Blue Super Course
 

I saw the following photo on FB Marketplace recently. It was listed as "Super course bike" at a rather high asking price. Didn't look right to me since it was not green or coffee color.
Saw it again after a serious price drop and got to thinking there might be enough parts there to make it worthwhile. The rims looked like Weinmann 27" with the dimpled spoke holes and the Brooks might have some life left. Condition looked good for this area, where rust happens in garages over the winter...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...70302074b3.jpg
Front wheel was promised as well
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c585d8a57a.jpg
Only the 1970 catalog lists blue as one of the colors

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7591fb9ce5.jpg
So I took a look and brought it home today.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e844c5167a.jpg
We have clearance!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...35e39fe23e.jpg
Huret drivetrain

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a48ff9867a.jpg
Appears to be original except for chain, tires brake pads, bar tape, cable & housings.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...64f2be77de.jpg
1955220? Odd over-stamped 2

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d795f02c31.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e42183ba7c.jpg
No Carlton decals, but there are pinstripes.

Nice!

What are your plans for it?

Good question! It’s way too small for me and it is so complete as is that it feels wrong to pilfer parts from it. I’ll probably “borrow” the wheels for the summer, then clean, wax and re-grease the rest as time allows.

Wow! That’s a good one. I knew blue Super Courses from 1970 existed but I’ve never seen one. The paint on this really impressive. Too bad it’s too small for you. No doubt you’ll easily find a buyer if you choose to sell.

1970, the bike boom was just being acknowledged. Too bad Raleigh was already into specification subversion, the chrome on the catalog imaged Williams crank and chainrings were terrific- the chainrings had extra material too.

that out of the way, looks very nice.
most likely a 21 1/2” frame... my nearest Raleigh size...

That is a nice find. The chrome still looks very nice and with a bit of cleaning will look new. I agree that leaving it as a complete bike is the best choice. Even if you use it to borrow the wheels from, at least all the parts are present. I have a 1971 Stella that is way too short for me but I keep it around in case my son in law or somebody wants to ride it. It has survived fifty years and I don’t want to use it for parts, besides it belonged to one of my best friends from the seventies and I remember him riding it to the park with me to throw Frisbee.

Lucky find! I think blue was a one-year-only color for 1970. This finish is in nice shape for more than 50 years old. Whatever you do, do NOT look on eBay to see what those Huret Luxe rear derailleurs are going for. And it is not because they work well.

That's the Huret Luxe Super Touring, a great rear mech for the times. It had a falling cage, opposite of the rising cages of the Campagnolo/Simplex/almost everyone else's parellelogram designs, and it looked better than the Alvit (same design). Ball-bearing jockey wheels and spec'd for a 30-tooth big sprocket and 27 teeth of wrap.

Their weak points were the non-linear high mechanical advantage required to make it move (hence the extra-long shift levers with larger drums) and the cable-attachment arrangement - it mangles the end of the cable more than enough to make getting the mangled bit through the holes in the washer and bolt worth extra points.

Great find!

Nice score. Stunning blue and great condition.

No, I have one of those Huret Luxe derailleurs, note the subordinate arms, not chrome and just stamped. BUT, of the same geometry and when clean and lubricated, a functional equal.

That Super Course has serious market value in such original configuration. Great find!

The "pared down Allvit" Luxe derailer is literally made for the contour of the 14-28t freewheel and shifts quite solidly if the pivots are free-moving and the cabling is good.
If I was keeping this bike I would try to affix some spaghetti tubing into the cable guide groove, shorten the rear shift cable housing and find a nosed(?) ferrule to better direct the housing parallel to the seatstay for a sublime shifting experience.

The Luxe Touring derailer on my own 1970 Super Course appears fully chromed.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f3809d4093.jpg

Huret seemes to have played with plating and finishes a lot, even on apparently the same models; there are otherwise identical Jubilees front mechs for instance that have either a shiny chrome cage or a slightly textured plated cage. I think it was marketing/pricing stuff, using slight differences to expand/create market share. Simplex did the same thing. Add that to the vagaries of supply at that time and chrome/not-chrome isn't much of an indicator.

I will have to dig out my Luxe, the arms are all quite formed, no visible cleaving.

from a performance perspective quite democratic, the same basic geometry up and down the model range.

repeated again later with the Challenger, lots of models with the same basic configuration, exchange of materials with including titanium.

I remember those super-long Huret shift levers. Given how often I broke shift cables on my old Huret Allvit drivetrain, longer levers would not have been a good idea for me. :)

531 decal
 

I have 70 in green as well, came as a co-op find. Frame wheels ,crank only. Same pinstriped fork. Have you been able to source a correct 531 decal with plain gauge at bottom
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3175968427.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8061b1bb4c.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4b65bf4d64.jpg






​​​​​11 speed alfine

Maybe it can be special ordered ,as I don't see it in the listings