dcsix

Hi everyone, I just bought my first Raleigh since 1984, and I thought I’d share it with you all in the hopes of a bit of guidance, and also because I like it so much!


It’s a 1975 (or so I am told, and that seems right so far) Super Course Mark II, 21.5” frame. I bought a Sprite brand new back in 1977, which my brother borrowed without asking a month later and promptly got it stolen. My next Raleigh was a used Grand Prix, which I found at a garage sale but later realized it had been crunched a bit head on and the frame had a ripple in it.
But the Super Course, well now that’s a different story altogether. With its original aluminum wheels (are those reflectors original, too?), beautiful crank set, Brooks saddle, etc, I really feel that I’ve stepped up in the Raleigh world this time. It’s not the International that I drooled over when I bought the Sprite, but it is special-it rides like a dream, in spite of needing a tune up. The suppleness of the frame is surprising to me. I found it completely by chance. I jumped on Craigslist and searched “Raleigh”, it was the only one that came up. I do this sort of thing just maybe once or twice a year, I got lucky. Paid $250.


A couple questions, if I may? Shifters front and rear need adjustment badly, this is clear. But I’m wondering if the rear derailleur is tweaked, or perhaps the derailleur hanger is a little bent. The chain will ride “on top” of the cogs at times, not seating all the way onto the teeth. I don’t know if the photo is sufficient, and the bike is on its stand at a little angle on the grass, but does anybody see a clear indicator there?


The front derailleur works well, needs adjustment. Is there an especially good guide or video about adjusting these?


I will be removing the bars and installing proper drop bars, I would love to find a correct set, with brake levers and white hoods. Anybody have a source or is this a dumb-luck-watch-ebay thing?


Here’s some photos…

Any input is appreciated, I’m excited to get busy, and will post back as I progress.
Thanks in advance for the help and comments.
dcsix

Lascauxcaveman 

Hard to say on the derailleur hanger, it doesn't necessarily look bent in the picture to me, but its easier to tell in person. First thing is to clean and re-lube the chain, and lube the derailleur so it moves freely. Once everything is nice and loose, ride it some more and see if it's still skating along the tops of the cogs. A modern chain and freewheel would be an upgrade, but not necessarily needed to get adequate performance.

Welcome to the forums; like that bike

GordoTrek

don't have any pics, but i have a super course story,
Stopped by a local thrift shop that was liquidating, they advertised on CL that they had a lot of bikes. They never had any pictures of anything good, but the ad said they had too many to list.
Most of the stuff the owner had was BSOs and bike boom era stuff. He did have a nice Stumpjumper outfitted in Deore XT, he wanted 350 for it , a hardrock for 150, and a few junior trek mtn bikes.

he says he has a few older ten speeds upstairs, so i hurriedly go check them out, a low end Moto, and a Schwinn Le Tour Mixte, both for 125, the schwinn was in really good shape, with a great shade of Red.
then i spotted a ten speed over in the corner, classic Raleigh Green, at first i thought it was a grand prix, but then after closer inpsection i saw it was a super course, in MINT condition. Brooks was still intact, didn't even have the PO groove on it. no marks on the rims at all, looks like it was purchased then hung up. I get excited, so i go down to ask the owner how much for the super course, he smiles and says, well i've got alot into it.. (not sure what he means by that considering the bike is all original) he says he can do 700 for it! i laughed and said that bike isn't anywhere near that price, i said in that condition it should be less, i explained the Raleigh hierarchy and frame details to him and offer 100 bucks for it. He counters with 300, (for somebody who has a lot into it, he dropped 400 off the price without even haggling) I declined, the bike was my size but it was 1974, which I already have, and I couldn't justify it. I wasn't in the market for another Super Course, and that's why I low balled him. He then shows me the rest of his collection around the place, he had a few more BSOs in the basement, and tried to sell me an Aluminum Huffy BMX bike from the 90s for 500 dollars. I smiled and thanked him for his time..

