I wonder if this bike is some sort of "missing link". I notice it has a standard reynolds 531 throughout decal, but the "forks, stays" part of the sticker seems to have been blacked out.
Nearly all the bikes in the mid 1970's raleigh catalogues misleadingly include this sort of a sticker in the picture, so all the bikes (even the super course) _LOOK_ like they are 531 throughout. Maybe Raleigh sometimes used these stickers and crossed out the words that did not apply ?? "forks, stay" or perhaps "butted" or on the gran prix I suppose they could have cross out "guaranteed" ??
This bike has normandy hubs with plastic nuts, which might mean early 1970's. It also has a single brake cable stop on the back side of the bike, with the BOLD decals. I think this suggests a 1973 or 1974.
The standard "Raleigh Gran Sport" of that era came with a stronglight 93 crankset. Basically, a low-end peugeot px-10 set up for touring. (don't ask me for the proper peugeot alphabetic suffix, i could never figure out that arcane stuff ...)
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA