Originally Posted by randyjawa

I don't hate Raleigh bicycles but I do challenge the company that builds them. To me, and I have seen a lot of Raleighs, the represent the poorest workmanship that I have run across. Would I ever buy a vintage Raleigh? It would have to be pretty inexpensive and close to top of the line.

That said, even this close to top dog from the Raleigh kennel, sported questionable workmanship. A close look at the International's chrome head tube lugs reveals file marks and rough lug edges - not the sort of thing one would expect from a high end road bicycle. That last comment, of course, is my opinion...



Sadly, the same poor workmanship ran rampant with the lower end models. Nope, no longer interested in a Raleigh although some later model, the Asian examples from the eighties did display better workmanship quality. Gotta hand it to those robots.

In all fairness, though, the sloppy workmanship seemed to be common on other brands also, however; generally, top dogs from other makers did offer more cosmetic appeal.