Eric Anschutz

Joined: January 3, 2016
Articles: 183
Comments: 3

Bicycle Makers, Raleigh

Raleigh for the Masses: Evolution of a Bicycle Giant

Color lithograph poster of two riders on black Raleigh roadsters against yellow and orange fields, with the heron-head badge and the words Raleigh The All-Steel Bicycle

Raleigh went from a twelve-person workshop on a Nottingham back street to the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world, and from there to a brand owned by a Dutch group under lender control. This is the full arc: Sturmey-Archer and the three-speed empire, the export trade, the Moulton fight, the Chopper, the four-man Ilkeston workshop whose frames won the 1980 Tour de France, and the long unwinding that ended manufacturing in Nottingham.

Eric Anschutz
August 4, 2026
7 Comments

Bicycle Makers, Raleigh

How to Identify and Date a Vintage Raleigh

A practical, honest guide to dating a vintage Raleigh — the model ladder, the frame numbers that genuinely decode (and the ones that do not), the Sturmey-Archer and component date codes, and matching it to a catalogue.

Eric Anschutz
August 4, 2026

Bicycle Makers, Pierce

Pierce Company Bicycles: The Missing Link

The cover of the 1900 Pierce Cycles catalog.

George N. Pierce built birdcages, then tricycles, then some of the finest bicycles of the 1890s — chainless, shaft-driven machines that chased a dream the industry is still chasing today.

Bicycle Makers, Pierce

Pierce Cycles History: A Timeline of Key Company and Bicycle Events

From gilded birdcages in a Buffalo workshop to chainless, shaft-driven bicycles that sat at the head of its catalog for 15 years, the history of Pierce is the story of a manufacturer that kept betting on the harder way of…

Eric Anschutz
July 28, 2026

Component Makers

How to Date a Vintage Bicycle by Its Components

Macro of the MAXI stamp on the chromed steel hub barrel near the freewheel of a 1941 bicycle wheel

The most reliable way to date a classic bicycle is to read the date codes its makers stamped into the parts. A maker-by-maker reference — Campagnolo, Shimano, Maillard, Simplex, Stronglight and Sturmey-Archer — and how to combine them.

Eric Anschutz
July 20, 2026

Bianchi, Bicycle Makers

1909 Bianchi Motoring & Transportation Brochure

1909 Bianchi Motors Brochure Embossed Gilt Eagle4 1800px

A remarkably preserved 1909 brochure, cord-tied and richly embossed, opens a window onto the early years of Bianchi as a maker of automobiles, motorcycles and bicycles.

Eric Anschutz
July 17, 2026

Component Makers, Spécialités TA

The Legacy of Spécialités TA: From “Traction Avant” to Drivetrain Perfection

Specialites Ta Crankset Daniel Rebour Illustration2 1600px

Origins: From Cabinetry to Duralumin Spécialités TA is one of the most remarkable paradoxes in cycling history: an absurdly small company that has held global fame and respect since 1947. It has never employed more than a handful of managers…

Image Gallery, Spécialités TA

Spécialités TA Advertisement Gallery

Illustrated advertisement with cartoon mascot Fifi holding aloft a TA crankset with integrated bottle cage mount, TA Champion du Monde du Leger

Step back into the workshop of Spécialités TA, the small Clamart firm whose duralumin chainrings and cranksets carried some of the biggest names in cycling for over seventy years. This gallery gathers the company’s period advertisements, catalog pages and technical…

Eric Anschutz
July 14, 2026

Component Makers, Spécialités TA

Spécialités TA History: A Timeline of Key Corporate and Technical Events

1978 Specialites Ta Tevano Crankset Advert2 1200px

From a front-wheel-drive experiment that never reached production to a crankset still made six decades after its debut, the history of Spécialités TA is the story of a tiny French workshop that chose to do a few things better than…

Eric Anschutz
July 14, 2026

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