Submitting for your viewing pleasure: I believe this is a 1977 Raleigh Sprite. East Hill suggested I submit pics of a few of my rides. Bike is in excellent mechanical condition, paint is near perfect. Rear fender was bent up when tire burst off wheel @ 75 PSI. I am seriously considering selling this jewel as I have too many bikes.
I'm trying to confirm the manufacture date and get an idea of the approximate value of this model with the following specs: (New brake pads and tires)

Huret deraileurs and stem shifters, self-adjusting brakes, Nexmar? cranks, original pedals and hubs, Brooks saddle, 27 x 1 and 1/4 chrome rims, factory supplied al. rack, full front and rear fenders with rear reflector mounted on fender. Decals intact, 2030 high carbon tubing steel frame made in Nottingham England.

NICE BIKE.. there's much on Raleigh to read. The serial # can be used to find out.That bike could have been bought,if not made throughout several years,lots stayed in storage.Seems like a ''77 I'd guess.If it was up to me,I'd keep it.If you sell it,don't sell it too low.If someone wants a Raleigh they ought to pay.It appears in great shape and original.Most of what is on e-bay is junk.Some may say the components don't matter but they do.It's a love it or hate it kind of color,I like it.Many folkes would be too cheap to buy it,this will become apparent after you're here awhile.Remember there's cybor-world and real world. Real world it's a great find,cybor world it's anything an individual says it is based on anything or nothing.This too will become apparent here on the forum.

What's the serial number? That should nail down the year. I believe it's on the back of the seat tube near the top.

Thanks rickowensis, a very nice bike!

East Hill

Sprites are understandably popular with bicycle commuters.

That's Nervar, one of France's three major crankset manufacturers, which also included Stronglight and TA. Nervar is best known for cottered steel units, but they made a nice cotterless steel unit, the Sport, with 5-bolt 128mm BCD aluminum chainrings and a world class cotterless unit, the Star, which used the same proprietary 128mm BCD.

ha...I just picked up this sprite at a thrift store a few weeks ago for $37.41
It's a 1980 canadian made model.

put new tires on it, tuned it up, sold it for $160 on craiglist to a student commuter...

Thanks for the correction John E. I wrote the post without double-checking the crank name, memory only. I'll post some other bikes soon, a couple of nice Schwinns.

Nice bike Norskagent. You must like fixing them up as much as I do. By the way, is your "name" indicative of your Norwegian ancestry? I'm half Norwegian myself. Talk to you later and thanks for the pic.

I'm betting norskagent lives in Ballard. Perhaps Crown Hill?

East Hill

ha...I'm here in Raleigh, N.C...the whole norskagent thing is actually a goof we started a few years back, based on norsk car air freshener thingys, long story. I'm guessing a canadian couple moved to our area and donated their bikes to the thrift shop. The female bike of the pair was a similarly aged apollo, not as nice as the sprite but still in good condition. I bought it for $37 also and sold it to a friend for $50 (finder's fee you know).

And here I thought you'd be big into lutefisk!

East Hill

I have the exact same bike in men's style. It's been in the family for 30 years. I've seen them go for 50 lousy bucks on craigslist...I dont see why this bike isnt cooler than a cheap new one. Mine was my dad's so I didnt havethe heart to sell it for the price of 2 pizza's. I going to use it as my main bike. Im selling my stupid hard to ride single speed rush hour Taiwan POS and gonna ride grampa style - rock on !!!!!!! :O

Geez! That bike looks awesome! 37 bucks?? wtf is wrong with people? They act like its trash when its prolly built better. If you can buy a carbon fiber water bottle holder for 80$ at a LBS and this cool bike is selling at a thrift shop for 37 bucks..that tells a LOT about the old USA society and mindset.

Norsk,

I bought that Same black canadain sprite at a garage sale along with this ladies Lenton for $4 for both...

That was for sure my best find so far. I loved the Sprite...but ended up giving it to my Friend in Montreal who used it for his daily rider.

Good story with this. I went to the local bike shop a few years ago looking to see if they had a stem that might work on my old beater three speed. This was before I realized just how completely out of touch with the present I was, mind you. Anyway, I'm looking at some parts on the wall when the owner comes out and asks what I'm looking for. I tell him, and he says that they don't have anything that'll fit it, but he might be able to find something in the attic he can sell to me. So I go up to the attic with him, which is apparently his own private bike stash of just various abandoned projects. I was thinking he was just going to pick a part off of something, but instead, he grabs this thing from a corner and sells it to me for five bucks! Needless to say, I go back there for pretty much all my business. Pretty much all the wear on this thing has been since I bought it.

Well, here's the "Before" pic of mine:


Maybe next week I'll have the "After" pics.

And there was me thinking he was a Norwegian spy!
Norskagent: Tala ni svensk kanske?
Eller Norsk?
Forlåt om min svensk är inte så bra just nu!

I have a similar raleigh sprite ... a 1967 with the sturmey archer 5 speed. Everything is original aside from the top stem that broke when a daewoo hit me.

But I've broken the original axle once, and after digging through boxes of bike parts found an axle that I could cut down to 3" and re-thread into the hub; but now that I've done all that the front wheel gets stolen.

So I guess what I'm asking is: is there a decent wheel I could buy that will fit my tiny 3" fork, or should I just get a new front fork?

A derailleur version of the ubiquitous Raleigh Sports.

"After" pics two years later

The Sprite is the same frame as the Record.

Sprites are neat, but it is a shame that Raleigh didn't use Sport or Tourist geometry on it, opting instead to use "10 speed" geometry.
As coveted as DL-1's and Sports have become, it would have been a nice option if the Sprite was in that stable.
It would have spoiled your neat fixie though, battle.

Interesting. I have a Sprite mixte ten-speed circa 1977, I think.

Fenders, no chainguard.

The Sprite name has been used on a multitude of bikes. I have a step through Sprite that dates from the late 70's, it is a 10 speed upright.

I saw one in a bike shop in Iowa City that was from around 1990 that had a 5 speed SRAM hub on it...go figure.

Aaron