Originally Posted by
lugsNleather58
The color was listed as "Coffee Bronze" in the catalogs. If the "Raleigh" on the downtube is gold script, then your bike is 1972 or older. If it is block letters (black/white), then it is probably 1973 or later. The SunTour V-GT Luxe rear and Sun Tour front derailleurs were installed after the bike was new. Originally, it had Simplex Prestige derailleurs and shifters. The Simplex derailleurs were made of black delrin plastic, and didn't really hold up to lots of use, although they shifted fine when they were new. After the Simplex units wore out, most folks installed the Sun Tour derailleurs because they shifted better, were more durable, and were still inexpensive in the late 70s-early 80s.
Here is my 1972 SC with a cotterless triple crank installed:
Is that a replacement Reynolds decal? To my eye, it doesn't quite look like the original "531 frame tubes" one.
Fwiw, here's the '72 catalog page:
