When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Found a Raleigh Competition road bike, can anyone give me info on it?
- Thread starter azhearseguy
- Start date
#eBayPartner Most Recent BUY IT NOW Items Listed on eBay
curtis odom
Finally riding a big boys bike
Definitely not a 60's bike and made in the early to mid 70's. I worked in a Raleigh shop from 1976-1980. I know we had that identical bike on the floor in 1976-77.
curtis odom
Finally riding a big boys bike
I have a friend looking for a bike like that, is it for sale?
azhearseguy
Finally riding a big boys bike
curtis odom
Finally riding a big boys bike
Forwarded to him.
Thanks.
Thanks.
sailorbenjamin
Finally riding a big boys bike
Here's a sight with some good serial number data;
http://www.jaysmarine.com/bikecollection.html
http://www.jaysmarine.com/bikecollection.html
harpon
Finally riding a big boys bike
Worked in a shop that sold these...
Worked at The Bicycle peddler at 38th and Georgetown Rd in Indianapolis the summers of '73 and '74, and we carried the Raleigh line- put a few of these together - I would say from that experience that this is a slightly later version even from that-
The Competition was in fact more of a touring bike, or possibly a beginning race bike at the time- with three main Reynolds 531 tubes in the frame- it wasn't a full "double-butted" frame, but the next step down- still very lightweight and responsive and a very very nice bike available at the time-always black in color to my knowledge- I still recall the price- we sold them new for $220 then. I think they may have even had sew-up tires and wheels then, but could be wrong.
Two or three years earlier the only kind of a racing bike you could have even gotten in the city of Indianapolis was a Schwinn Paramount- special ordered at a Schwinn shop. You should perhaps seek out a replacement decal on e-bay- availability comes and goes.
The ones I recall were set up with Simplex derailleurs and shifters- so these derailleurs are either added on later or indicate a later origin. And WHAT NICE DERAILLEURS they are!
Huret Jubillee- I was racing at the time they came out- about 1974 I think- and got a set for christmas- marketed as "the lightest in the world"- The front is a bit skimpy and the cage tends to wear under the abuse of racing, and I always felt the Campy Nuovo Record front worked better- and less weight difference there- so I switched that one back- but used the rear one for several years
I'm not sure about the sloping crown on the fork- the Raleighs were known for their distinctive sloping seat stays, so they may have been innovators there a bit, but sloping crowns didn't really comke along much before about '77 or later. Nervar crank- very nice. If I was riding her, I'd go with 27x1 1/8 inch tires, or even 1" are available for a better roll.
If any of the reflector set-up is original, that came along about the mid-seventies.
If I had to guess- I'd say about 1977- but I wasn't watching them then- anywhere from about 1975 to 1980 could be correct, or even after that- a very traditional company.
Nice bike.
Worked at The Bicycle peddler at 38th and Georgetown Rd in Indianapolis the summers of '73 and '74, and we carried the Raleigh line- put a few of these together - I would say from that experience that this is a slightly later version even from that-
The Competition was in fact more of a touring bike, or possibly a beginning race bike at the time- with three main Reynolds 531 tubes in the frame- it wasn't a full "double-butted" frame, but the next step down- still very lightweight and responsive and a very very nice bike available at the time-always black in color to my knowledge- I still recall the price- we sold them new for $220 then. I think they may have even had sew-up tires and wheels then, but could be wrong.
Two or three years earlier the only kind of a racing bike you could have even gotten in the city of Indianapolis was a Schwinn Paramount- special ordered at a Schwinn shop. You should perhaps seek out a replacement decal on e-bay- availability comes and goes.
The ones I recall were set up with Simplex derailleurs and shifters- so these derailleurs are either added on later or indicate a later origin. And WHAT NICE DERAILLEURS they are!
