Raleigh for the Masses: Evolution of a Bicycle Giant

Perhaps one of 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 in 1886 producing 3 bicycles a week. Frank Bowden, an ill lawyer and businessman given less than 6 months to live, purchased a bike from the workshop under advice from his doctor, “If you want to save your life, take up cycling”. With that one sentence the course of the bicycle’s history changed for the better.