No wonder why he's going out of business..

noglider 

@dcsix, bend that derailleur back into shape. You might be able to do it yourself. Just make sure the jockey pulleys form a vertical plane with the freewheel sprockets. Or you could have your local bike shop do it. They have an alignment gauge for this exact problem. The gauge costs around $65, not justified for home use, so you may prefer to pay them to do it.

If you get a modern twist-tooth freewheel and a modern chain, your shifting performance will improve, and it's fair game to do this (if you are concerned about period correctness) because freewheels and chains are wear items.

I agree it's a 1975, and it's a nice model year. The derailleurs of that year don't suck unlike the earlier years. The crankset is weird, with the steel arms and aluminum rings, but it's fine. And it's nice that it's cotterless.

dcsix

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Tom, I'll head to the LBS in the morning, I have seen that tool there! And I hear what you and Lascauxcaveman are saying about a new freewheel and chain, will investigate. "Twist tooth"…modern...got it.
And Gordo, isn't it funny how the guy with the completely outlandish price is liquidating? Thanks for the story of bike hunt adventures!
dcsix

GordoTrek

an update to my Super Course issue, that can be detailed in this thread

wanted to update it here so fellow owners can laugh/cry/commiserate

i decided to take the bike up to my LBS to see if they could identify the issue. I haven't heard back yet, but i'm concerned because, I was talking to the shop owner about how I don't want to replace the headset because of the Raleigh threading. He looked at me with like i had 4 heads.. "Raleigh threading?!?" i say, "Yeah, the fork is 26tpi, and not the standard 24tpi.." he laughs and says that he has never heard of that.. goes on to say i must of cross threaded the headset lock nut.... i say, actually Raleigh did this with a lot of their models, the super course is a hodge podge of different standards, in my case, the bottom bracket is standard threading.. but headset is not. i wish i had a vintage shop in my town.. too many carbon performance shops to deal with.. when he was confirming my information, he goes ..ok Mr. XXXXX with the Raleigh Record... i wanted to punch him..

nlerner

@GordoTrek, this is a long shot, but I've had Raleigh headsets exhibit similar problems if I have too many bearing balls packed in the top and/or bottom cup (easy to do as they're small). The rule of thumb is to fill the cup and then remove one. Sometimes I remove two for good measure.

Plus, I would get your bike back from the LBS as quickly as possible!

GordoTrek

yeah, i'm hoping to get it back in a few days, the guy just doesn't deal with Vintage bikes, but he is so damn close to home its hard to avoid sometimes, i like to try to give him the benefit of the doubt. plus he donates a ton to the local coop i volunteer at.

i spent a ton of time dealing with the ball bearings, i even tried only a few at a time and it still got stuck, by the looks of it, the steer on the forks is not perfectly centered when the locknut gets tightened down, i initially thought the forks were to blame, but the same problem was exhibited with spare forks i had on hand. which led me to believe it was the facing on the head tube, causing the cups to be at an angle which caused the misalignment. i accepted that as the only thing that could be the problem. of course the shop doesn't do headtube refacing so i'm pretty much just pissing away 25 bucks here. hopefully he can confirm my suspicions at least..

noglider 

@GordoTrek, what did the owner say he would do?

GordoTrek

he was going to pull the headset apart and take a look. double check everything make sure nothing is bent or out of wack, doesn't hurt having another pair of eyes look it over. He was pretty confident in finding the problem. so we'll see. I'm sure he will come back with " forks bent"
i've already lined up another lbs that caters to more vintage bikes, also turns out they are an amateur frame builder to boot.. small shop out by where i work, seems to have a good rep.

jmeb

I've been watching for a decent Super Course at a reasonable price for a while now. Instead I found an interesting alternative that is oh-so-close: Raleigh headbadge and seat-tube decal, "Carlton" downtube decal and model name--"Catalina." It was a fair price ($120) with great paint. In it's details it is almost a dead ringer for a SC @nlerner posted a ways back with Crespera lugs. Same lugs, same headbadge, same braze-ons, same seat-post binder. But only chrome fork socks.

A few teaser pictures from after the pickup. After playing with the derailleurs for a while, and trying to out the Dunlop Special Lightweight steel rims with fresh pads, I've decided this will likely get rebuilt with an S3X wheelset I have on hand.

