Classic & Vintage - 76[?] Raleigh Grand Prix, post clean-up photos

I snagged this off Craigslist for $30 - don't know if that is a good deal or not. It needed tubes/tires, (still needs) some bar tape and ALOT of cleaning.

A couple things I found interesting, the rims say "Sturmey Archer" and the hubs are stamped with "Normandy" - "Made in France" (see pic below) and the every 4th chain link is stamped with "W. Germany"(see pic below) and it has a Brooks saddle but it appears like a very, very, very cheap model. I don't know all those things are typical, but I found it all cool nonetheless... anybody see anything interesting?

(I was going to post in the rides thread but I have alot of photos)

The serial number is WG6001420 (pic (http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/serialNo.jpg)) if anybody could figure out the exact year this is... It appears it's the 1420th bike made in May of 1976 in the Carlton factory in Worksop, England - thanks CampyGuy

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/raleighGrandPrix.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/stemAndQuill.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/headtube.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/frontBrakes.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/cranksFrontDerllr.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/rearDrllr.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/rearHub.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/saddle.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/tubingSticker.jpg

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/chain_WGermany.jpg

Very nice bike for only $30. I have a 78 Gran Prix and I absolutely love it. Here's the SN info.
http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Retro-Raleighs/RaleighSerialNumbers.jpg
So it's the 1420th bike made in May of 1976 in the Carlton Workshop.

Registered just to say the components look identical to what came on my 77 that I just saved from the dump the other day.

Very nice bike for only $30. I have a 78 Gran Prix and I absolutely love it. Here's the SN info.
http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Retro-Raleighs/RaleighSerialNumbers.jpg
So it's the 1420th bike made in May of 1976 in the Carlton Workshop.

ahhh. THAT'S where that retro Raleigh image moved too... thanks! And just a note, it's actually the Carlton factory in Worksop, England -- not Carlton Workshop.



Registered just to say the parts look identical to what came on my 77 that I just saved from the dump the other day.

well, that's rather nice of you. Thanks and welcome to the forums.

Syd Barrett, you forgot to post a pic of the cool wrap-around seat stays at the seat tube. ;)

ahhh. THAT'S where that retro Raleigh image moved too... thanks! And just a note, it's actually the Carlton factory in Worksop, England -- not Carlton Workshop.


Whoops. Guess I just read the first half of the word and assumed the rest.:o

I had a Raleigh Record in those days (around 1970 or 71). Yours is a little later, but as I recall, the Grand Prix was a step up (about one or two steps up from the low end) , but with ordinary high carbon steel tubing, it was a bike that was more intended to look like a high-quality racing bike than to be one. Kind of at the same level as a basic Peugeot. At that price point, it lost the "all steel bike" qualification and added some nicer touches like the GB allow stem, the non-cottered cranks, the Normandy hubs, etc. The frame was more like a racing bike, but the tubing was pretty much the same one they made the Superb "English Racer" 3-speeds with. But it's a nice bike to have just to ride around on, although it's probably around 30 lbs. I wouldn't mind having one today myself. Can't go wrong for 30 bucks!

I had a Raleigh Record in those days (around 1970 or 71).Me too!


Yours is a little later, but as I recall, the Grand Prix was a step up (about one or two steps up from the low end) , but with ordinary high carbon steel tubing, it was a bike that was more intended to look like a high-quality racing bike than to be one.One step up.


Kind of at the same level as a basic Peugeot. At that price point, it lost the "all steel bike" qualification and added some nicer touches like the GB allow stem, the non-cottered cranks, the Normandy hubs, etc. The frame was more like a racing bike, but the tubing was pretty much the same one they made the Superb "English Racer" 3-speeds with. But it's a nice bike to have just to ride around on, although it's probably around 30 lbs. I wouldn't mind having one today myself. Can't go wrong for 30 bucks!me neither!

Very nice deal. One suggestion though if you plan on riding it. Those cool Sturmey Archer rims look really nice, but they're chromed steel - which means they're heavy, and they function very poorly when they're wet. You could knock 2-3 pounds off the weight of your bike, and make it much safer on wet days by switching to an alloy wheelset. If you do this, a 27" wheelset will take less effort to swap out. You could get away with swapping out to 700c in the back, but I'm not sure you have room to adjust the brake pads on the front, so maybe 700c isn't such a good idea.

Syd Barrett, you forgot to post a pic of the cool wrap-around seat stays at the seat tube. ;)

wow. you are right. I'll grab a pic in daylight tomorrow -- that is a really cool little detail.


