[MRM]

My father in law somehow saved enough boxtops or something and was able to mail order one, aparently direct from England in the lates 60s - in Beijing China. He never was able to fully explain to me how he pulled it off. All he would ever tell me was that he saved up and mail ordered it by mail. For delivery in the middle of the Cultural Revolution, it seems. Maybe he had to pay extra for delivery to a revolutaionary zone. Anyway, he still was riding it in the early 90s when I first visited them. It was beat up but still solid as a rock and was his pride and joy. In the late 90s they came here to live with us and he had to leave his beloved bike behind. He found an identical one in a garage sale in my neighborhood and he bought it for something like $25. He fixed it up and it was almost like new; much better shape than his old one in China. He died a few years ago but the Raleigh 3 speed is still in the garage and gets used regularly by the kids. They're bullet proof and classic looking as far as I can tell.