More to come post re-build.

noglider 

@GordoTrek, if they build frames, they should have the milling and facing tools.

@jmeb, what a great find. I'm pretty sure it is from a non-US market. The paint is amazing.

toavii

Picked up a mid 70's model (unsure on how to date these) in Coffee, my least favorite Raleigh color. Original owner added Campagnolo derailleurs, shifters, and crankset. It needs an overhaul though.

Will try to get pictures up tomorrow.

Anyone have a source for off white housings? Like the look of what's on there but they're long gone and were cut too short to begin with.

toavii

From above, ^^^. Any my help with dating would be great. Would like to find the white/off white housings as well if anyone has a source.







Done nothing more than house it down quick. Will need significantly more time. Ha

noglider 

@toavii, that's a 1973 or 1974 model. The derailleurs, shifters, and cranks have been upgraded. Originally, it had a steel cottered crankset and Simplex derailleurs and shifters. The saddle has been downgraded.

The front derailleur will work better if you lower it.

ncrnelson

I sent an email to the guy listing that Super Course, but I knew it was too late, it had already been up for 16 hours and only $100 with Campy shifters and derailleurs, good buy.

toavii

Thanks for the dating.

Rear and front derailleurs, shifters, crank, and BB are Campagnolo. Wheelset is seemingly nice and likely upgraded Maillard Professional Team Issue hubs laced to 700s I can't identify yet. Everything else seems to be stock except for the saddle which is fine.

It's being broken down to the frame and being built back up so I'll get it dialed properly. It's been clearly sitting for a while. Not too sure what I'm going to do with it but I'll cross that bridge when it's done.

I'm sort of surprised I actually got it. Responded for the hell of it. I've been sniped responding much sooner than I did to this and it isn't really something I need. Just a project to tinker with mostly. It's sound but needs a complete overhaul.

When I picked it up, the guy said he got 58 emails...

noglider 

@toavii, if at all possible, give it at least a test ride before you break it down. You should get a feel for how it rides. This might guide how you rebuild it. I've said it often before: this model rides better than it deserves to. I don't know what magic sauce they put in it, but it is charismatic. If you go way back in this thread, you'll see that my Super Course has been my test-bed bike where I make major changes to it liberally. I've had about five different handlebars on it, and from that I concluded that a new handlebar changes a bike's personality (bikality?) more than any other change.

nlerner

More specifically, given the Capella lugs, it's a 1973. That's the only year several different Raleigh models (I've seen Competition, Super Course, and International) had those lugs.

USAZorro

Gordo,

I'm not sure if he's still working there, but Jack (part time at Peddlers) has forgotten more about Raleigh repairs than most folks ever learned. He was the unnamed partner at my late Uncle's shop (George Rennie Bicycle Shop). Might be worth a call to see if he still is there.

GordoTrek

@USAZorro wow thanks for the info,will do..

so i received a call from my LBS, they stated that it looks like it was in a front end collision, the lug around the head tube is coming apart, and that is what's causing the out of alignment issue. They said they could reface it but it would take a lot to make it level and square.. so i guess i'm off to the frame builder guy..

edit:
just spoke to the local frame guy, says that there is pretty much nothing i can do if the head tube is tweaked, gave me the name of a frame builder in PA that could fix it if i wanted to drop the coin...

anybody have experience with this? any home made remedies? I love the super course but it isn't worth that kind of repair

noglider 

There are two lugs "around" the head tube, so which one does he mean? If it is ovalized, maybe there is a fix, but the frame isn't valuable enough to justify most repairs.

It's somewhat lucky that you brought it in for diagnostics. This could have saved you a lot more trouble.

USAZorro

Imagining the forces involved in the most common sort of crashes, is likely the top tube that isn't well connected to the head tube.

GordoTrek

its weird because there is no evidence of any damage anywhere else on the frame, the white bar tape is scuffed on one side, but no other indicators. i'm picking the bike up after work, hopefully i can get a little more explanation at that point.

USAZorro

Raleigh was rather spotty on their brazing in those days. Possibly there's a bit of a void there.