About 3 months ago I saw a black bike leaning up against a trash dumpster, didn't think much about as I drove by, but then I suddenly got the odd feeling to go back and check it out, so I did. Turned out to be a 77 Raleigh Competition GS, in excellent condition with all the original components, saddle, even the pump, but it was busted up inside, even the chrome wasn't pitted which is more than rare where I live, the only thing wrong with it was the headset was frozen; the weird thing was, whoever owned it put brand new low-end Bontrager RL tires on it? Why pay the money to put tires on it and then discard it without ever using the tires?? the little nubs were still on the tires, that's how I knew they were brand-new tires. Another odd thing, the Brooks B17 looked original, has some hairline cracks in it, but there are no butt bone dimples in it? Like it's never been ridden or not ridden very much.
The bike came with Campy Nuovo Gran Sport derailleurs, which I swapped for Nuovo Record I had setting brand new in boxes since the 70's; took the wheels down to a bike store in town and had them rebuilt with Nuovo Record hubs and DT Comp double butted spokes to lighten the wheels set a tad. Took off the funky bar tape someone put on and bought Brooks leather tape to match the seat better, I'm seriously considering twining it and then shellac the twine and tape; and I want to buy a set of tires with tan sidewalls, haven't decided which ones, but probably Conti Grand Prix Classics. The Nuovo Record derailleurs look a bit nice than the Gran Sport, I think the Nuovo's are either made in 1975 or 76, I don't recall what they said, just that they were a year old.
The long story on why I would have Campy Nuovo Record stuff brand new in boxes since the 70s, I know some of you were scratching your heads on that one. In 1976 I bought a 1976 Trek TX900, back in those days Trek only was sending out frames and forks with no components, so I had Campy Super Record put on it, but the shop had those Nuovo Records on sale, so I bought them, I was single, had money, and no wife to yell at me. I was going to buy another lower-end Trek and put the Nuovo stuff on it, but never bought that other frame, so all these years those components have been following me around. The box they were selling only came with the front and rear derailleur and hubs, nothing else, it was supposed to have a brake set, headset, and crankset, but they had to break the box up to fix a bike earlier that year, so they had the remaining parts for super cheap.
I remember hearing stories that the Nuovo gran sport and the Record did not shift well, and it's true but not as bad as I've heard, but I'm not going to be racing this bike so I don't care one bit about the shift quality. Heck, I remember the Super Record didn't shift all that well either, nothing like Suntour Superbe that's for sure, heck the Record didn't shift as well as Suntour V GT did!