Raleigh Bicycle Company used by the Raleigh professional team of the 1970s. Presently Raleigh as a company owns the Diamondback Bike brand as well. During the 1980s Raleigh also supported British professional teams, including "Raleigh Banana" and "Raleigh Weinmann". Raleigh's most notable riders were Paul Sherwin, Malcolm Elliott, Mark Bell, Paul Watson, Jon Clay and Jeff Williams. It also sponsored a mountain bike team in the early 1990s that also raced in road events. In 2009 it was announced that the company would be creating a new Continental-level cycling team called Team Raleigh. The Team were co-sponsored by the global shipping and logistics
Bike Week (Bicycle Week) choose cycling as a chief means of transportation for the week. Introduced in the 19th century, the bicycle has a host of innovators and inventors. Though specifics of its origin may be hazy, the concept of bicycling as a mode of transportation surely originated in Europe. In 1923, the first preliminary Bike Week was held in the UK and a tradition was born. The annual event is nearly a century old and is religiously observed in Europe and more recently in North America. While the dates of a respective city's Bike Week may differ, conceptually, the event remains the same.