I had a Raleigh Record in those days (around 1970 or 71). Yours is a little later, but as I recall, the Grand Prix was a step up (about one or two steps up from the low end) , but with ordinary high carbon steel tubing, it was a bike that was more intended to look like a high-quality racing bike than to be one. Kind of at the same level as a basic Peugeot. At that price point, it lost the "all steel bike" qualification and added some nicer touches like the GB allow stem, the non-cottered cranks, the Normandy hubs, etc. The frame was more like a racing bike, but the tubing was pretty much the same one they made the Superb "English Racer" 3-speeds with. But it's a nice bike to have just to ride around on, although it's probably around 30 lbs. I wouldn't mind having one today myself. Can't go wrong for 30 bucks!

cool. thanks for the info. yeah, this thing is heavy, but it doesn't feel awkward. It's certainly not perfectly balanced but not too bad to cruise around with...

Very nice deal. One suggestion though if you plan on riding it. Those cool Sturmey Archer rims look really nice, but they're chromed steel - which means they're heavy, and they function very poorly when they're wet. You could knock 2-3 pounds off the weight of your bike, and make it much safer on wet days by switching to an alloy wheelset. If you do this, a 27" wheelset will take less effort to swap out. You could get away with swapping out to 700c in the back, but I'm not sure you have room to adjust the brake pads on the front, so maybe 700c isn't such a good idea.

It's funny that you mention that. All the other bikes I've picked up of CL of this caliber I've converted into singlespeeds with new 700c wheels on them and had to play around a bit with the brake reaches.

I've run out of budget to get another ss wheelset so I decided to stick with the 27's. I dug through my stack of wheels in the basement and found some 27" aluminums[alloys] and didn't really notice THAT much of a weight difference. Besides, I sort of like the original huge hubs and this is my 4th rideable bike so I'll just be cruisin with this one... I figured I would just try to keep it all original and ignore weight as much as possible.

Does anybody else think that the W. Germany stamp is kinda strange? or is this typical of bikes this age?
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/Ros_ros/Raleigh%20Grand%20Prix/chain_WGermany.jpg

I tossed out the chain that came on mine. Im guessing at some point someone swapped the chain over for one that was made in west germany....

Excellent photography, BTW! Major macro action... .

It's funny that you mention that. All the other bikes I've picked up of CL of this caliber I've converted into singlespeeds with new 700c wheels on them and had to play around a bit with the brake reaches.

I've run out of budget to get another ss wheelset so I decided to stick with the 27's. I dug through my stack of wheels in the basement and found some 27" aluminums[alloys] and didn't really notice THAT much of a weight difference. Besides, I sort of like the original huge hubs and this is my 4th rideable bike so I'll just be cruisin with this one... I figured I would just try to keep it all original and ignore weight as much as possible.


That makes perfect sense. Normandy high-flange hubs sure gave lots of style points to a lot of bikes back in the day. Hopefully that's not a stress fracture on the rear hub on the freewheel side.

I like the colors.

It looks like you need some fresh brake pads.

There's nothing unusual about those HF Normandy hubs. Most all of the bikes in that price range had them. That's why I put low flange hubs on my PX10.

Those can definitely be considered suicide rims in rain. It's not that you can't stop, just that it can take longer. They didn't seem to mind killing the poorer cyclists back then. But other than that, they are nice and sturdy. If it was me, I wouldn't change them if you don't plan to ride much in the rain. I think looks are important in a collector bike, even a lower end one. Given that, I would ditch that cheap saddle and get a B17. My Raleigh Record came with a Wright leather saddle. A little cheaper than Brooks, but not bad, and pretty good-looking too. I rode it for years.

Excellent photography, BTW! Major macro action... .

thanks! Our little Sony t1 (http://www.dcviews.com/reviews/Sony-T1/Sony-DSC-T1-review.htm) does a crazy good job on macros...

thanks! Our little Sony t1 does a crazy good job on macros...

Wish we would have bought that instead of our Nikon S5 (same formfactor, 3x optical zoom all internal). No variable aperture, but it has a ND filter instead, lame !!!! (Sorry about the offtopic :) )

Nice find. Many of the components look similar to my Raleigh (eg. Normandy high flange hubs and GB stem). I'm betting the RD and FD are relabeled Suntour. The FD shifts into low ring by pulling back on the left lever (backwards of most other setups).

Beautiful bike, especially at that price. That 76 is much nicer than the 74. Cotterless crank versus cottered crank and I like your rear derailer over the Simplex, but that's just me.

While I think the late 60's and early 70's Grand Prix's looked a bit better, yours is a superior machine. Getting rid of the Simplex Prestige derailleurs and substituting SunTour was a great thing to do. That means it is a nice bike you can actually shift!

For $30 you got a steal. Ride and enjoy it!

Nice job! Great photos too.

thanks guys.

I threw some wrap onto the bars and took it out for a longer ride last night. It's pretty smooth and actually does shift really easily -- I didn't even have to make any adjustments. It feels a bit sluggish but I'm used to twitchy (my primary bike is a fixed bianchi pista).