Even if there is no manufacturing it does mean that the name and hopefully some jobs in the warehouse at Nottingham will live on. The use of the name may be a good or a bad thing. It depends where the new (potential) owners pitch the brand. If it’s higher end (and the current Raleigh road bikes are definitely in that bracket), then all well and good. If the aim is Toys R Us then it is doomed.
For no other reason than nostalgia these are the Raleigh’s I owned:
1977 – Raleigh Olympus. My parents wouldn’t let me ride it to school until I had passed my Cycling Proficiency test.
1990 – Raleigh Team Banana. Looked like a TDF bike but was pretty shonky really.
1995 – Dyna Tech Aspin. Came with a card from the Special Products Division that included the name and a photograph of the man who built it in Nottingham, showing off his 1970s Noddy Holder side burns. Loved it.