Apologies if you were expecting the gold, Japanese chromevelato road bike.
I mentioned this bike in the 3-speed thread a few weeks ago, but was finally able to get some good pictures of it. Long story short, I saw it about 7-8 years ago, parked in a neighborhood. I chatted briefly with the owner and never saw it again until it popped up at the local bike shop a few weeks back. My memory had told me - incorrectly - that it was one of those UK 1982+ Superbes that have a completely redesigned frameset to the original Sports, but it isn't - it's a conventional TI-era frame as we know it from the late 1960's all the way up to 1981/2 here in the States.
I wasn't able to see it from the side until now, and so initially theorized it was a pre-1982 EU-market Raleigh Royal Roadster - given that a black rod-brake, EA3 Sports-based bicycle of that description exists in the 1980's French catalogs (though in black).
To my surprise, it's simply badged a Superbe.
Hub date is 1979 / 6, and a look at the 1981 Raleigh UK catalog confirms the model's original market.
For the record, the UK lineup was a lot more diverse and changed quite a bit from year to year.
1979 lineup was Esquire / Esprit / Misty / Caprice / Estelle / Merlin / Transit / Traveller / Campus / Superbe Tourist / Roadster.
By '81 it changed to Superbe / Roadster / Transit / Traveller / Cameo / Caprice / Esquire.
Each of these were variations of the Sports on EA3 wheels and some with Sprite-style fenders and conventional fork crowns, though traditional fenders and rod brakes were used on the Superbe and Roadster models.
Not much has been modified except the lighting system. Chaincase fastens similar to the 1950's bikes, but the bracket is not brazed (spot welded?) to the chaincase, and the chaincase halves are assembled with a vertical pinch, not a horizontal brazed line.
Enjoy the pictures:
If anything, the UK lineup was
extremely diverse in comparison to what we were getting in the States at the same time.
More pictures in the next post.
-Kurt