raleigh record - any good?
 

Mulling over a $10 Raleligh Record, circa 1977 with suntour gears. Decent shape, but space in my bike shed is limited. Are these a dime a dozen, and are they worth the effort of fixing up?

I think so: esp if your are fixing/SSing.

I grabbed one with the Suntour components on it for $15 last spring. It needed new tires & normal cable adjustments, and I've put about 1,5000 miles on it since then - completely trouble free - until a spoke broke last week.

The Raleigh Record was the lowest in the line. In the sixties and seventies at least, it and the Grand Prix used Raleigh's proprietary threading in the bottom bracket. Essentially, it was a Raleigh three-speed frame.

Good, but not spectacular. Certainly worth $10!

Absolutely everything on the record was made of steel. Quite heavy.

I should also mention that the fork on the record was of poor quality. My wife insists on riding her record from the 70s. While doing maintenance on it, I noticed that the steerer tube was bent. So I picked up another record cheap, just to scavange the fork off of it for a replacement. Well guess what, the steerer tube on that fork was bent the same way. I finally replaced the fork with a Tange.

this is a poor pic of a record on craiglist(sorry, wrong thread) but looks like a tuneup & straight bar change for an instant commuter $80Cdn.

Actually, they shared a frame with the Sprite 27.

This is too funny...I just PM'd Cuda about a local Record yesterday LOL....while a nice bike, they are heavy...further searching onmy part revealed more HEAVY comments.

With the exception of one of the years in the '70's when it was made of 531 tubing, the Record was Raleigh's entry level offering. If you want something that is lighter, appropriate for sport touring, and inexpensive, I think you'd be better off looking for a Grand Prix.

Well, a GP isn't appreciably lighter; it had an alloy stem to the Record's steel, but otherwise similar componentry.

The GP does have the mystique of being built by Carlton though. And groovy wraparound seatstays. :p

That wasn't the first time I was wrong. I stand corrected.

what did they call the regular entry level steel, & was it labelled on a sticker? was it heavier than say the entry level materials used by their comp?(ie schwinn, peugeot carbolite, etc?)

In '77 that would've been TI-Raleigh 20-30 high-tensile steel. About the same as the competition's hi-ten; not bad stuff, just a couple pounds heavier than 531.

oh, okay. found this on sheldons retroraleighs page. reynolds 531 vs. raleigh 2010:

I believe the weight is comparable to Peugeot, and a bit lighter than Schwinn.

I tend to agree. It is somewhat heavier, but still a good quality material. I've had several Raleighs of various types, and the steel quality in the frames has been rock solid.

My first adult bike was a 1971 Raleigh Record that my father bought for me when I was 15. I have sentimental feelings about it because it was my first 10 speed, but realistically, it was crap. The chain was always rubbing on the chainstay, and couldn't be fixed, apparently. When I shifted, the chain would invariably come off the chainring, ususally lodging between th big and the small ring, which necessitated me getting off the bike to dislodge the chain. Still, I rode that bike everywhere for 6 years, until I finally got tired of the problems; one day, I went into a bike shop, said I was looking for a commuter, and walked out with a brand new 1977 Motobecane Grand Touring. The difference in quality was palpable. The Moto shifted properly, no chainstay problem, and the bike was noticeably lighter.

I sold the Raleigh to a friend for $20, much to my mother's chagrine. I still have the Motobecane. For sentimental reasons, I'd like another Raleigh, but it won't be a Record.

I read the posts on this thread yesterday, but decided not to respond until I had my facts straight. I own a 74 Record so I am a bit biased. I decided to quote the post that I agreed with. There were some other comments well, I'll just state what I know. The mid 70's Record weighs in at 28.5 lbs., that figure is +/- 0.5 lbs. Not exactly a lightweight, but much lighter than the Schwinn Continentals that weigh in at 36 lbs. or the much more expensive Le Tours that weigh in over 30 lbs. (at least my Le tour did). Also, from the mid 70's on, the Record had an Aluminum stem, handlebars and all brake components, not steel as was previously stated. As for being an entry level bike, it is true the Record was the least expensive of the Raleigh 10 speeds that had a Raleigh name plate in the 70's. But it was not the least expensive 10 speed in the line up. To be competitive with less expensive brands, in the mid to late 70's Raleigh marketed the Rampar, a slightly heavier, less expensive bike. The first level of the 10 speeds Raleigh deemed good enough to wear the Raleigh badge was the Record. Oh, by the way, I never had a problem with my chain hitting the stay, my chain stay still has the original decal and paint, untouched.
bluespenny, if I found a Record in running condition with a frame size I could use, for $10 I would buy it without hesitation. I like Schwinns, Fujis and Peugeots and I will probably buy one for my son this Garage Sale season. That will only be true because I have not been able to find a single Raleigh Record at garage sales.

