gugie 

You gotta pick and choose your bike boom Raleigh, or get it for dirt cheap.

One of the odder things is that I currently have several Gran(d) Sport(s) - a Gran Sport, a Grand Sport, and a Grand Sports. The deals look almost identical, but are a bit different (excluding the spelling differences). And these were all built in the same year!

bargainguy

I still have this '71 International. As far as I can tell, it has the original Weinmann stem, a bit of a rarity.

repechage

A bit of, we cut and notched these tubes to this spec- can we do anything with them?

JacobLee 

Yeah, that's a beaut. I know the dating is a little murky with these, and I suspect I might have a '72. The date code is 71, but I saw a brochure on Sheldon Browne of a 72 and it had the white Carlton brake hoods and slotted levers like mine. Also, the parts sped for the 72 lists a GB stem and no name bar, I believe. So who knows.

JacobLee 

That's great! I like the blue; I've got a Soulcraft Groundskeeper in a really similar color, and I just think it's the most gorgeous machine.

Is that a 650B conversion? New brake bosses?

Gugificazione indeed!

Oops! I'm still figuring this out. That was meant for the blue Raleigh of N Lerner.

JacobLee 

Thanks Gugie! I moved to SW Portland a few years ago, and the garage sales are not quite as plentiful as they are on the Eastside, but when they're good, they're great. This was up behind the A-Boy on Barbur.

N Lerner posted that beautiful blue International that you did. Are you a frame shop? Paint shop? Everything shop? Looks good.

nlerner

Thanks! Yes, 650b x 42mm wheels and fenders with ample clearance, braze-on MAFAC centerpull brakes, internal wiring, custom front rack, various additional bits and bobs, i.e., the full @gugie! Color was meant to approximate a Rene Herse blue.

repechage

Substitutions were par for the course back then. My '71 has the original wheels - Weinmann tubular rims and cad or zinc plated spokes- your choice. Not chrome, not stainless. A fellow on the next block from me when I was young had one with the steel/ alloy stem, chrome plated spokes. ( I would sit on his wheel on the way to junior high school, me on a Sting-Ray... oh, he was perplexed. He did not comprehend I was riding 200-250 mikes a week to train yo race. )
GB all alloy stem on mine.
obviously some spec on these was constant- the Campagnolo parts, Weinmann brakes,
everything else even the lugs were subject to change.

gugie 

My publicist has done a bang-up job of describing what I do. There are a few of us on the forum that own a torch, do repairs, make mods, racks, some even make full frames. I do this as a hobby job right now, looking forward to retirement in a few years so I can do it kind of full time.

I can round up some C&V people's for a weekend ride in the countryside. I'm right off the beginning of the Fanno Creek trail, a few blocks from the Garden Home Rec Center.

Kabuki12

My Raleigh is the little brother to these . A first year 1977 Competition GS bought from the original owner who never rode it. It had little scratches from being moved from Cupertino to Solvang California. It still has the bike shop sticker “Stan’s Cyclery” just down the way from Cupertino Bike Shop. I love the bike after changing the RD to Nuovo Record . Joe. joesvintageroadbikes.wordpress

JacobLee 

Here's my blue machine. It's a little darker maybe? I built the wheels in the mid 00's when color was in style. After building them I remembered how much I hate deep rims! I still like the color, though, and they match the frame decals really well. It's nowhere near Gugifazzione, but it works for me.

JacobLee 

Well, the Ranger pickup in the background needed a clutch - that only took a month and a half! Couldn’t stand the wait any longer, so I took a baby step. Pulled the seatpost, rubbed some Brooks conditioner into the leather, and separated the seat and post. Geeze, this stuff is clean. Not sure if the conditioner is the right thing to do, but it looks nice.


Cheap Ranger = Neglected Raleigh!

mpetry912 

these earlier internationals are really fine frames. they have some crazy thin chainstays so be careful re-spacing them.

I think an International is a great entry point to the vintage bike hobby.

Lots of fender room and other opportunities to make it your own. Or, change it to 650B with racks to create something completely different.

Keep 'em coming !

Mark Petry
Coronado CA

JacobLee 

I’m going to leave the rear spacing as-is for now. My first geared bike was a fifteen speed friction shifter (1985 CyclePro Skyline), and I don’t recall having any trouble enjoying that bike. (Isn’t it crazy that component manufacturers could go a couple of decades without adding a cog to the rear cluster!!) The wheelset I bought for this bike is 700c laced to a set of correct Campy hubs, so I should already have room for fenders. It’ll be interesting to see how it rides!

jonwvara 

I probably wouldn't mess with the spacing, either, but I do like six speeds. Fortunately, it's dead simple to throw a Suntour Ultra freewheel on there, which is the same width as a normal-five speed. They're not exactly a dime a dozen, but not hard to find at all. I'm sure you could get Pastor Bob to build you one in in any tooth counts you want.

davester

That's a beauty and a killer deal...a doppelgänger of the International that I toured across Europe on in 1976. I'd love to have another but haven't stumbled onto a reasonably priced one yet.

merziac

You gotta put something on ones that are cracking that bad, they all should be treated lightly and regularly.

Looking at the front by the rivet, this one would become a display specimen if it was mine. It is likely the original as it is an open nose version. It could last many more miles or it could blow up tomorrow, I would try to avoid the latter.

You can dab some shoe polish on the scar at the front rivet as well to diminish that as well.

Oh and welcome aboard, glad you found us.

JacobLee 

An open-nosed original! Good to know. It’s so cool to learn all of this stuff. Thanks, everyone. I’d heard that about old Brooks, and I’m not that keen on having metal rivets anywhere near my nether regions, so I’ll probably ride it around the block and then hang it on the wall.

rootboy 

Has nobody mentioned the doubled up TA water bottle cage yet? Heck, those things are worth as much as you paid for the whole bike.
Great find. Great bike in wonderful condition.
You just need some new brake cable housings, Jacob.

rootboy 

This made me chuckle. Heck, between the members here we've all put probably millions of miles on those Brooks Pro saddles.
I never worried about the rivets, personally.
Still think those old Pros are the best saddles ever made.

JacobLee 

Yeah, I’m sure they’re great. I’ve always wanted to try one. I gotta say, though, all the pics of Brooks saddles with the noses tilted upward make me nervous. Testicular cancer took my left one when I was thirty, so I have a complicated relationship with bike seats! Why does everyone point the nose up? Also, I’ve always loved to ride off-road, where you tend to move around in the saddle, so I like padding everywhere. Still, I’m sure I won’t be able to resist buying a new Brooks for this bike! I just can’t imagine my usual WTB on there!

merziac

The nose up is from upright riding positioning to keep weight off tired old wrists. I ride them all the time, new, old, worn, broken in and not and everything in between, never any problem and count myself lucky. The sliding around on them has always seemed like part of the magic to me, minimal friction and fatigue along the way = priceless and painless, relatively.

merziac

We also have a resident saddle cobbler who makes new leather for saddles when they do blow up and you want it replaced.

Paging rhm

desconhecido 

Check out this old Brooks

It doesn't look like yours is that bad, but the holes in the leather around the rivets on the end of the cantle do look to be tearing a bit.

added: we have two saddles that have been redone by RHM and, like everybody else, we are more than satisfied with his work.

JacobLee 

I tell ya, the amount of info I’ve gathered from this forum is amazing. Those cages sure do look like cheap 70’s crap to the untrained eye. I had a feeling they were something cool, just because the whole bike has a feeling of quality and originality, but I had no idea. They were just laying on the pile in the driveway.