@Cyclotaine, rootboy: I'll get some closeup shots made tonight (hopefully tonight - as we close in on final exams and the end of the semester my world has gotten craaaaaazzzzzyyy.) I normally would've done that before now anyway. I don't know that these questions ever get put to bed definitively, but I'd like a small degree of confidence!

Auchen, what model Raleigh is that?

It's my 71/72 Super Course. (It qualifies as another one of those smokin' hot deals. :))

Well, then it has the wrong Reynolds decal! That looks to be the one for double-butted 531 tubing. The 71/72 Super Course was straight gauge. Here's the decal from a '71 Super Course I used to own:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-K...rCourse531.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8483/8...95cdf25c_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8...d1eb2e12_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8480/8...3413cbb2_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8...8687b8f1_c.jpg
Also, a few more "down and dirty" quick detail shots have been added to the end of my Flickr set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/azorch/...th/8223115955/

Didn't have a chance to pull the fork to check for overspray last night. That'll be next up.

Hmm, here's the Reynolds decal on a '72 Int'l that I bought from the original owner. Note the absence of the yellow band at the bottom:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...lOriginal5.jpg

Clearly a repaint. Paint however you wish. You are not destroying something"rare" or "unusual".

If one is really wanting to believe it's original paint, I guess. Seems pretty clear to me that the paint is not original for all the reasons nlerner listed previously. I think the way the red paint has chipped and the lack of lug lining is also telling.

I don't know why you think it would have been that unusual to have a bicycle re-painted in the early 70s. There was increased interest in cycling with plenty of auto painters available.

I agree with several of the opinions already voiced, and reject others utterly. To avoid giving offense, I'll not mention anything specific.

Azorch, if you care about the originality of your existing paint, leave it alone. If not, not.

I, knowing nothing about Internationals and unable to see the color red, don't believe it's original and I don't like it well enough to want to preserve it.

So I suggest you repaint it with a transparent gold clearcoat over the chrome and otherwise an opalescent dark blue and perhaps pearl colored panels on head tube and seat tube. Get some fenders and paint them the same blue with the same pearl flag at the back of the rear one.

Then get the really cool script I_n_t_e_r_n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_ decal for the top, even if it isn't correct for whatever year your bike is/was/mightabeen.

Neal - That's weird.
I have 4 Super Courses - (all with the original decals AFAIK) - and both of my Capella-lugged '73's have the horizontal 531 decal and both of the '71/72's have the slant 531. They all have the same 26.4 seat posts, indicating straight gauged tubing.
I'm inclined to think that Raleigh just used what they had on hand. After all, the label doesn't say "double butted". - It's just slanted.

I can't see the right side of your Super Course's decal: Does it say "butted tubes, forks, and stays" as the In'tl one I show above? At any rate, that's the two Reynolds options: straight gauge or butted. I don't believe any decal says "double butted."

This thread should be re-titled: :"Auchen Gets Schooled by Nlerner!"

Ooo. Ouch. You're a tough nut, Fender1. Well, after seeing those detail shots, and those Reynolds decals, which are, what? ...1975 vintage?...I have to agree that it looks like a re-paint. Well, imo I'd still use paint to re-do it as opposed to powder. I'm just old fashioned, however.

It also looks like that Reynolds decal on your fork is later than 1971. Here's the '72 Reynolds catalog page from Velo Pages:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-M...age%252011.jpg

I've also commonly seen Carlton "race approved" fork decals on Raleigh road bikes of that era rather than Reynolds.

Neither the green, purple, nor white Raleigh Competitions are cataloged, and that's because the Competitions are absent from the catalog in those years, 1970-72, I believe.

Maroon, however, is not a well-known example.

+1. I'd personally go with chartreuse on this bike because Raleigh lightweights with chartreuse are effin' hot.

The exception to the "do what you want" rule, is that the rear rack needs to be levelled in a big way.

Very nice bike. Wish it was mine.

I agree that it is most likely not original. That said, I think the burgundy paint is cool, and if I was to repaint it I'd consider using the same color.

True, there are two kinds of tubing --butted and straight gauge-- but there's also the question of the stays and the fork blades. Auchen's decal doesn't say 'butted' but there's room for the words stays & forks at the bottom.

I have heard it said many times, but never seen any evidence for the assumption the diagonal 531 means butted tubes. There certainly are decals without the diagonal that say butted tubes.

OK. We need to come to some consensus on this. Is it Maroon, Burgundy or , as Auchen' so elegantly puts it, Claret?

I'm kind of leaning toward metallic Chianti. Oh wait, it'a an English bike.

Burgundy mist?

Which is why claret is a good choice. Claret is the English word for a Bourdeaux blend. The "t" is not silent.

Thank you Colonel. - And I'll stick to my original Claret guns (-unless there is overspray of another color lurking on the steerer tube :o) .

OK, just as I thought I was getting confuseder and confuseder, a bright shining moment of clarity rose over the horizon, coming in the form of a message from the original owner: "Mark, the Raleigh was repainted in the mid-70's." This explains the Reynolds graphics looking like they're three or four decades old, because they are. Thus, while there might be a rare, dust-covered burgundy original occupying space in someone's garage somewhere (I don't think so), mine is definitively not one; that particular discussion now becomes academic at this point.

Thanks, nlerner for the Reynolds decal schooling. And Auchen, I'm of the same thought as you when it comes to decals - I think that some builders stuck on whatever they had on hand (Peugeot certainly did so.)

And now, in an unexpected and convoluted - but very interesting fashion! - this brings the discussion back around to the original question, which is that of color. Since original paint is no longer an issue, and apparently the Reynolds decals are also not correct, I'm much less concerned about the loss of a "rare" original paint treatment. I'd also like to protect the tubing in an aesthetically pleasing, yet appropriate color. Out of the colors choices from my original post, I think I like the burgundy with the gold and chrome, and to perhaps repop the decals and line the lugs using gold. An option I hadn't considered was the suggestion of black with gold - that too would be quite striking.

Thanks for all the insight, folks. And here's hoping that no other unexpected paint discoveries await me. (You know, like I finish stripping the frame and the PO calls me: "Oh and Mark, just by the way - the guy I had paint the bike was some fellow that went by the name of Picasso...")

EDIT: BTW, I rather like "Claret" myself and vow to use it henceforth.

It just says "tubes" on the right side.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...noldsdecal.jpg

Both my '73 International, and my RRA have the upper right slanted decal, as well as the fork decals, and I believe that is what your International should have. Forgive me if you had already come to that conclusion and I missed it as I just did a quick read. The actual Reynolds decals are quite fragile, and degrade if you look cross-eyed at them :)

Azorch -
Even now that we know it's unoriginal, I still like the claret color of your bike: It has my vote, if you care to refinish it - and I agree that the gold accents would look great!