Is this a Raleigh Competition?
 

Anybody know if this is a Raleigh Competition?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...130c8cb89a.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d947664e61.jpg

Well the pictures couldn’t be much worse but yes, I think it is. I think these should have a late 1981 or 1982 serial number. As far as I can tell they looked like this after the Carlton plant at Worksop closed and before Huffy got the Raleigh USA Rights. Could also possibly be a non-USA market offering. I’ve never actually seen one from this time period though, so hopefully someone a bit more authoritative can weigh in here. I’m just going by what I’ve found on the Google. Matching examples can be found there.

Looks like an early 80s competition to me, maybe 1981.

It does look like it might be 80's but it's advertised as 70's. And it has a Carlton Cycles decal on it. Braze ons and I don't see any bits clamped on. I don't understand it. But if the seller gets in touch maybe I can go have a look.

Okay I googled 1981 Raleigh Competition and it does match pictures purporting to be 1981 Raleigh Competitions. Just trying to look up tire sizes if I can find them. If it will take 28c or bigger I'd be interested.

Looks like a UK market Competition. Not sure if the Canadian models were the same or not.

-Kurt

I can't tell you for sure that a 1981 will fit 28's, but I had a '79 and it fit 32's with no issue.

Well, the good news is it fits 28s. The sort of tragic news is it's bent. It's not too obvious from the picture, but this is the last time I'm eyeballing a frame/fork since clearly my eyeballs are no good. I'm a bit heartbroken since I like the fit.

The paint near the headtube isn't rippled or cracked but it's definitely bent a little bit. I think I can still ride it but just not hard, which is easy since I don't ride hard.

I figure if I can ride it at a few hundred kms I can at least get enough fun out of it.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0fff9a461b.jpg