Raleigh Bikes 2010 Steel Preview
Raleigh’s Brian Fornes stopped by the Bike Hugger HQ this week to show off a few of the new bikes set to hit the scene in 2010. We took the Alley Way and the Gridlock out for a spin on a nice Seattle afternoon and really like what we saw.
Raleigh was once the gloried king of U.K. cycling, with a reputation for crafting high-quality bikes that lasted for ages. (In my basement, in fact, I have a Raleigh woman’s framed 3-speeder with a Strurmey Archer three-speed that’s in perfect shape, despite having thirty or so years under its belt.)
After changing hands a few times, Raleigh bikes are still durable, though they’re less in vogue than they were in the heyday of the British cycling revolution.
That’s a shame because the bikes have always packed a great value for the dollar (or the pound, depending) and bikes like the Alley Way and the Gridlock show that the company is still knocking out some classy bikes at a great price point.
The Alley Way is a Reynolds 520 frame with an Alfine drivetrain and a belt drive that’s coated in a Bianchi-evoking green and comes in at $1425.
The gridlock is a Reynolds 520 frame fixie/singlespeed with flip-flop hub and purdy blue rims, which costs a cool $820.
You can see our shots of the bike on our Flickr site.