An owner of a LBS recently acquired an all chrome bike, sans labels and asked if I recognized the maker. Hoping by chance anyone here may know.

He's pumped on having it restored w/ decals and ride. I took some quick pics but hadn't taken a seat tube i.d. measurement. Bottom bracket stamped serial begins with a letter E and follows with a four digit number.

I think it may have been painted and later stripped. Zeus dropouts, rear brake cable arch and braze-ons under the top tube. Likely the incorrect fork and later year, Tange ends, sloping cast crown. Both the dropout and fork ends have eyelets.

With exception to the brakes, its mostly Campy equipped, mixed era, no patent date on the rear derailleur. Received two tubular wheelsets, one with Record hubs. Cinelli stem and bars.

[IMG]DSC_0901 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[IMG]DSC_0895 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

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Most likely Spanish, could be a "Zeus"......

Raleigh product with non-original fork.

No Spanish maker would employ those lugs, centerpull bridge, housing stops, seat stay caps, nor no-slide pib. All of those fittings are British.

We are looking at a definite Worksop perpetration.

I agree with Juvela.

Chromed Bob Jackson?

I think it's a 1970 Raleigh Competition that has either had its headlugs reshaped or more likely replaced along with the head tube after the accident that did in the original fork. Top tube braze-ons and rear centerpull cable stop arch and the downtube shifter stop look like Raleigh Carlton work; add in rapid-taper chainstays, and the sn matches 1970 Raleigh Carlton pattern, and Zeus dropouts were used on some Competitions and Gran(d) Sport(s).

You are sort of on the right track here except that a 1970 Competition would not have been built with this seat lug. Their head AND seat lugs were NERVEX Professional.

Seat cluster of two 1970 Competitions:





Seat cluster of 1969 Competition:



Note that all three have a semi-wraparound treatment rather than the flat cap of the subject frame.

Fork crown of a 1969 sample:



It is a Bocama/Milremo pattern.

https://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1471554897

If you measure shell width you may discover it to be slightly underwidth at about 66.5mm. Some came through with full width shells of 68mm and some with the underwith examples.

Pretty solid opinions being English, the year '70 (E) and following 4 digits plus type of braze-ons. Head tube + lugs possibly replaced, has no drillings for a riveted Raleigh badge. I wasn't aware of them using Zeus dropouts, so this too is good to know.

When I get back up his way, I'll measure the seat tube id and bb shell width.

Its a good start, especially since he's a Raleigh dealer among other lines. Only been in biz a few years, he's bitten by the vintage scene.

Employment of Zeus Gran Sport road ends by Raleigh goes back into the 1960's as well.



Ironically, they were reportedly manufactured by Reynolds.

Here is a catalogue page for the Competition model of 1969. Its NERVEX Professional lugset is clearly visible:



Absence of fastener holes for headplate could be due to their being filled in prior to after-market plating. Also possible cycle may have originally been sold as something other than Raleigh/Carlton as company did a bit of private labeling.

BTW- you or your friend might like to add the machine to the chrome bike thread begun by VintageRide:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...ome-bikes.html

I don't know about Raleigh/Carlton serial numbers, but the only things I can ID as "Raleigh" are the rear cable arch and the fact that they used Zeus dropouts (but so did other Brit builders) ditto the other cable stops/guides: a Brit feature but not strictly Raleigh/Carlton. If the serial number is a positive ID that would clinch it, but I'm not buying that a previous owner of a wrecked Raleigh would spring for repair that included new head lugs!