There is no doubt that Raleigh made frames for the European market with French Threads - I had one new in its box and it came from England and had a Worksop frame number. I think Raleigh gave up their own threads on lightweights in about 1960 or a bit after but I think it carried on in roadsters and such for longer. Before "English" threads became the standard, I think the French and Belgians, and possibly others, wanted the French threading that they considered to be standard. There must be lots of parts still available in France, but not so much outside.
Hugh Thornton Cheshire, England
In a message dated 23/02/2006 15:49:24 GMT Standard Time, jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net writes:
What really puzzles me is a French-threaded Raleigh. Never heard of such a thing. Raleigh did have their own thread on some models, which was different from English, but it shouldn't match French. In fact, according to Sheldon's site, the old Raleigh thread had a left-hand fixed cup, like English, so it cannot be tapped to Italian, which has a right-hand fixed cup. (Unless you can completely gind off the old thread, then cut Italian). If you really have a French-threaded Raleigh, I can't imagine where or when it was made. I think Raleigh did buy Gazelle in Holland, and there may have been some Dutch bikes with French thread, but I'm guessing not in the Raleigh/Gazelle era, and even if so, I'd find it odd if such a frame was badged as Raleigh.