An unknown Raleigh I just tidied up...

[Chrissy_J]

I was wondering if anyone might have some idea as to the model and age of this Raleigh I just cleaned up...

It was being stored at my neighbour's, and he was looking after it for another neighbour, a friend who'd moved out of our tower block and forgotten about it. I was looking for an easy project so I asked them if I could take it on.

It looked pretty tired and there was some scuffed and chipped paint but there were some pretty components on it under the dirt; I have no experience of Campag parts but this looks like a complete groupset - brakes, headset, pedals, the lot. Only the cassette and seatpost are Shimano.

Cinelli bars and Mavic rims look pretty sweet too.
What makes this particular bike so pretty, I think, is the pinstriping round the lugs:

I gave it a new drivechain, new pedals, bar tape, cables and brake blocks, cross-top levers and a new seat. The big bits I took off are in safe storage in case they're actually worth something.

I don't have any specific Campag tools so I left the bottom bracket and headset well alone, but they seem OK. I've only done a few miles on it and she rides pretty well, much lighter than my singlespeed.

But now I'm a bit stuck; I'm struggling to find any information about this bike. All I have is the frame number (it begins 'WH000....) which I'm led to believe means it came from Worksop in April 1980.
Anyone have any better ideas?

Also, would it have come from the factory in this specification? Or did someone spend a lot of money on it a few years ago?

 

[biggs682]

normally worksop built frames are Reynolds tubed so should be a nice quality bike , and it looks nice as well

 

[gavr]

That's a smashing frame - very similar if not identical to this that I'd bought resprayed and without the forks

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=246883

I think mine is probably older than I'd first imagined - are the dropouts Gipiemme?

 

[Chrissy_J]

The rear dropouts are stamped 'Brev Campagnolo'. Can't read anything on the front dropouts.

 

[Nob]

The brake levers could do with raising on the handlebars but bike has nice clean lines.

 

[bikenut2010]

The components are certainly valuable...the original saddle is far superior to the Charge saddle, you could fit bar tape to match the original saddle to make a better presentation and take off those MTB pedals!! also ditto the comments on the brake levers which would benefit from some gum hoods ( Dia Compe make some to fit those levers in black. gum brown or white ) lovely bike, well done for the find!

 

[Chrissy_J]

*grins* No, the pedals aren't the nicest in the world, are they?
But they're comfortable, they work well with my safety trainers, and most importantly they were doing nothing in the spares box. I haven't seen anything else to replace them that I really like, so they're staying on for now, but if something comes up I'll change them for next summer's riding.

I couldn't decide whether to replace the gum hoods (the originals were perished and crumbled apart) so left them off for now, and I just plain didn't like the red saddle...

Thank you for your views and opinions, everyone!

 

[Midlife]

Classy looking frame. Portacatena dropouts, over BB cable guides and top tube cable for the rear brake is very late 70's very early 80's. Bits look good too

Fork crown looks a bit later so I wonder if it's been refinished ? A Raleigh Royal with later forks?

Is there a frame number under the Bottom Bracket.

Shaun

 

[bagpuss]

Gransport frame set ? Bought as frame only? The GS frame had been around for years in a number of different guises . Many of the Worksop built team style frames looked similar.
ie the Tour of Britain.