Like anything else...branding. In this case a lot of nostalgia. The heron is a pretty dang cool emblem, and the crank chain ring with the Heron is just style.

They often seem to go over value of comparable, better bikes with less name recognition. My Raleigh International was the single turdiest, most careless, quality control fail I've ever seen...and the others I've seen close up haven't been that impressive either. The Competition and Professionals usually seem nicer than the Internationals.

I still can't help but to like Raleigh, my very first bike was a Raleigh BMX Black Burner, and my dad rode a 1954 Raleigh Sport.

Obviously SBDU is a different animal entirely.