I picked up this I believe to be 1972 Raleigh locally and I'm thinking someone replaced the wheel set on this at some point. Anyone seems 26 in rims like these before?

SN on the seat lug is 250418

Don't know about 26" rims but my 1968 Raleigh Record had 27" steel rims that were patterned like that. The purpose of the pattern was to improve braking in the wet. It worked slightly though braking was still terrible compared to aluminum rims.

I think it's from the 60s.

Looks more 1960s than 70s based on the decal and chainguard style. I had that same clamp-on Huret top-tube shifter on a '69 Raleigh Sprite, which was essentially a Sports outfitted with a rear derailleur and shifter.

Whatever it is, it is a gorgeous one.

What you have is a 1971 or earlier Raleigh Sprite. They came with 26” wheels. The Sprite-27 - you guessed it- came with 27” wheels and was introduced in ‘72.

Looks right to me. I had one in about 71 but it had drop bars. Everything else was the same. Mine was an Eatons Glider so no, it wasn't a Sprite in name.
I did have a Trent in that lovely colour.

Also, which 26" wheels are they? EA1 or EA3? I think mine were EA1's

My recent one had EA3 wheels; as I noted above, they pretty much took the Sports frame and added more gears.

Thanks everyone for the info! I haven't been researching Raleighs as much as Schwinns the past few months so this will help with further purchases in the future. Good to know this has more original parts than I first thought.

nlerner
Pretty neat to have a picture of your bike at the same location Raleigh shot the catalog

I've tried to locate the intersection in Richmond Park UK where the 1972 Super Course catalog picture was shot. Get very close with Google maps but the crossroad signs have changed in almost 50 years.

That would be a great game for Raleigh fans to find the catalog spots with Google map

^^^^^ Or for any catalog featuring bicycles in outdoor locations, for that matter.