Show your Raleigh Competition
03-30-19, 07:35 AM
#1
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Show your Raleigh Competition
Surprisingly can't find this specific thread anywhere on BF.
So, post up any pics of your Raleigh Comp. Does't matter if it's a GS, non-GS, 60s, 70s or 80s.
Here's mine. '74 Comp with Huret Challenger FD and RD (damn Huret dropouts).
So, post up any pics of your Raleigh Comp. Does't matter if it's a GS, non-GS, 60s, 70s or 80s.
Here's mine. '74 Comp with Huret Challenger FD and RD (damn Huret dropouts).
Last edited by bear_a_bug; 03-30-19 at 07:44 AM.
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03-30-19, 12:04 PM
#2
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I bought this in 2015 from the original owner. It was pretty much never ridden as his wife hated the bike. He bought it in November of 1977 from a bike shop in Cupertino, California. The sticker is still on the bike! I ride it regularly even though it is about 1" smaller than the rest of my steeds. Great ride and this one seems to get a lot of attention when I am out and about. I guess a lot of people recognize the brand. Joe
1977 Raleigh Competition GS
1977 Raleigh Competition GS
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03-30-19, 01:33 PM
#3
aire díthrub
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I’ll likely be the “black” sheep here.
’77 GS
’77 GS
03-30-19, 02:11 PM
#4
Bike Butcher of Portland
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Ok, here are mine.
Stock
JP Weigle mod
a third that's been stuck in the Atelier, not yet finished...
Stock
JP Weigle mod
a third that's been stuck in the Atelier, not yet finished...
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If someone tells you that you have enough bicycles and you don't need any more, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
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03-30-19, 02:52 PM
#5
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My Competition 12's. 1984 models, made a few months apart in late '83 and early '84:
03-30-19, 08:27 PM
#6
52psi
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...but you'll have some company. '79 GS.
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A race bike in any era is a highly personal choice that at its "best" balances the requirements of fit, weight, handling, durability and cost tempered by the willingness to toss it and oneself down the pavement at considerable speed. ~Bandera
A race bike in any era is a highly personal choice that at its "best" balances the requirements of fit, weight, handling, durability and cost tempered by the willingness to toss it and oneself down the pavement at considerable speed. ~Bandera
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03-31-19, 12:37 PM
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My '73:
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07-15-19, 09:14 AM
#11
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These are the as-found, "before" pix, featuring an imperfectly brazed tip of a lower headlug extension, a cockeyed rear brake cable stop and the worst rust I think I've ever seen on a Raleigh fork. That makes sense, since the Capella lugs and an A+4 digits serial number point to 1973, when Raleigh's Q/C was at its nadir. My plans will put this one squarely in the black sheep herd with seamuis and Fahrenheit531's examples, but with a Surly Dingle, two chainrings and a quick release on the rear hub to tweak the purists on the singlespeed/fixed-gear end of the forum.
Last edited by rustystrings61; 07-15-19 at 09:30 AM.
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07-15-19, 10:32 AM
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^ Crusty!
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07-15-19, 10:53 AM
#13
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"Crusty" would be a good nickname for this one, had I not already settled on "De Selby," in honor of the mad scientist whose works are frequently cited in Flann O'Brien's masterpiece The Third Policeman, a novel that contends that there is an interchange of atoms between bicycles and the people who ride them over bumpy roads, leading to bicycles that acquire human tastes and sensibilities and people who develop certain eccentric behaviors, such as always need to have one foot up on the curb, or needing to lean an elbow against the wall, or falling down when not moving along quickly enough. We observe that the bicycle-influenced behavior described closely resembles that of the inebriated without further comment.
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07-15-19, 11:12 AM
#15
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73 Comp...In progress...
CL advert picture.
Shortly after purchase...
Swapped in some newer VO/Sun CR18 wheels...
Swapped in some newer VO/Sun CR18 wheels...
07-15-19, 08:06 PM
#16
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07-15-19, 09:42 PM
#18
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Thanks, it's a 25"
07-15-19, 09:57 PM
#19
www.theheadbadge.com
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Ancient history, but...
-Kurt
-Kurt
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07-15-19, 11:37 PM
#20
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I have no photos of my '73. I picked up the frame actually looking pretty good, but I didn't trust the braze so I had it stripped and examined by a framebuilder. He found the lugs with very little braze and tubes cracked at the lugs, probably from so little support. He joked that the paint job had held the frame together. I had him add a seat tube WB bosses, clean up the seat lug in the pin area and modify the Heuret dropout to work with Campy/Japanese derailleurs also. The chrome did not survive the chemical strip.
