Zen10NiN

Hello. I just can't seem to run out of questions regarding Raleigh pros! Thanks everyone for being a good sport to this (me) newbie. I was wanting to know the price of a stock full campy equipped Raleigh professional back in 72. If anyone can remember! I was born in 84 so I'm clueless! If someone out there could let me know their price back then and what the equivalent would be in today's market I sure would appreciate it. Thanks for all the help

3alarmer 

.
...all I can tell you is that it was way above my means in 1972, but probably looking back on it, it will turn out to look cheap.

Big Block

close

and there are various inflation calculators, all giving different results. just one

clubman 

My hazy memory thinks it was $500. I don't know what 'equivalent" means however. Comparing a 'Pro' to a modern bike is apples to oranges, or are you asking what $500 adjusted for inflation would be in todays dollars? Lots of currency converters online but they vary wildly in how they interpret value. Dollartimes says $2800

Zen10NiN

Wow! Where do you guys get these old literatures? That's awesome thank you sir!

due ruote 

So if someone had a time capsule NOS 1973 Raleigh Pro, do you think they could get $2500 for it? Possibly to the right buyer I suppose. Sounds high though to this notorious cheapskate.

Bandera

NOS un-assembled & in the original shipping box: Sure, to the right buyer.
With 43 years of use showing, not so much......

-Bandera

repechage

Mondia specials w/ weinmann brakes were $450., Full Campagnolo LeJeune $475 w/ team jersey.
Raleigh international, $365.
This was May of 1972 when I was keenly looking at bikes.
I did not see a Pro on the rack.
Legnano with universals, $395.
I bought something else as I had been saving for 30 months and had noticed that inflation was keeping pace with my ability to save...
Gives you some idea perhaps.
As important to price was availability, the bike boom was still full on, inventory was low.

satbuilder 

Yup. $500. That's what I remember too.

3alarmer 

.
...in 1972, I had about as much chance of coming up with $500 for a bike as I did coming up with $5,000. But if I'd come up with $5,000 I probably woulda put it as a downpayment on one of those farmsteads you could buy cheap up in Maine back then.

I remember spending hours dreaming over the Strout real estate catalogs.

Camilo

Looking at that great price list for 1976 (a year i was personally interested in) it was $900 retail for the Team Professional. I know for a fact that was a heck of a lot of money - for me - back then. Not even worth considering. I think I as earning a little more than $3.00 per hour for unskilled work. I also remember I went to Europe back then and a plane ticket Chicago - Luxemborg was about $400, and in the 12 weeks I traveled around, I spent about $1,000. So $950 for a bike was way out of the question.

But I looked at the Supercourse MKII too. I bought one used, like new in around 78 or 79, for $125 or $150 if I recall. That price was what I could afford, and I really, really enjoyed that Supercourse for about 15 years and a couple of major moves. I probably would not have spent the $220 it would have cost new though.

bulldog1935

my '77 Grand Prix came from a college student - me
My '74 International came from a college professor.

USAZorro

Internationals are as expensive as Professionals these days.

repechage

Internationals get quite a bit or respect today, maybe even more than the regular Pros, the Team Pro was definitely a cut above, the wait time and cost made them a non product where I worked.
Maybe a West Coast thing.
It was Masi, Colnago, and other brands that got the attention for a Race bike. Bob Jacksons were popular frame sets that almost always got built up into a complete bike.
We sold some Pros, but not many. A "we can order one for you" item, Internationals were kept in stock as possible.

chewybrian 

What does it compare to that is new today? Bianchi Eroica, maybe? That's like $3500, right? If they made the Professional new today, I would consider one for $2500.

Seeing these prices in today's money makes me feel better about what I paid for my new bike, anyway.

Bandera

With $11,470 '72-'73 for a fully employed guy a box-stock Pro was >9% of annual wages.


https://www2.census.gov/prod2/popscan/p60-093.pdf

ascherer 

Yup, 500 was the number. In '73 I was 16, wanted one and worked in a textile mill all summer but didn't make the nut (actually I could have but there was a camera I had my eye on as well). Ended up with a Zeus Pro for $300.

Kactus

That was good money in those days. My first full year of employment out of college (1977) I made $9800.

desconhecido 

We bought a Super Course MKII in 1975 for just about $200. That was in Miami, FL. Bought a 531 db Falcon the same day for $300. Still have both though the Falcon is in pieces waiting for restore. Still ride the Super Course MKII. It's a very nice rider -- 531 straight gauge three tubes.

Just bought another SC MKII today for $75. It has a Nervar steel crank while the other has all alloy crank. Probably a 73 model, but I haven't checked the SN.

repechage

One went on eBay a few years ago, $1,400., a bit more with shipping.
23 1/2" frame blue and silver.

Bad Lag

Someone posted a catalog and prices were hand written on the pages. Look for that post.

verktyg 

Currently there's a NIB NOS 23 1/2" International on eBay with a starting price north of $2900 plus $187 shipping!

It's champagne beige and if it were my size.... I might do a Best Offer of $2500.

We sold Raleighs in 1977-1978. They were WAAAY overpriced! Wanted the Grand Prix to fill the under $200 range.

Brought in a few of the Super Courses but they were a hard sell, ~$300 for a 3 tube straight gage Reynolds 531 frame with lower end components was pushing it.

Never even considered the Competition G.S. with Campy Nuovo Gran Sport components.

Seem to remember the Professional Mk. 5 sold for ~$800 with a Campy NR gruppo. We were selling Guerciottis with a SR gruppo for $700! We always kept 5-15 pro frames in stock that we assembled to order for less than the price of the Pros.

The Pros had a market - customers who drooled over them when they were starving students and now had good paying jobs...

Sold a few Team Pro frames too. Could have sold more but they were custom ordered and delivery took forever!

In 1979 the Raleigh sales people came into our shop and wanted us to put in a floor plan order for everything from Rampar BMX bikes on up plus back off on most of our other brands!

We specialized in better quality bikes and didn't sell any kid's models... They pulled the line from us! AMF!

It was no big loss. Japanese bikes with better components and cosmetics at lower prices were taking over the lower priced and mid range markets. Also the US was getting flooded with great European frames from Italy and the UK!

BTW, I picked up a 1975 Raleigh Pro frame and built it just to have a classic in my collection! It's one of the better built ones and handles nicely.

I'd be a sucker for a silver and black Pro... Missed out on few of them on eBay!

verktyg

Chas.

rootboy 

There was one on the rack at out local bike shop in '72. And I dearly wanted it. Just over 500 bucks, if I remember correctly. Couldn't afford it. So bought my PX-10, for half the price.

bulldog1935

Raleigh love, Raleigh hate - however that works out, they were the world's benchmark bicycle for 50 years.
(in every corner of the world, and copied in every corner of the world)
Before Ten Speed defined a style of bike, that style of bike was called English Racer, and the allusion was Raleigh.
During the bike boom, Japanese bikes were inferior.
Schwinn bikes were overpriced, and weighed more than Japanese bikes.
French components were inferior and then there's the threading.

Go any place with bikes today. People will walk past every other to see the Raleigh.

In the 90s, when American bikes took over, they build a bike called the Heron, in homage to Raleigh.

In Italy, today, they're still making upscale copies of the DL-1 and clearly have a home market for them. Doniselli, Umberto Dei
https://www.umbertodei.it/index.php?o...mid=99&lang=en

I'll bet money the name Raleigh shows up on this forum more than any other single brand.

Kactus

That is a beautiful bike and I didn't think $2900 was a ridiculous asking price considering he's open to offers. Considering what the Bianchi Eroica or a new Waterford sells for, $2500 - $2750 shipped would be a fair price.