due ruote 

Pontius, here is my '73. Quite obviously I'm no slave to originality, but I still think it would be a shame to paint yours. The paint really looks pretty good on it. Once you do it you can't get it back. I kick myself for painting mine, though granted I was a much younger and stupider version of myself back then.

pontius

Very nice !! $75 was a steal on that for sure.

That looks great!! No reason for feeling guilty about that paint job. I have cleaned mine up since my my post and have been cruising around all summer on it. I love riding it and I have grown quite fond of the original paint and it's "patina". I'm leaving it as is!

old's'cool

Yet another example of an early-to-mid 70's GS with a random combination of components, quite possibly from the factory.
Excellent score!

PilotFishBob 

Hi old's'cool, thanks. I was surprised at the price to be sure, grabbed it so fast I think it scared the lady at the estate sale. Certainly the catalogue at Sheldon's doesn't list some of what I've found on this thing in either '72 or '73, though everything does appear to be from the same time period. I also have a '77 Super Course (another estate sale find) and I've started to get used to the concept of Raleigh's parts subbing and mixing, but it's a bit jarring. Makes it difficult to ID some of their bikes, for certain. I'm debating on what to replace the Simplex front derailleur with, but I like to keep it as close to period as possible.

PilotFishBob 

Hi Pontius. Yep, one of those rare finds that almost never happen - and now that it did you wonder if you're about to get hit with a meteor to keep the universe in balance...

old's'cool

FWIW, my '75 or '76 came to me with Campy NR shifters and FD. RD was Shimano Crane GS. No way to tell if this was from factory or owner upgrades, but all period correct to be sure.

CO_Hoya 

A couple of years ago I built up a '73-ish GS for a co-worker, who insisted on bullhorn handlebars (original post here).

After a couple of years of needling, I managed to get him to admit that the bullhorns were a bit silly, so he requested a switch to something else. He insisted on not using drops, though. I recently picked up a bike with mustache bars, so that's what is now on the bike.







I haven't adjusted the bar angle or stem height for him yet, so I set it up near max stem extension. The stem is a Kalloy AL-222, about $18 shipped from eBay.

I took it for a test ride and I have to admit the mustache bars are very comfortable. I'll probably look around for a pair for my commuter.

old's'cool

BTW, latest mod to my GS is a Raleigh-branded Suntour VxGT RD, still period correct AFAIK...







Also shown is my recently installed, custom built 13-28 "natural" Suntour Ultra 6 freewheel... Natural, in that the gaps between the numbers of teeth follow the natural number sequence, i.e. 1,2,3,4,5, hence, 13,14,16,19,23,28. I've built two identical Ultra 6 freewheels for my other 70's rides, i.e. my '78 Moto GJ, and '76 Empire Professional; as well as a natural Shimano freewheel for my '89 Peugeot Versailles, and a natural UG freehub for my 85 Ross Gran Tour.
Naturally , you could build a natural cogset starting with a different small cog, but the availability of the larger cogs could be an issue...
Anyway, that is my latest fetish, and I'm enjoying it.

Oh, and also shown is the period correct Normandy hub/Rigida 1320 700C wheelset harvested from the 1985 Ross Gran Tour that I acquired in the fall of 2014, shod with Clement LGG tanwall tires. The Ross has received a "rugged wheel" upgrade about which I will post in due course.

bear_a_bug 

Here is my new 1973 Raleigh Grand Sports. Frame was purchased from @nlerner in January. I decided to build it up as a rider with period correct-ish parts. Finally able to take it out for a proper shakedown ride as temps reached mid-50's here in Chicago.

First impressions? Love it! Smooth, fast, stable.



I was able to hunt down some nicer "GB" randonneur bars, a "GB forged" stem, and Carlton hoods/Weinmann brake levers. Cockpit includes my "signature move" on all my bikes, an analog watch mount (intended for motorcycles, cheapy Chinese thing).



Other parts include: Stronglight 99 triple crankset, Mafac Racer brakes with koolstop 4 dot brake pads, Suntour derailleurs/shifters, Fujita belt saddle.

nlerner

^ Looks great!

gugie 

You guys are killing me with all those lagoon blue/white frames! There's a guy who commutes in the other direction that I do, sometimes I see him, but on the other side of a busy highway. He's got one. It's like seeing a hot babe in a bikini, my head spins around like the devil has control of it as it rides on by.

