75lechamp 

Here is my latest project, brought home just today, a 1974 Raleigh Super Tourer (serial WS4001509, which dates to around the end of September 1974, if I am counting my fortnights correctly...). Mostly original with a few extras thrown in, such as a set of white Bluemels fenders (think these were black on the originals), a large Brooks saddle bag and a funky rack.

It has a Suntour VX RD and Suntour power ratchet shifters, along with a black plastic Simplex FD, which naturally snapped when I took it off (second time that has happened to me in a year). The original Stronglight crank with the chain guard, Stronglight BB, odd Weinmann side pulls, GB stem and Maillard 700 team hubs all seem original. Paint is in excellent condition

Plan is to replace the drivetrain with the original Huret Jubilees (I happen to have a set, and miraculously the RD even is the one for the Huret dropouts, which this bike has. As I understand it, the Super Tourer is essentially the same frame as the Competition, so I plan to make it more like a Competition than a tourer, so to speak.



As found

Maillard Team issue hubs

After teardown

Paint has held up well, such a unique color




At one point, went through the Turin Coop in Chicago area


Taking out the bottom bracket, this surprise. If I read it correctly, the BB was last packed in 1976 by Rex Nelson, \"Kingpin" at Turin. Does anyone remember him?

juvela

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an interesting feature of the model 93 chainset with guard is that the spindle needs to be the 3X model 125 since the guard mounts in the lands normally occupied by the outer c/w. and c/w bolts need to be the 3X model as well.

shall look forward to following along as you work with it and bring it back to OEM configuration.

at launch the Weinmann model Symetric calipers came with these red labels. a few years later the labels changed to black:

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the frame's full-sloping crown is a Harrington rather than the Davis model found on the Professional.

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forum member Slowride79 has one of these as well, he may wish to comment

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Desert Ryder

Love the color!

streetsurfer

Very nice! I remember the color. After I’d bought my first big schwinn, I discovered another bike store near me with Raleigh and some others. I admired that very model no doubt, while suffering a little buyer’s remorse.

Rack looks period correct. I installed the same one on my Continental, and there was one on a recent purchase of a ‘74 Nishiki.
I considered looking for another for one of my other bikes. Recent sightings were less cleanly mounted than I remember was involved. An Extra odd shaped universal adapter had been employed unnecessarily. If you keep that, it looks like you can work out a cleaner install.

enjoy the rebuild!

branko_76 

Very nice !

I'm curious about it being similar to the Competition. What is the wheelbase?

75lechamp 

Looks to me right about 41 inches - on a 21.5 inch CTT frame...

juvela

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it is a frequently seen assertion that the Competition and Super Tourer frames of this time are identical

one can tell one difference at a glance without any measuring

the chainstays of the Competition model are what is termed rapier pattern, i.e. not dimpled, they exhibit a conical shape

at first glance the shape and taper of the chainstays on the Super Tourer frame may appear to be rapier pattern as well

however they are dimpled on the inside for tyre clearance & also on the outside of the drive side for chainwheel clearance

the inside dimpling was likely done so that owners could run a larger cross section tyre if wished

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daka

Also, the Super Tourer lacks the rear stop for the Weinmann centerpull brakes that would be found on the Competition.

Slowride79

Hello everyone,

Nice bike Andy! That frameset looks to be in excellent shape.
Here is mine , end of ‘74 early ‘’75. It’s all original including tires/tubes. Shown as found. Still in queue for cleaning and repacking bearings. As Roger mentioned see dimpled chain stays. STs came with 27” wheels while Comps had 700c.

Dylansbob 

Here's how it would look with burgundy Newbaums over rando bars.

75lechamp 

Hey thanks folks, making some progress on the bike. Thanks for the comments above, I am now convinced there are probably quite a few differences between the Competion frame and this one, including the fact that this wheelbase looks a lot longer. One other way to tell is comparing it to my Pro and my International from about the same time. Although all three measure 21 1/2" CTT at the seat tube, the Super Tourer head tube is a bit shorter, likely due to the more stretched out top tube. Looking forward to riding this one soon....



Setting this up to be a bit lighter than stock, since I am putting sewups on. Without the chain, the bike weighs 21 lb, 3 oz, so probably around 22 or 22 1/2 lbs all in, decent for this bike.

Unique Stronglight with the chain guard - basically, it requires a triple spindle - really, it's a triple with the biggest chainring being the guard...

Huret Jubilee front, which I had in my stash...

Weinmann "Symetric" ...

Huret Jubilee I had in my stash, luckily it's for Huret dropouts, which this bike has

Unique Weinmann "Symetric" side pulls, will be interesting to see how they behave on the road. Original to this bike.


Family portrait of my Raleighs - '79 Team 753, '78 Pro, '74 Pro, '75 International, '74 Super Tourer

Family portrait of my Raleighs - '79 Team 753, '78 Pro, '74 Pro, '75 International, '74 Super Tourer

bulgie 

Thank you! I have long noticed the difference between those two crowns and wondered why, thought maybe it was a running change in the design of the Davis. I have even made forks with both of those crowns. My boss at the time ordered them and I wasn't privy to his sources (he held his cards close to his chest!) Also we were at the mercy of what the importer/distributor chose to call them, not always accurate in my experience. BTW, did Harrington make any other cycle components?

My wife's '79 Erickson road racer has this Harrington crown, which I erroneously thought was a Davis, but I'm glad it isn't the Davis (Like on Raleigh Pro) because those are chunkier and cruder looking, to my eye at least. The Harrington is lathe-turned on top for a crisp geometric look, and I'll bet (without weighing them) that it's lighter than a Davis.

Have I got this right, this is the Davis?


Even those two crowns look a bit different and may not be the same brand.

Check out how much work (either one) will take to make it look nice. Too much, when there are better/easier choices, but I'd make another fork with one if I had to... (Raleigh Pro resoration I suppose). Nowadays I can let the air compressor do some of the filing (Dynafile), so I have less to complain about. But I never let that stop me...

Do you know which crown the Holdsworth Professional came with? Probably changed over the years, but I'm most familiar with the early-'70s models.
Neil Kilgariff (sp?) says it's a "Prugnat fully sloping crown" — did Prugnat also make a lookalike? Looks more like Davis in some pictures but I don't have one in front of me.
Example from 1969:

Sharp-eyed readers may be able to spot at least one feature of that front brake that shows it's from the first year of Campy sidepull production.

Thanks again
Mark B

juvela

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Thanks for the kind words Mark.

Me knowledge be light years punier than ye giveth me credit for.

The Harrington name comes from a discussion I had with framebuilder Dan Falvey of D&D Cycles of San Lorenzo, California.

Have no knowledge of other Harrington produced bits which certainly does not mean there are none.

I too wondered anent the full sloper employed by Holdsworthy. One thing I wondered about was their Tullio connection which might well have meant a Cino connection also...

Posters on the francophone fora write of frankish makers of full slopers also.

Enthusiasts tend to limit their thoughts of the lug producers of Gaul to the big three well-known names but there were others as well...

Thank you again and all best wishes.

I make use of your marvelous resource of online cycle information nearly ever' day.

bulgier.net

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Fredo76

Absolutely love the color...

Cool to showcase it with complimentary foliage - nice pics!

75lechamp 

Went out today for a test spin.... bike performed very well. With that long wheelbase it's a very smooth and comfortable ride, love it! I weighed the final product, lighter than I thought it might be, at 22 lbs. 5 oz.