[CR]Raleigh Grand Sports or Raleigh Gran Sport

(Example: Framebuilders:Tubing:Columbus)

Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 11:17:08 -0400
From: "Martin Walsh" <mowalsh@verizon.net>
To: "CR List" <ClassicRendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]Raleigh Grand Sports or Raleigh Gran Sport

Hi CR listees, I just picked up a Raleigh Grand Sports (top tube "Script Logo" says Grand Sports) but the " Retro Raleigh " website and Mark Bulgier's website with all the RALEIGH catalogs calls the bicycle a Raleigh "Gran Sport". I checked the ARCHIVES for Grand Sports and Gran Sport & added Raleigh to the two variations and it seems it is a question that has come up before but with no answer. Could it be a matter of too many lagers at lunch,back in the bicycle boom days of 1973...... The frameset I have appears to be a 1973 model year.The paint is white with turquoise head tube and turquoise seat panels,just like the one in the 1973 catalog on Mark Bulgier's website ( and Shimano Crane GS rear derailleur - circa 1973). Raleigh is in block letters which jives for a 1973...... So what's up, is it all the same Grand Sports = Gran Sport (the catalog was never changed to reflect the newer name incarnation). If any Raleigh "experts" know let's put this question to bed and let it rest forever in the ARCHIVAL FILES. Thanks for any information ! Counting down to Cirque 2006 ! It's going to be a hot one this year! Yours truly, Marty Walsh in Vienna,Va. where I played hooky with my wife yesterday and rode to Summit Point, West Virginia (almost heaven) from Boyce, VA.