Classic & Vintage - '77 Raleigh Sport build quality question

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA
mparker326
10-22-07, 09:03 AM
I was looking at a 77 Raleigh Sports for my wife that the LBS had sitting out front.

It was very similar if not identical to this bike:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Raleigh-ladies-comfort-bike-womans-vintage-road-bicycle_W0QQitemZ250177806495QQihZ015QQcategoryZ156524QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I rode it and the build quality & workmanship seemed much poorer than my '62 Sports. It rode like a cheap bike.

Was this my imagination or did the build quality & materials of later day Raleigh Sports' become worse?

USAZorro
10-22-07, 09:14 AM
Not your imagination. The bike boom was one factor. People wanted 10-speeds in the mid-late 70's so who knows who was building 3-speed models then. I'm pretty sure the emphasis had shifter significantly from "quality" to "volume" by then also. I have a 1974 Raleigh Superbe, and even though it is a solid and sturdy bike, the build quality when it comes to the little details is shamefully poor.
oldroads
10-22-07, 02:33 PM
Certainly a difference in quality in the later 3-speeds.
Have a look at this 1976 Sports.
We never see problems like that on the earlier cycles.

bbattle
10-22-07, 06:37 PM
My '72 Raleigh Ltd.-3 was built by Gazelle. some of the lugwork isn't so pretty.

http://gallery.mac.com/bbattle/100072/100_0358/web.jpg

MORE PICS (http://gallery.mac.com/bbattle#100072&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=0)