Ed.

You're kidding! ROTFL - have you built a Gazelle circa 1972. (This was after Raleigh bought Gazelle) I don't remember the particulars, but I think a shim behind the freewheel was required, and the spacers between the chainwheels had to be replaced. I could go on, but most of it's been covered all ready.

Bandera

No doubt, the Motos of the Boom Era were well packed for International shipment in short-pack front-wheel-off sturdy shipping boxes to survive delivery. What a concept? QC/QA were never (sorta) a problem.

Well designed for the USA equivalent of the well established French Randonneur tradition they were straight, well finished and extremely pleasant riding machines for long distances at pace on indifferent surfaces with a light load.

Nice kit.

-Bandera

Ed.

Thank Ben Lawee for all that. He got stiffed by Raleigh (He'd been the West Coast distributor for Raleigh.) He had an excellent eye.

Velognome 

Yup, totally sucky lug work, really need to take a file to it.

bulldog1935

Albert Finney's first movie, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning


He was a machinist on Raleigh Road, cranking out bottom bracket spindles

djkashuba 

Raleigh finish work can absolutely be casual.


Raleigh International 1971 by djk762, on Flickr

But the Internationals can be built up to take you far and wide in comfort and control.


Raleigh International by djk762, on Flickr

gugie 

I think what the early 70's Raleighs prove to me is that a lugged, steel frame is extremely durable, forgiving of manufacturing sins, and just a plain, sweet ride with relaxed geometries.

nlerner

For people who actually ride their bikes rather than just yacking about them on the internets, Raleigh made a huge range of bikes over 100 years. I love my 1950 Lenton Tourist, my '71 International, and my '84 Gran Course: three completely different bicycles that I have used for very different purposes.

BigChief

By the 1970s, the bean counters knew that mass bicycle production was no longer to be in places like Nottingham or Chicago. There was no point in retooling these facilities or worrying about employee relations or quality control since they were phasing in offshore production. While this was terrible for the workers, us lovers of old fashioned bikes have the benefit of their production of what are essentially beautiful 1930s bikes all through the 70s when they should have been phased out years earlier. True, the 70s Raleighs do sometimes have issues, but nothing that can't be repaired.

qcpmsame 

I can only speak to the two 70s Raleighs I owned, and absolutely loved. In 1979 I purchased a 79 Super Course and an NOS 74 International. I got a sum of money from my former employer, for vacation time that was unused, when I left to finish college, my senior year. Both were used for commuting to school daily, and for weekend rides with our club at that time. Neither one gave me any trouble, and no fit and finish problems were ever noted. I learned a good deal about bicycle maintenance and repairs by keeping both bikes pristine, and I enjoyed the many miles they both got.

I suppose it must have been our LBS/Raleigh dealer, a purely family business (as was our Schwinn dealership,) and their care in setting up each bicycle as it was assembled. I wasn't party to that, yet (eventually I worked part time doing bicycle assembly for them,) but I did get to observe their oldest son doing the assembly many times, he did an excellent job of carefully assembling bikes, he took nothing for granted. Perhaps his care caught any fit or finish errors, but I did not hear any customer complain.

I don't doubt the posts here about the poor work and details of this time period, I just didn't experience it. I owned both Schwinns and Raleighs during this time, both were dependable, well made lines, in my experience. YMMV.

Bill

lostarchitect 

I don't know if they're "revered," but I've had a few of the midrange to higher end Carlton built Raleighs, and they all rode very well. They also just exude "Englishness" if you're into that sort of thing.

3alarmer 

...here in hipstertown we call that "artisanal".

3alarmer 

...all of these are pretty solid riders now. All of them required some frame and fork alignment when I got them. Were they sold that way, or did the alignment problems happen over the years ? Beats me.

I think of these bikes like the cars I drove in the 70's and 80's. They were serviceable transportation as sold originally, and a good platform for some tinkering if you were into mechanical stuff and bicycling.

Kilroy1988 

That would be a post-1980 Competition GS, which I believe had a frame assembled in Japan.

jon c. 

I loved my Raleigh Record in the early 70s and cheap though it may have been, it did provide many miles of faithful service. Left it behind when I went out to find my place in the world and didn't ride for the next 30+ years. When I started riding again I wanted an older Raleigh and found an 81 Team Pro at a local shop. Reynolds 753 from the SBDU shop. I really love the ride.

So I've got a soft spot for the brand. (But yeah, they did sell a lot of crap under that name over the years.)

Velognome 

Yes is it. I also have Calton built GS with equally fine workmanship, both lovely riding frames.

Kilroy1988 

My first road bike was a 1980 Super Course 12 that had mostly original components when I purchased it about a decade ago. I have stripped it down to almost bare metal and restored it once and plan to do so again along more authentic lines. It was made in the Carlton factory from double-butted 531 tubing, and despite being a couple cm too large for me (63cm c-c) it was always a sweet riding bicycle. I can't say that I've noticed any flaws in the workmanship and will give it a careful look over the next time I strip it down.

Howie444

You are mostly right. I worked in shops from 1980 - 1993. The Carlton frames, such as Gran Sport, Competition, Comp GS, International, and Pro, were well made and beautiful. But the Record and Grand Prix were far worse than what you could buy from Taiwan at that time, and cost far more. Parallel dropouts?? Hah!!! But I've always had fond memories of Raleigh, in 1970 I went from a Schwinn Varsity to a Raleigh Carlton made in the sixties that apparently pre-dated the Super Course. Quite the improvement, eh???

Lascauxcaveman 

Nothing but love

If there were ever any alignment issues, they were taken care of before I bought it; sometime during the first 40 years of this bike's life



Just don't examine the joins too closely

jetboy 

exception proves the rule!

Drillium Dude 

I had an 81 Super Course 12 and it was pretty sloppily put together. Of course, I was blissfully unaware of this until I turned up at my first race and saw true examples of high-quality finishing

Funny, I was just talking about this subject with a forumite yesterday afternoon. And I still think the Team bikes are exquisite - because they are.

DD

bwilli88 

I have 6 Raleighs , my first was a Gazelle built 74 Grand Prix, nice comfortable ride. I also have a 76 Grand Prix and a 73, 77 & 78 Super Courses. And a unknown Raleigh record.

juls

My first bike was a 60's LTD 3 speed-dependable and shiney Hence the reverence. Maybe 'boomers' are just a different sort.

bulldog1935

The Raleighs that we love and some apparently love to hate were the world's benchmark production bikes. Considering the size and distribution of their production, it was a pretty good feat. Japanese bikes at that time were heavier and carried an inferior cloud with them. Were top-line Motobecane better than top-line Raleigh? Not really - bottom line? Not really. Japanese components were moving ahead then, but Euro was cool. It wasn't until about 1976 that Japan-made bikes really were better and another few years for people to accept it. Fuji S10 just wasn't Raleigh.

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.