Originally Posted by
bassogap
I'm usually not a negative person, and I hate to rain on others' parade, but why are old Raleighs so revered?
Has anyone else noticed many flaws with mid 70s Raleighs?
I'm one of the big early 70's Raleigh proponents on this site, but I can't argue against your statement.
Originally Posted by
Eric S.
I worked at a shop from 1982-1985 that sold the consumer Raleighs. A couple of top sellers were OK to build up, but one (Rapide, I think) was a nightmare. Aside from the crappy components, sometimes the forks were misaligned.
I've had to do frame alignment on pretty much every one I've worked on. On my most recent 650b conversion, I had to sweat out a fork dropout and replace it so the front wheel was centered.
Originally Posted by
spock345
I ended up fixing a bunch of problems on my competition just because I like how the frame rides. The biggest glaring issues were messy brazing (fixed with some filing), misaligned dropouts (mostly fixed now, the rear ones are still a bit wonky), and a seat stay cap missing sufficient braze to stay on the bike (not a structural issue, brazed back into place). To me it seems like an issue with their quality control person. The sloppy brazing and finishing work is a problem that could have been easily avoided. Their main redeeming qualities to me are the more relaxed geometry of early 70's models and the bronze green paint jobs on the international and super course.
More than half of the Competitions or Internationals I've worked on have that same seat cap issue. That's the first place I look when I'm working one one. A band saw blade as floss, and a bit of silver braze and it's fixed.
Originally Posted by
Bandera
We had the same issue w/ all of the Euro brands that we sold during The Boom, with the exception of most Motobecane production. The general lack of QC/QA and the Euro brands "take it or leave it" attitude led to our "Leave It" decision as we replaced them all w/ Japanese production by the mid-late '70's.
It was Schwinn that led the way w/ contracted production by Panasonic in Japan for the World and Approved models. Straight, well spec'd w/ modern components and nicely/durably finished in contemporary colors they could be assembled in 1/2 the time of any Euro bike w/o any warranty claims. Better yet, the customers loved them.
That being said I still ride my '74 Carlton built International regularly in it's 42nd year of service, a great traditional British club riders' machine then/now.
-Bandera
If I could find Grand Record's in my size, I'd rather convert them! Those frames were well built 531 frames, for the most part. Panasonic made some great frames for Schwinn, the one I've upgraded was dead on, clean, perfect shorelines on the lug...
Originally Posted by
repechage
Raleigh quality in the 70's was quite variable...If you read the history of Raleigh book, it is quite clear the struggles that played out on the sales floor.
Not just the quality, the frame geometry is "unknown" until you measure it out, even the same year, size, and make.
But for some reason, everything from the Super Course on up rode great!
Maybe I like 'em because they where the brand I wanted when I was younger. They're the bicycle equivalent of an MG/MGB/Triumph sports car of the same era - same issues.