When did Raleigh start making the Record in Taiwan? I picked one up at a yard sale last year for $3 to fix for my daughter. It is a girl's frame, silver with blue trim, and Suntour components.

OK, I see it from another point of view: For the base level bike, the Record was one of the better choices out there. Quality was certainly better than just about anything mainland European offered at the same price point. The '77 was the upgraded one - prior to that you were dealing with a steel cottered crank (good quality but heavy) and Huret Allvit derailleurs (complete bloody crap).

Yeah, the Gran Prix was better, but only marginally - chrome front fork and (earlier) better derailleurs, plus quick releases.

Ten bucks? Assuming I find one like that at Westchester tomorrow, it'll be out of there so fast the dealer will have blisters on his fingers from handing it over to me.

Syke
Deranged Few M/C

Thanks for reminding me about the Huret Allvit deraileur. I don't think I could describe how bad it is any better than you did without the mods changing my words. Suffice it to say, the Huret is certainly the weak point of the Record, no argument. That's why it's better to find a newer Record because they switched to Shimano or Suntour depending on the model Record and year. Your comment about the crank is correct too, but again newer Records went to cotterless cranks. I can't tell you when the changes were made, but I know that they were implemented by 1978.

Wow, I posted this yesterday, and today I purchased a Schwinn 10 speed at a garage sale for my son! Can I have ketchup on that plate of Crow I might have to eat?

Sorry, I can't agree with you that the Simplex delrin derailers used on the Grand Prix were any better then the Huret junk. Sure, the Simplex rear worked better then the Huret, but what's the point if the front splits in two?

Are you sure that you meant the Grand Prix model, and not the Gran Sport?

Then again, the Gran Sport used the Simplex system as well, although I believe they switched to SunTour in '75 or '76.

Take care,

-Kurt

I always considered the Simplex Prestige the best cheap derailleur available before the Sun Tour and Shimano upset the apple cart - even if you did have to figure on a maximum two year life span. You just budgeted for an extra derailleur and pedaled along happily. I'll still use a Simplex on a vintage bike today although, not surprisingly, I have one hell of a hard time finding them.

By the way, in all the time I spent riding with the Presque Isle (Erie, PA) Bicycle Club back then, I only knew of one Simplex front that failed from fatigue during normal use. Usually it was someone going down on the right side wiping out the rear. You ended up replacing the rears every two years because they wore and got sloppy. Or, by the mid-70's, you replaced it with a Sun Tour.

As to the Gran Sport - now that, to me, was a very late revelation (like about six months ago). Back in the seventies, all that was popularly available in my area if you wanted Campagnolo was either the Valentino and it's long cage derivitive (I considered them a better shifting Allvit, although I did like them and have a set in the box in the shop right now for a future project) and then the Record/Nuevo Record (which was unobtanium unless you could sell your girlfriend). I never knew of anyone who ran a Gran Sport on a new-ish bike. Right now, my only bicycle is a 1962 Raleigh Gran Sport, and I absolutely love that derailleur. If they would have been around more 35 years ago, I'd have never gotten infatuated with Simplex.

My understanding of Raleigh going with Japanese components was the 1977 model year. My least year working in the bike shop was '75, and I still hung around the place the following year, where cottered cranks ruled the cheap lines. By '77 I'd dropped out and never saw a Sugino/Sun Tour equipped Record or Gran Prix except in some catalogs run on the internet years later. In fact, when I picked up my Gran Sport, originally I thought I'd gotten a late 70's cheap Raleigh, as I attempted to figure out the difference in components.

Syke
Deranged Few M/C