Hi, new to the forum, but a long time reader. I owned both a new Raleigh Grand Prix and a Raleigh Gran Sport prior to 1962. Both came with celluloid mudguards. They both had Britannia "Sprint Veloce" mudguards with the raised center ridge. I am not a mudguard historian, but I never saw any Raleighs with Bluemels, I worked in a Raleigh shop until about 65.

When I cleaned up my current Gran Sport I decided to go with the cream SKS mudguards, because they had pretty much the same color as old Sprint Veloces, and they had a black mudguard, not white. And I bought mine on sale for $25 from Universal Cycles.

I modified them, by first cutting them to match the length of the originals and to remove the black soft protectors from the front and the mudflap from the rear. I also shortened the front, raising the mudflap considerably. I installed a round reflector on the rear, and did not install the black tips on the stays (which were not on the originals). I have seen one set of Bluemels which are very close match the Britannias, the Bluemels "Lightweight."

The SKS mudguards are really much more sturdy than the delicate originals, and match more closely than the more common Bluemels "Popular." See what you all think...


By the way, I treated myself to a Britannia "Sprint Veloce" white pump!