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Raleigh Record Ace (RRA) 1939
model no. 45 serial no. AF55635

Purchased from Paul Raley in December 2011 and back on the road 7 January 2012. In time trial configuration as above, 28 January 2012

The Raleigh Record Ace (1933-1942)

"for the real road enthusiast there is but one mount-- the Raleigh Record Ace.."

Raleigh’s top lightweight racing/time trial machine with three distinct variants over a 25-year span, the first generation Record Ace was announced in November 1933 (in time for that year’s Olympia Cycle Show) for the 1934 model year. It replaced the Record (introduced in 1930), as “a company-built speed bicycle on thoroughbred lines, [which] leaves very little to be desired.” (Cycling, 10 November 1933).

"It’s Design That Matters…. In Cycling
And only quality can interpret it to perfection. It all goes back to design and quality-building—that extra speed and stamina of a track car! It’s the same with cycles, in a hundred refinements of design, devised by experts with road and track experience, the Raleigh Record Ace stands high amongst those who understand a fine machine. Still more important—the exclusive Raleigh design is interpreted only with the very finest materials. That’s why when your feet touch the pedals of the Raleigh Record Ace you recognize, on the instant, a machine that gives you more speed, more pleasure and more riding ease."

Best known for its roadster and leisure cycles, Raleigh’s long history includes intermittent but intense involvement in cycle road sport, recordbreaking and racing. Twenty-one years after the Land’s End-John O’Groats record had been won on a Raleigh, the Heron was thrust back into competition and public attention when, in August 1929, Jack Rossiter set off from Land's End and covered the 866 miles to John O'Groats in 61 hours, 27 minutes, cutting nearly 7 hours off the record. He rode a Raleigh "Club" with a Sturmey-Archer “K” wide ratio hub gear and spurred Raleigh/Sturmey-Archer on a remarkable decade of sponsoring cycle road records as well developing a new range of racing/club cycles and racing hub gears.

Capitalising on the publicity of Rossiter’s record, Raleigh introduced two new club/racing machines, the Record and the Club (a replica of the Rossiter record bike with Sturmey-Archer three-speed “K” hub), in time for the 1930 model year. The new Raleigh club machines coincided with advances in cycle tubing and the following year the Record featured the new, lighter molybdenum tubing and radially-laced front wheel to which was added in 1933 specially designed Heron motif detachable chainset and racing pedals.

In many aspects, the new RRA was an improved Record but incorporating the new HM Tubing (a forerunner to Reynolds 531) and having many of the same components. In keeping with Raleigh’s mid-range market and to keep the price below 10 pounds, the Ł9 10s (compared to the Ł8 12 s 6d Record) the frame featured a main triangle of 22g chrome-molydenum tubing while the rear triangle and fork were of 18-21g HM (high-manganese) tubing. The front fork had all-round section blades. The Record's 67/67Ú parallel seat and head tube angles were kept but were a bit too old-fashioned even then and changed to a more responsive 71/71Ú in 1936. Frame sizes were 20-inch, 21-inch and 22-inch with a 41.5-inch wheelbase.

The stock wheelset comprised steel 26 x 1 Ľ-inch Dunlop Endrick black-enamelled 32/40-hole rims and black double-butted spokes with a radially-laced front wheel and quick release hubs with distinctive “R” shaped wingnuts and two sided fixed 16t/18t cog rear hub fixed/free rear hub. A freewheel and rear brake could be fitted at extra cost. Carried over from the Record model were the distinctive chainset (but initally with unfluted cranks) with three little Heron’s heads on the detachable chainring (46T stock, 44, 48 and 50T optional) and attractive Heron’s Head steel quill racing pedals.

A single front Raleigh sidepull caliper brake was fitted and the saddle was the new BrooksB-17 Dural Ultralight model weighing 7 oz less than the B-17. Marsh bend chromed (black celluloid covering optional) 15-inch handlebars with Constrictor Shockstop grips were fitted to a three-inch extension in a double locking headclip. A 15-inch Bluemels Featherlight celluloid frame pump and Raleigh’s wider pattern Bluemels Noweight black celluloid mudguards with separate spearpoint extension and special pattern quick release wingnuts and large Brooks saddlebag completed the specification.

Handsomely finished in Raleigh’s unmatched dipped lustrous black enamel with subtle “RRA” gold seat tube transfers, the Record Ace blended well into the stealthy character of road racing and time trialling in Britain at the time when all-black kit was de rigeur for roadmen and machine alike.

Although the frame was stock, from the onset Raleigh offered a range of alternate components to “suit the speedman”. The frame design could accommodate both 26&

Pump transferring rain water into second tank.