Classic & Vintage - Weird drop out on 75 Raleigh Competition

So I bought a nice 75 Raleigh Competition on ebay. I am trying parts out on it and
I get to the rear dérailleur and I am puzzled by the stop on the drop out. In my limited experience
the stop is 90 degrees further to the back. What is the purpose of this position? It seems
to me it has to be this way by design. Are there a class of dérailleurs that want the stop
there?

Your nice Raleigh Competition needs Huret Jubilee derailluer. Now, before you spend your hard earned treasure for one, be aware that there are different models of these, short and long cage, and more importantly, some are configured for Campagnolo ends or Huret ends as you have. Allegedly there is another type I have been told but I have not seen it. Huret Jubilees are fetching more money of late, I bought a complete set a while back, levers, cable guides and mechanisms for $90. plus shipping two years ago, an outrageous deal at today's prices.

Here is a case where parting out a bike yeilds much bigger revenue than whole.

+1 on that. Those Huret Jubilee deraillers are more sought after than campy NR these days. I wonder if any other deraillers besides the Jubilee will work on these dropouts, maybe another model of Huret??

I was able to get both a Campy and a Suntour dérailleur threaded
in which suggests ISO threading. As I recall dropouts for
French dérailleurs are a slightly smaller size and no actual thread.
Is that correct? And does that suggest something else was in
there before?

The threading in this particular Huret dropout is not the issue, position of the derailler "stop" is. The older French bikes are another matter, they had Simplex drop outs which were not threaded at all (but could be).

There is a pointer to an bikelists at this page that mentions some
good approaches.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=214997&highlight=huret+dropout

Thanks the tip on huret drop outs.

You have no problem with the threading - and you are correct, older french are not threaded (my '74 w/simplex drops is threaded). I'll bet someone has figured out a way to rig this stop to work with other makes besides the Jubilee. Hopefully they'll post. Me - I'd probably drill and tap a small hole in the position you want and put a set screw in it. Just be very careful that you do not break a bit off in the hole. I've done that drilling dropouts for adjustment screws and it's impossible to drill the broken bit end out.

Me - I'd probably drill and tap a small hole in the position you want and put a set screw in it. Just be very careful that you do not break a bit off in the hole. I've done that drilling dropouts for adjustment screws and it's impossible to drill the broken bit end out.

Won't work here as one would be drilling into thin air, more material is what is needed farther back along the arc. There were some adaptors long ago that third parties made to adapt things, but finding one will be a challenge, and will probably rule out a six speed with the extra space between the mech. and the dropout. A Simplex might fit, but the good examples of these, alloy bodies, double sprung, will not make for a cheap test either.

I see a fixed gear project coming... Or laying in wait for another Competition, a whole or almost whole bike might start to make good economic sense now. look for a small or giant one as they fetch less than the more normal sized bikes. Do be aware that the Competitions came with a number of different dropouts over time, sometimes running changes in the same year. The axle adjusters with the cresent moon plastic nuts are a dead give-a-way for Huret.

I think he's talking about drilling radially and I think it could work. I'd try it if it was mine. I'd drill and tap a 3mm hole and insert a stainless hex head screw.

I think he's talking about drilling radially
You are correct - & 3mm sounds like a good size to me

Here is a Jublee set that was for sale a while ago from Yellow Jersey... you will notice halfway down the page there is an adapter included in the set to install the rear derailleur on other bikes...

http://www.yellowjersey.org/huret.html