Huret Jubillee- I was racing at the time they came out- about 1974 I think- and got a set for christmas- marketed as "the lightest in the world"- The front is a bit skimpy and the cage tends to wear under the abuse of racing, and I always felt the Campy Nuovo Record front worked better- and less weight difference there- so I switched that one back- but used the rear one for several years
I'm not sure about the sloping crown on the fork- the Raleighs were known for their distinctive sloping seat stays, so they may have been innovators there a bit, but sloping crowns didn't really comke along much before about '77 or later. Nervar crank- very nice. If I was riding her, I'd go with 27x1 1/8 inch tires, or even 1" are available for a better roll.
If any of the reflector set-up is original, that came along about the mid-seventies.
If I had to guess- I'd say about 1977- but I wasn't watching them then- anywhere from about 1975 to 1980 could be correct, or even after that- a very traditional company.
Nice bike.
Last edited:
curtis odom
Finally riding a big boys bike
This Raleigh is almost box stock. The exceptions are the rear wheel and the seat (maybe a few nicknacks hear and there). The bike is most definitely full Reynolds, not just three main tubes (note: a full Reynolds bike only has two double butted tubes, two single butted tubes, six taper gauge tubes, and one straight gauge tube). The Raleigh Super Course farther down the line was only three main tubes. The Huret Jubilee Derailleurs are stock as is the TA three pin crank.
You are confusing this bike with the Raleigh Gran Sport which was the touring model equipped with Full Reynolds, Simplex Derailleurs and a Nervar Crank.
The Cinelli style sloping crown is correct for the year. Only the Raleigh Professional used the fastback stays. The fastback stays were not innovated by Raleigh, they were an original design by Bill Hurlow (W. B. Hurlow) Britain's foremost frame builder.
This nice bike is now in the possession of one of my pals who will be using it for daily commuting.
You are confusing this bike with the Raleigh Gran Sport which was the touring model equipped with Full Reynolds, Simplex Derailleurs and a Nervar Crank.
The Cinelli style sloping crown is correct for the year. Only the Raleigh Professional used the fastback stays. The fastback stays were not innovated by Raleigh, they were an original design by Bill Hurlow (W. B. Hurlow) Britain's foremost frame builder.
This nice bike is now in the possession of one of my pals who will be using it for daily commuting.
harpon
Finally riding a big boys bike
No, I believe I am still correct about the frame tubing-
a "full-reynolds 531" frame had a sticker that read "Reynolds 531 Double butted tubing THROUGHOUT- forks and seat stays" This is not that sticker. This also very familiar sticker says "frame tubes".
The fork has Reynolds stickers too, but perhaps not 531 fork stickers I think. Dunno- can't read them here. I believed then and still do now that the Competion's main tubes were double butted, but the rest straight guaged.. I'm not sure exactly what I wrote the other night, hastily before Downton Abbey Season 2 came on- I'm just saying that it isn't the top line full 531 frame.
This thread on the next page is the Gran Sport- the decal is a 531 "throughout" from that period- clearly on the frame and forks- this model is in fact is an older line, and the equivalent of my own '67 Peugot PX10 in the frame regard, except no simplex dropout, and it has a long cage Simplex shifter, for Gran Sporting. the crank is a Stronglight 93, same as the PX10. Other period alloy cranks besides Campy were the Stronglight 49, a bit less pricey than the 93, and a line of "T.A." cranks. Steel cottered cranks were still sold on some lesser priced bikes, including the Raleigh Records and Grand Prix we carried ($109 and $129 at our store, respectively)
http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?17590-1975(-)-Raleigh-Gran-Sport
I think the Gran Sport was about $280 then- but we didn't sell many top end type bikes for that much money then- used- they now get twice what they sold for on ebay I think.
When I was racing at that time- '73 and '74 no Amateur Bicycle League of America "A" or "B" racers would have likely been using a Competition like this, which may be more of a testament to affluence and snobbery than the actual worth of this quite fine Raleigh. "C" riders maybe- but even still almost no one would have been on clinchers, but sew-up wheels. "USCF" and Cat 1, 2 and 3 rider designations were still a year or two away then. The Nervar crank design was around at the turn of the '70's when I first had knowledge of it. The GB stem and probably handlebars are distinctly British. Pivo would have been the French equivalent- we were using TTT then before a general switch to Cinielli.