I'm a 60cm/24" frame kinda guy, just sayin'...

gugie 

So many of them were upgraded at purchase or soon after you'd have thought they were put on OEM...

hawleyj

I have that exact bike. I'm not a bike geek but I knew my bike had value and I wanted to get an idea of what it was worth so my son doesn't sell it for $35 on Craigslist when I die. I really hate forums and this is no exception. Instead of making communication easy they all seem to be geared to making things hard or impossible. I wanted to message the poster but first I had to sign up. Ok - that isn't unreasonable. But then I discovered that the "administrator" had established that I couldn't communicate with anyone directly until I had made 10 posts. Sorry to lose my cool but that is just ****ing arrogant....and stupid.

Kilroy1988 

You're obviously in the wrong place.

In any case, simply put the name of the poster you wish to contact down in your message here with @ in front of the word, like @hawleyj and it will notify them that they were mentioned. Who are you wishing to communicate with and for what reason? Dozens of Raleigh Gran Sports are posted in this thread and many people can probably help you answer questions you have about your bike.

There's also a perfect reason that you aren't allowed to make private communications immediately after joining this forum. If that were possible then a spammer who intends to post annoying, harmful or even illegal content would be able to send private messages that could not be investigated or removed by administrators with ease. It's a precaution that helps maintain the safety and respectability of the community.

rickrob 

I really like this bike. It looks great with the fenders.

rjhammett

Hates forums but wants information and then complains about a few rules? It would be a real shame if his son sells his bike for $35.

PilotFishBob 

1972 Grand Sports. Posted a few pics here last year when I first got it, dirty and needing tlc. Life and other bikes got in the way but now it's finally refurbed and in the lineup, rides nicely and it's a head turner.

chelvel

Great looking bike!

steelbikeguy

very nice!!
where did you find "lagoon blue" cable housing?? It really does look good!


Steve in Peoria

PilotFishBob 

Hey @steelbikeguy, i couldn't find anything local and located this on eBay - seller named porkchopzz4. Guy sells a lot of BMX stuff but has a decent cable housing selection with road bike cables, I've used him a few times. This stuff isn't an exact match for Lagoon, but close. "light baby blue". Right after I got it the same seller started offering a turquoise blue that I suspect might be a closer match... Still, what I have looks pretty good to me.

davlafont

Is the Grand Sports geometry and/or fork rake different than the Super Course of the same era (circa mid-70s, 73-75ish)?


There's a white with blue GS barn find on CL for $80, . It's in fair condition at best, rougher than just patina, but seems to be all original including the Brooks. I would only consider picking it up if it were more touring-oriented than the Super Course I have now. That's not to say that the SC is not relaxed, but I'll need a little more rationale to launch another project.


TIA...


(Please forgive me if this was covered in the six pages/4.5 years of this thread.)

nlerner

Having had a bunch of SuperCourses and Grand Sports from that era, I have found that it actually varies from bike to bike. Such were the manufacturing specs at Raleigh at the time. That said, some of the Grand Sports models will have integrated rear derailleur hangers and full 531 double-butted frames, and on the whole will be lighter weight than the comparable SC.

davlafont

@nlerner, this bike does have the integrated hanger. It looks like the fork has the triangular 531 decal, but none on the seat tube (although all the decals are in bad shape. My biggest fear is that the photo shows what looks like welding at the top tube lugs, more definitely at the head tube but possibly at the seat tube too. It might be worth $80 in Brooks, crankset, and rando bars alone.


(I didn't mean to turn this thread into "what's it worth?" but then, the thread has been dormant for while so it's really more of an extended bump )

bcpriess

Here's mine. Got it "newish" in 2005. It looked like it had barely been ridden - white bar tape was still on it...only sign of damage is a small indent on the seat tube from a park stand which has caused zero problems. I replaced the GB bars with wider Modolo Anatomic Bend bars, the rear wheel ate it hard a while back and had to be replaced, so only the front is Weinmann. Suntour bar ends - I totally hated the dt shifters, and it has better Shimano hoods with rubber instead of the white Carlton/Weinmanns it came with, and I liked the contrasting red bar tape for aesthetic reasons. It has stronglight crankset, and Campagnolo derailleurs. The rear freewheel wore out and was skipping, so it's not original. Original saddle AFAIK. It's a little shorter than I'd prefer (I think it's 22.5 in / 57cm and I think a 60 would fit perfectly but I've ridden it at least 10k miles as is) - I'm 6-0 and I've got the bars jacked up as high as I'm comfortable riding them, but the ride quality is absolutely superb - totally eats up dirt singletrack if you'll let it. Bottom bracket's on the way out though.

gugie 

I've posted this one before, the frame started with @nlerner, then @bear_a_bug, now my version of the build:



When Neal did his Epic Portlandia Trip, we stopped by Velocult and saw a very rare chrome version:



Sky, Velocult proprietor told us it was actually in a catalog, but only a few were made as prototypes. Being a "show quality" frame, the brazework was much better than the average Raleigh of the time.