Originally Posted by
rustystrings61
My experience is that the Competition and the Gran(d) Sport(s), which were alternating models for a few years, have nearly identical geometry, just different lugs, dropouts and chainstays. The greatest virtue of the Competition Mk. II from the sloping crown era is the outrageous tire clearance, pretty much the most of any of the classic Raleigh/Carlton 531 bikes.
Based on serial number formats in the bike boom year of 1973, I have a suspicion that Gran(d) Sport(s) were, at least, assembled with the Grand Prixs and Super Courses (wherever that took place) since they share the same seven-digit serial number on the NDS dropout. Competitions, on the other hand, are numbered in the "letter plus 4 digits" format on the bottom bracket that follows the pattern shared with the up-market models (International, Professional) that we can be pretty sure were assembled at Worksop. Just speculating here, but as the Gran(d) Spor(t) and Super Course both carry the "Carlton" decal on the seat tube perhaps the frames were brazed up in Worksop and then moved in bulk to Nottingham for final assembly?
[MENTION=40306]cudak888[/MENTION] may know more since he has the most in-depth understanding of the Raleigh serial numbers used at that time.