peak

As the war ended Raleigh boosted its bicycle production significantly and, despite fuel shortages, achieved an annual export of nearly 750,000 units, a trend that continued into the 1950s.

1950s

Strategic Pivot

A change in the bicycle market’s prosperity sent Raleigh sales plummeting. The company turned to motorized vehicles once again, building mopeds and motorized scooters to try to bump up sales.

pre-1960

Corporate Reorganization

Raleigh took over Triumph and Birmingham Small Arms and joined forces with Tube Investments (TI), steadying the company after its 1950s slump.

1960

Acquisition

Raleigh acquired Carlton Cycles, a specialty race bike manufacturer.

1960s

Product Innovation

Raleigh brought out a version of Dave Moulton’s small-wheeled cycle, the RSW and RSW Compact, marketed as the “World’s most sophisticated His and Hers Bicycles.” The design featured 16 inch wheels with wide profile tires, three-speed twist grip gearing, a quick release saddle and stem, fenders and a detachable carrier bag, with the Compact model folding for storage.

1967

Acquisition

Moulton gave up the competing commuter bike business and Raleigh purchased the company.

1968

Product Innovation

Raleigh’s Twenty Folder, an RSW-like model with caliper brakes, a kickstand and a pump, became the sales booster the company had been waiting for.

1976

Product Innovation

Raleigh introduced the Grifter, a heavy-framed bike with motorcycle styling and throttle-like shifting now seen as a precursor to popular BMX models. Raleigh banked on the Grifter’s three-speed setup, however, and missed out on the initial BMX boom.

1980s

Corporate Leadership

Secretary Yvonne Rix, whose interest in bicycle marketing helped bring the company into the BMX era, drove the launch of the Burner series. Extensive use of ovalized Cro-moly tubing made the Burner a seriously desirable BMX bike, and millions sold worldwide.

1985

Brand Storytelling

The Burner was featured in its own board game, produced by Waddingtons.

late 1970s–early 1980s

Market Dominance

While BMX made its mark in Europe and North America, the Morrow Dirt Club in Cupertino, California began modifying old one-speed bikes for off-road competition. Joe Breeze, one of the legendary Repack riders of Mt. Tamalpais, is credited by many as the first actual builder of a mountain bike, with Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly among the innovators who helped bring mountain bikes to public acceptance.

1987

Acquisition

A full 101 years after Raleigh began in its small Nottingham workshop, the private company Derby bought Raleigh. Derby dismissed much of Raleigh’s upper management and promoted Yvonne Rix, and annual mountain bike sales climbed into the millions of units.

1988

Product Innovation

Before retiring, Yvonne Rix introduced a battery-assisted bicycle, her final innovation at Raleigh. Rix also envisioned the Pioneer line, a road-worthy bicycle combining the upright comfort of a mountain bike with a lighter frame and skinnier tires, helping give birth to the hybrid bicycle.

1989

Racing Program Launch

Raleigh launched its M-Trax brand of higher-end mountain bikes as a competition line, establishing a team to support it.

1999

Manufacturing Shift

Derby announced that the Nottingham facilities would cease manufacturing bicycles, limiting operations there to painting and some assembly.

2012

Corporate Liquidation

Twenty five years after buying Raleigh, Derby relinquished the brand to long-time pursuer Accell Group NV, placing Raleigh among a stable of classic British bicycle-related brands that included Rudge-Whitworth, Humber, Hercules, BSA, Triumph, Phillips, Robin Hood, Avenir, RSP, Carlton and Sunbeam.

2014

Market Dominance

Accell Group, by then around 2,800 employees across 18 countries, sold a total of 1,700,000 bicycles in more than 70 countries and booked turnover of €882 million, trading on Euronext Amsterdam under the symbol ACCEL.

recent years

Manufacturing Shift

Raleigh had produced bikes in Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka until recently, maintaining only a distribution center near Nottingham with bicycle production and assembly ceased there entirely, as the brand followed the industry push to farm out manufacturing to the Far East.

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