'77 Raleigh Super Course in red?
 

Picked up a '77 Super Course today.

The good:
Original components down to the hub skewers, Weinmann concave rims, and Cyclone derailleurs. All the components are in great condition. Wheels are super straight. Everything polished to perfection. Leather handlebar tape. The brake levers have been replaced by Tektros.

The bad - or just odd.
The red paint looks orange. The bike looks like its been baking in the Arizona sun or something. Not a lot of scratches just really faded paint.

So the question is how did this happen? Did Raleigh have a problem with this color in this year? Bad batch of paint? It's just the oddest thing. Of course pictures are needed. . i'll try to get them up soon.
Any ideas?

Not too sure about the Raleigh paint, but this old Bottecchia no longer shows it's true colors on both sides...
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...t_Comment1.jpg

The situation described by the OP seems pretty normal to me. The sun is one tough mother, capable of causing just about anyone or any thing to fade, if the conditions are right.

I owned a '77 Super Course, which I bought around 1986. By then, it was more orange than red. Here's how it looked when I sold it off a few years ago:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-L...perCourse8.jpg

Big Chainring-

It's just UV fading of the paint from the sun. It was typical on old automotive finishes which weren't clear coated. Try rubbing compound or fine white polish for automobiles then wax.

bertinjim

'77 Raleigh Super Course in red?
 

Seems like normal fading then.

"In the house painting trade red pigment is considered the most fade prone pigment. I would guess this bike was stored where the sun got to it. Who knows maybe it did spend its life in the southwest. I'm really looking forward to a good test ride.

This frame used to be metallic pink:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7039/7...895d0efa_b.jpg

I had an '81 Super Course 12 that was finished in a sort of metallic orange/bronze. Next to it on the showroom floor was a cherry red model; there was no metallic in that red. Does your paint look metallic?

DD

'77 Raleigh Super Course in red?
 

No its not metallic. Just super faded. Some areas you can see through to the white primer. Kinda starting to like it as is. Its very funky the way the color fades and changes. Very few scratches and the components are almost like new. Just the incredibly faded paint.

I've got a red '79 SC, and it's faded to kind of a hugger orange.