ecrider

I picked up this old Raleigh 575 SL Olympian Sports Tour Bike today on Craigslist. Why? I don't know. It looks like it will be a good fit for my daughter. What attracted me to the bike was its condition. Parts of it looked factory fresh. But the back had damage on one side from a crash. I took off the back brake because the outer arm was damaged. However, I was able to pick up that part on Ebay so it is fixable.

Can anyone tell me about this bike? I'm posting pictures. I didn't see a serial number to get the year.

FastJake

It's a decent bike appearing to be in excellent condition minus the rear brake. Butted main tubes = hi-ten stays and possibly the fork. Components say mid-1980s. Lower end, but still very respectable.

How much did you pay? I'd say $150 around here.

ecrider

$80 for the deal. I located the serial number and it appears to have been made in1986 but was probably the 1987 model.

FastJake

Solid deal for $80. Whoa! Fix those tubes before the valve stems break off! I haven't seen any quite so bad (picture #2.)

Doohickie

Here's the 1986 catalog. It shows 555 tubing, not 575. It's a Raleigh USA model (i.e., when Huffy was licensing the Raleigh name in the U.S.) which in my mind are good bikes. I've had a couple from earlier in that era (1983) and they've been solid bikes. I thought by 1987 the Huffy experiment was over, but maybe they produced some stock before Raleigh took the brand back.

The Raleigh USA bikes were sourced in Taiwan and Japan (I see yours is made in Taiwan; I would have guessed Japan). The high end racing bike frames were true Raleighs, I think (made in UK).

I've seen an Olympian with the same color scheme come up on my local CL twice now (2 years apart). It was $80 the first time; the second time was $95. I think it's worth more than that, but if it comes up again I hope to talk the guy down a bit


Does it have indexed shifting, or just friction?


There's a listing on DFW CL this week for an Olympian for $160.

ecrider

It's funny but the DFW bike also is in great shape and is a 54 cm like mine. That's why it's a candidate for my daughter as it's too small for me. It appears to have indexed shifting as the gears seem to click into place. The 555 specs threw me off but it was made in '86. There was a notation that some bike frames were made for the following year's models.

Doohickie

....although I think 1986 was the last year for the Raleigh USA/Huffy deal. Maybe it was 87 though... who knows.

zazenzach

nice bike

wheels are on backwards though (skewers on wrong side)

zukahn1 

Looks like nice bike, Being it is Raliegh Compnay of America it was a lower end import bike made for Huffy and sold under the Raliegh label. While nice riders the seem to sell for between $100-150 in most markets depending on condition.