Exclusive news from Carlton at Bikebiz is that the National championship dominating team have been disbanded.

The Team was renamed as Team Diamond Back Racing when parent company Raleigh canned their self named race team last year but they’ve now been completely abandoned. According to Gary Coltman – their rider manager for the last ten years – riders such as Nick Craig, Barrie Clarke and Matt Farmer will now be looking to join new teams while the team truck is for sale to anyone who’s interested.

Much of the Diamond Back bike range is also being pulled in the UK for 2002 as Raleigh tries to slim down and shape up as part of it’s management buy out restructuring. Diamond Back Europe will now concentrate on low to mid range bikes only, a direct parallel to the news from Schwinn / GT.

It’s never good news to see race teams go down, especially one with as illustrious a history as Raleigh. However with more and more companies having to pull their belts in and changes in the sports focus to more recreational riding or ‘events’ such as 24hr races and Enduro’s, the pro race scene is no longer the prime marketing playground it was ten years ago.