If you were racing seriously then- almost EVERYBODY had a full Campy Reynolds or Columbus bike- it was sorta standard, and while a bit expensive- nothing like costs today.
the Competitions I put together and sold were Simplex equipped because as I thought I said- the Huret Jubilee was just coming out about then or '74-75. I thought then that they were three main tube frames- so maybe I wrote something wrong above. It looks like from the sticker fork that some of it beyond the frame tubes may be Reynolds straight guage. Not much of a difference then reallly.
when I went to college in Fall 1972 a local shop in Lafayette Indiana had Reynolds stickers- indistinguishable from the real thing that read "Guaranteed NOT built with Reynolds 531" and I had one on the Schwinn Varsity I rode to class and left outside in the rain, while my full- Campy Gitane Super Corsa stuffed nicely into my dorm closet, in violation of the rules had the real 531 sticker en Francais.
a "full-reynolds 531" frame had a sticker that read "Reynolds 531 Double butted tubing THROUGHOUT- forks and seat stays" This is not that sticker. This also very familiar sticker says "frame tubes".
The fork has Reynolds stickers too, but perhaps not 531 fork stickers I think. Dunno- can't read them here. I believed then and still do now that the Competion's main tubes were double butted, but the rest straight guaged.. I'm not sure exactly what I wrote the other night, hastily before Downton Abbey Season 2 came on- I'm just saying that it isn't the top line full 531 frame.
This thread on the next page is the Gran Sport- the decal is a 531 "throughout" from that period- clearly on the frame and forks- this model is in fact is an older line, and the equivalent of my own '67 Peugot PX10 in the frame regard, except no simplex dropout, and it has a long cage Simplex shifter, for Gran Sporting. the crank is a Stronglight 93, same as the PX10. Other period alloy cranks besides Campy were the Stronglight 49, a bit less pricey than the 93, and a line of "T.A." cranks. Steel cottered cranks were still sold on some lesser priced bikes, including the Raleigh Records and Grand Prix we carried ($109 and $129 at our store, respectively)
http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?17590-1975(-)-Raleigh-Gran-Sport
I think the Gran Sport was about $280 then- but we didn't sell many top end type bikes for that much money then- used- they now get twice what they sold for on ebay I think.
When I was racing at that time- '73 and '74 no Amateur Bicycle League of America "A" or "B" racers would have likely been using a Competition like this, which may be more of a testament to affluence and snobbery than the actual worth of this quite fine Raleigh. "C" riders maybe- but even still almost no one would have been on clinchers, but sew-up wheels. "USCF" and Cat 1, 2 and 3 rider designations were still a year or two away then. The Nervar crank design was around at the turn of the '70's when I first had knowledge of it. The GB stem and probably handlebars are distinctly British. Pivo would have been the French equivalent- we were using TTT then before a general switch to Cinielli.
If you were racing seriously then- almost EVERYBODY had a full Campy Reynolds or Columbus bike- it was sorta standard, and while a bit expensive- nothing like costs today.
the Competitions I put together and sold were Simplex equipped because as I thought I said- the Huret Jubilee was just coming out about then or '74-75. I thought then that they were three main tube frames- so maybe I wrote something wrong above. It looks like from the sticker fork that some of it beyond the frame tubes may be Reynolds straight guage. Not much of a difference then reallly.
when I went to college in Fall 1972 a local shop in Lafayette Indiana had Reynolds stickers- indistinguishable from the real thing that read "Guaranteed NOT built with Reynolds 531" and I had one on the Schwinn Varsity I rode to class and left outside in the rain, while my full- Campy Gitane Super Corsa stuffed nicely into my dorm closet, in violation of the rules had the real 531 sticker en Francais.
Last edited:
Similar threads
