1980 TI Raleigh track Joop Zoetemelk.

Catch of the year!! Couple weeks ago this repainted Raleigh trackbike showed up online at our local marketplace. With only 3 photos in the add it was hard to see if it was actually a Raleigh. But i had a feeling it might be something worth my while. With the fork being painted in blue i immediately thought of the Raleigh Panasonic era. Another thought was that the seatstaycaps looked a bit typical. After calling the seller we agreed on a price. Took the train heading to the far north of Holland. With my thrustworthy bikebag i enjoyed the scenery along the way. Upon arrival,i saw the bike and my gut feeling was right. The typical seatstaycaps, lugwork and the info that was written on the bottom bracket shell JZ 1T80. I have just found the first trackbike made for Joop Zoetemelk! JZ stands for Joop Zoetemelk 1 stands for the first T for track 80 for 1980 The seller told me he got the frame repainted. I could not believe that i have just found another TI team Raleigh trackframe. When i jumped back in the train ,you can imagine the facial expression i had on my face :) . After i came home the homework started, through the years i have had an x ​​number of trackbikes in my hands. And how sad I find it that often the most beautiful frames get repainted, for either sponsorship reasons. Or other unknown reasons. I have learned that those frames that are repainted, are often the frames that give the biggest satisfaction after being rediscovered. As said before the frame and fork are clearly repainted. The parts that are currently on the bike are not original. I will restore the frameset in the future. And build the bike back in its former glory. . Hendrik Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk born 3 December 1946 is a retired professional racing cyclist from the Netherlands. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in Tour de France history with 62,885 km ridden. He won the 1979 Vuelta a España and the 1980 Tour de France. He also won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City in the 100 km team time-trial with Fedor den Hertog, Jan Krekels and René Pijnen. Zoetemelk turned professional for Briek Schotte's Belgian Mars-Flandria team in 1970. He came second to Eddy Merckx in that year's Tour de France. . On the last picture in this album you can see Joop Zoetemelk in the bottom right wearing a yellow jersey. Alongside Henk Lubberding, Jan Raas and Gerrie Knetemann. . 55.5cm center center 57cm center top 55.5cm top tube