Don, I had several (early) 70 & 71 Internationals for sale 4 or 5 years ago. IIRC they didn't sell after several ebay and local sale tries but when I sold the framesets by themselves they went like hotcakes and for more than what I wanted for the whole bike- somwhere in the $500 + range. So they were the 'special ones?"
I would surely by excommunicated from the church of Grant Peterson because the ride made my skin crawl. I felt like I was the Cap't of the Queen Mary shouting through a talking tube to the steering house to iniate turning ;^) Seriously if relaxed geometry floats your boat more power to you. I tried to like it but couldn't shake that feeling that I was driving a 1950's Buick with floaty handling and over boosted power steering.
Now when I rode my first Colnago it was a transcendent event! I still have my first Colnago after 25+ years and it still is the ride for me! I've sold off all my Raleighs except a Silver Mink Pro road and the Red Pro Track.....The road pro is next to go as it's ride is ordinary to me. I collected the Raleighs because there was a Raleigh Shop in the neighborhood growing up. The reality is considerably different from the memories of these bikes.
So please, everyone, flock to the Raleigh Internationals that may be scarce but hardly rare and leave the Colnago's and Masi's to us 'unrelaxed geometry' riders.
***Your mileage may vary***
Matt Gorski Belmont Shore CA USA
>From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
>Date: 2007/04/19 Thu PM 12:42:54 CDT
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: Re:[CR] Raleigh International
>$500 is "roughly" the right price. I started out looking for a 1972
>chartreuse bike. In 2004 I passed up a 24.5" bike in the right year
>and color for $500. It was probably the most expensive mistake i have
>ever made. Instead, i ended up buying some $100 trashed frames and
>having them repainted and rechromed, at well over $800/frame.
>
>A low market price on a pre-74 bike is $425. A high price on a pre-74
>international is about $700. As long as it has the expensive original
>parts ( saddle ... cranks ... gears ... hubs ... headset) $500 is
>perfectly reasonable and i recommend that you get it now, no sense
>waiting, no can always sell it if something better shows up later.
>
>Only about 1 Raleigh International shows up per month on ebay.
>Factoring in size and year (as the pre-74 bikes are much rarer and had
>the relaxed geometry that made the bike famous), you might see
>fewer than 3 bikes in the next 2 years on ebay that meet your
>requirements.
>
>These bikes are blessed by Grant Peterson (who used to design for
>Bridgestone - which built the 1980's raleighs) and these bikes are
>still much sought-after and are apparently rarer than say, a colnago
>or paramount or MASI, as they were made for only about 6-7 years ~ and
>the earlier geometries were made for only about 3-4 years.
>
>- Don Gillies
>Owner of a few raleigh internationals
>San Diego, CA