[CR]Gran Sport expert, or fiction writer?

(Example: Books:Ron Kitching)

From: "Stephen Barner" <steve@sburl.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <CATFOODvJVzJKbMsKRx00002b86@catfood.nt.phred.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 12:35:30 -0400
Subject: [CR]Gran Sport expert, or fiction writer?

Reading the description about this Raleigh Gran Sport, one might think the writer was a true Carleton expert, but I think he is engaging in some superlative historical fiction. I remember the white & baby blue Gran Sports as being a really nice, underappreciated model, but 1960? I don't think so. Maybe a dozen years later, but not 1960. I remember the Gran Sport as having decent Simplex delrin derailleurs and Normandy Competition hubs. This one has a Valentino rear, Record front, and Campy hubs. I think at some point, the Gran Sport switched to forged dropouts.

Anyone able to date this bike and know what it would have come with? Mark Bulgier has a '74 catalog on his website that shows the Gran Sport with forged dropouts and a chainguard on the Nervar Star. I'm thinking this one is somewhere between 71-73.

http://ebay.com/<blah>

Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont