‘By far Raleigh’s largest single foreign market is Nigeria. The cornerstone of African cycling is still the heavy-duty roadster. They are country cousins to the British Raleigh Superbe. We admired the roadster with two-inch balloon tyres and, most of all, the ‘boss bike’, an all-chromium-plated Superbe Roadster, a glittering status symbol.’
– From the Penguin Book of the Bicycle by R.Watson and M.Gray (1978)
1959 All-Chrome Raleigh Superbe Roadster
Three-Speed Sturmey Archer Gears
24″ Frame
28″ Wheels
(Now sold)
This is a top-of-the-range Raleigh used for exhibitions and shop displays, and similar to the ‘Boss Bike’ manufactured for the African market. It was first introduced in 1959.
The chrome is tarnished. A good polishing would help it shine. If you want to turn it into a display bike, you could also replace a few components with new shiny parts.
The All-Crome is one of the rarest Raleigh models, and is ideal for both a collector looking for investment and a bike rider who likes to stand out from the crowd.
It has new tyres and inner tubes is ready to ride.
The difference between a British All-Chrome display Raleigh and its African cousin?
– This one has a Sturmey Archer 3-Speed hub (dated the 10th month of 1979) rather than the coaster brake which was fitted to the Nigerian-built models. African Raleighs also had 2″ balloon tyres, while this has standard 28″ x 1 1/2.
This All-Chrome was perhaps made for the German market, as I’ve seen mention of them being in German catalogues of the early 1980s. And they were also sold in Malaysia.
Or it might have been used in Great Britain for exhibitions and shop displays by a Raleigh cycle agent.
THE CALL OF THE ROAD
Raleigh exported bicycles to the Commonwealth countries in Africa from the earliest days. The advert below is from 1927. Mr. A.J. Cook, aged 17, rode from Cape Town to Johannesburg in 28 days, on a Raleigh bought in 1900 and in continuous use ever since. In a tradition inherited from earlier days of intrepid British explorers, vehicle manufacturers often illustrated long journeys on their products to promote their reliability and sturdiness: “Only the All-Steel bicycle can endure such wear and tests, and all the time be running so easily. That is why it can be and is GUARANTEED FOR EVER.”
