When I read your message, I thought "Super Course? No, didn't that have a steel cottered crank?" So I surfed over to Mark B's Raleigh catalogs and, sure enough, there was the classic mid-'70s SC in all it's Brit glory. In my early years as a wrench, it was the top bike I was allowed to build at Klarsfeld's Schwinn Cyclery (there was a pecking order, you know). Pretty much the only recognition we got as mechanics was the level of bike on which you were allowed to work. When you got a build ticket for a Paramount or Pro, you knew you had made it. What a flush of pride!
Anyway, there was the aluminum spoke protector that made that tinny sound and wore grooves in the spokes, the Huret derailleur that replaced the Simplex units on this model in '74, an improvement in the front, a downgrade in the rear. The hard white Carleton hoods, the funky green paint, those steel Phillips pedals that always creaked (known for falling apart when they lost their dustcaps, as that's what held them together), and the 5-pin cottered steel crank with the wavy chainrings that may or may not have matched the wavy Reynolds chain on any particular revolution. The creaky pedals, steel-on-steel drivetrain and rattling spoke protector, usually combined with a rubbing front derailleur, made this bike a cacophony of sound as it trundled down the road.
Then I surfed over to the '76 catalog and was struck by the one of the
coolest white-on-red paintjobs of which I had totally forgotten. One of
Raleigh's best ever, but maybe that's just because it's so close to that of
my old, beloved Raleigh track bike.
http://bulgier.net/
The crank you are looking for came on the Gran Sport. Schwinn had a Nervar version on the Sports Tourer, also with a chainguard. Find another chainguard and lose the small chainring and you can make a cyclocross bike!
Steve Barner, planning a ride in Bolton, VT
> Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 06:56:04 GMT
> From: brianbaylis@juno.com
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]WTB Stronglight 93 crankset w/ "pants protrctor"
>
> Listmembers,
>
> I'm looking for the Stronglight 93 crankset (165mm to 170mm length) with
the "pie plate" pants protector ring on the outside. I understand they came
on midlevel Raleighs, maybe the Super Course. Looking for one in decent
shape at a reasonable price. I saw one and had it in hand at Veloswap this
past week but didn't have much money to spend. I thought I knew who it was,
but I am mistaken. Anyone have a spare one that they're not too attached to?
167.5mm crankarms would be super cool, but 170mm is fine. Thanks for
checking around. I'll check my email in the morning.
>
> Brian Baylis
> La Mesa, CA
> ------------------------------