Been doing a bit of digging into some past Raleigh history, as I'm kind of curious about the junkyard dog I resurrected and am riding. And I've run into a great deal of confusion about what the heck I've got. I'm open to anyone who's got any ideas. A session on retroraleighs.com has my head spinning.
Prior to stripping the frame, the bike was red and white tagged as a Gran(d? - can't remember which spelling) Sport on the top tube just behind the headset. The frame is obviously plain steel tubing, has the original fork with chrome tips, no chrome on the rear, steel cottered crank, and has the original front wheel - steel rim, no quick release. Brakes appear to be original (at least they were a complete set) and are GB centerpulls, no cheater secondary brake levers. GB bars and stem. Forget the derailleurs, there no combination that matches these (Sun Tour front, Campy Gran Sport rear) in the catalog.
I'd originally figured it was late 70s/early 80s and a renaming of the Grand Prix - something that came out shortly after I'd dropped out of the business. That thinking was totally wrong. A steel cottered crank was done after the 76 model year (I'd already moved to working in a steel mill and was only working at the bikeshop during layoffs at this point). Then I check some posted back catalogs and am reminded that the Gran Sport was the Reynolds 531/cheaper components model.
Anyone got any guesses what this thing was originally? It's definitely a real Raleigh, as I still have the headstock badge sitting on the workbench.
George R. "Syke" Paczolt Montpelier, VA
---------------------------------
Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.