After that, I saw zero reason to "honor" the frame with the name of a company(ies) that did such poor work so I simply had it powder coated it, no decals. (Raleigh/Carlton) I might get the 531 decals someday. $800 of the $1000 I spent for work and paint was just to make the bike safe to ride like it should have been when it left the factory. For a what? $300 bike? The good thing is that the bike had little rust and no evidence of heavy use. (Maybe the original owner had my doubts.)
Ben
After that, I saw zero reason to "honor" the frame with the name of a company(ies) that did such poor work so I simply had it powder coated it, no decals. (Raleigh/Carlton) I might get the 531 decals someday. $800 of the $1000 I spent for work and paint was just to make the bike safe to ride like it should have been when it left the factory. For a what? $300 bike? The good thing is that the bike had little rust and no evidence of heavy use. (Maybe the original owner had my doubts.)
Ben
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07-16-19, 04:22 AM
#21
verktyg
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1971 Lavender Raleigh Competition
Purple Haze...
Late one night in January last year, while in a state of eBay fugue, several lavender Raleigh Competitions caught my eye.
They'd been popping up online quite a bit and I was curious having never seen one "in the steel". I made an eBay Best Offer on this one - accidentally $100 too much!
The seller jumped right on it so I was stuck with the purchase.
It was listed as having been "completely overhauled"! I was looking for a CA Eroica 2018 gravel grinder and this looked perfect.
As listed:
The headset was the only original component and I had to replace that. I went through everything on the bike except the sealed bearing BB and sealed bearing hubs.
NOTHING worked properly as received! I even had to overhaul the Raleigh badged Suntour RD. The bike has Zeus stamped dropouts rather than forged Campy dropouts.
Original alloy seatpost - I had to reshape the top of the seat tube plus ream and hone it to get a 27.2mm seatpost to fit smoothly:
So much for "completely overhauled"!
The seller did credit me back $100, but still...
After photo:
It's my only rust bucket bike, mainly surface rust under the front of the top tube.
Last year I rode this more than any of my other bikes. It's not light but has a smooth ride and handles very well (after I realigned the forks and frame).
If it didn't have such poor quality brazing, I'd consider getting it repainted.
verktyg
Late one night in January last year, while in a state of eBay fugue, several lavender Raleigh Competitions caught my eye.
They'd been popping up online quite a bit and I was curious having never seen one "in the steel". I made an eBay Best Offer on this one - accidentally $100 too much!
The seller jumped right on it so I was stuck with the purchase.
It was listed as having been "completely overhauled"! I was looking for a CA Eroica 2018 gravel grinder and this looked perfect.
As listed:
The headset was the only original component and I had to replace that. I went through everything on the bike except the sealed bearing BB and sealed bearing hubs.
NOTHING worked properly as received! I even had to overhaul the Raleigh badged Suntour RD. The bike has Zeus stamped dropouts rather than forged Campy dropouts.
Original alloy seatpost - I had to reshape the top of the seat tube plus ream and hone it to get a 27.2mm seatpost to fit smoothly:
So much for "completely overhauled"!
The seller did credit me back $100, but still...
After photo:
It's my only rust bucket bike, mainly surface rust under the front of the top tube.
Last year I rode this more than any of my other bikes. It's not light but has a smooth ride and handles very well (after I realigned the forks and frame).
If it didn't have such poor quality brazing, I'd consider getting it repainted.
verktyg
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Don't believe everything you think! History is written by those who weren't there....
Chas. ;-)
Don't believe everything you think! History is written by those who weren't there....
Chas. ;-)
Last edited by verktyg; 07-16-19 at 04:37 AM.
07-16-19, 08:26 AM
#22
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07-16-19, 08:45 AM
#23
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Posted these "as purchased" pics a week or two ago. Currently undergoing restoration. The "repair" job on the front derailleur--spam can opener plus JB Weld--did receive some comment....
07-16-19, 09:18 AM
#24
Get off my lawn!
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07-16-19, 11:29 AM
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Shown here with the original equipment (minus the seatpost and saddle), is my 1969 Competition. Looks an awful lot like an International, doesn't it?
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