Raliegh heirarchy
 

I am sure there are some posts here and there about this, but in the interest of learning what it is I am seeing, can someone help me understand the heirarchy of the Raliegh bikes? I know it changes over time, but as I've figured out how the Schwinn line evolved, I'd like to learn about Ralieghs.

Thanks!:thumb:

I,d like to know also as I have just picked up a "Super Course 2" and am totally nieve as to the heirarchy myself, will watch this post with a very keen interest !

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/

This might be of some help. As for those Raleigh bicycle built outside of England, who knows?

Retro Raleighs is a good place to start your research.
 

Here is the best place to start for answering your question:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/


Some additional background on the company, and their acquisitions:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Bicycle_Company

Note: looking through old catalogs on-line will help you date the model year and provide the specifications. You can also Google the manufacturer and model names. You can also check ads posted by sellers, which can sometimes provide you with information. A good site to check posted ads is:

http://www.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi?cat=cpbike

Given that Raleigh bikes spanned about 100 years, the hierarchy changed depending on the era. In the early to mid 1970s, for road bikes it was, roughly, top to bottom

Professional
International
Competition
Gran(d) Sport
Super Course
Grand Prix
Record

A few models popped in for a few years, but that's basically the foundation.

Neal

+1 as far as that goes, but there are a few wrinkles, mainly in the late 70s and 80s:

- Raleigh America has totally different model names (other than the Grand Prix and Record for a while)
- some bike models from UK Raleigh were schizophrenic. Mainly the Rapide. For a few years it was 2010 high ten steel, bottom of their line, below Record, then all of a sudden got a 531 frame and jumped up above Super Course level