auchencrow

Actually it's a reasonable price these days - especially for a SC that might clean up really well.
- Plus, if you don't like the rack, you could sell it for $30 by itself on eBay so you could have a nice SC for $120 (plus the cost of tires and incidentals) and less if he is willing to deal.

PS- It's not a 74 as stated in the ad - The decals are probably 72ish, so it probably has Raleigh BB threading if that is a consideration.

sailorbenjamin

I'm amazed at how much those Pleischers sell for when they get old. The LBS has new ones for $12.95

noglider 

You can seriously get a new Pletscher rack?

I still have a Pletscher kickstand sitting around, collecting dust.

fiataccompli

thats funny about the racks. i've not seen any at the LBS's here, but yeah, $15-20 on Ebay for about any kind of rack is about right. Whatever the case, i do love finding bikes that come with lots of accessories!

sailorbenjamin

Now that you mention it, this particular LBS has some dusty parts laying around that may be in production any more.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

+1 on the year, the decals are right for '72

Interestingly enough I went and measured my own '72 Super Course with Cottered Cranks (that I assume are the original Nervar ones) and found the BB shell to be 68mm. Not at all what I would have expected. Sheldon Brown says on the subject:

I haven't tried to thread a ISO cup into it yet, but I am pretty surprised... Is it more likely that mine is just a BB thats been cut down to size by a previous owner?

buldogge

My '68 SC has a 68mm shell and was std British threading...FWIW.

-Mark in St. Louis

sailorbenjamin

Both of mine are 70mm with 24tpi british threading. Trade you a cotterless spindle for your crankset?

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I'd take you up on that trade if I knew what crankset I was going to use and knew the spindle size I needed. I'm like 99% sure the cottered cranks are gonna come off mine in the very near future (just gotta find a triple I like). When they do I can let you know about the cottered crankset.

FWIW Nervar cottered cranksets (which is what the early 70's Super Courses were specc'd with) come up on eBay frequently. Stronglight ones come up too but not quite as often


Thanks Bulldogge. You and sailorbenjamin both give me some hope that mine is British threaded too. Its always fun to hear about other Raleighs...especially since so often it seems like a roll of the dice as to what you get

***Edit**

just thinking here....

Is there anyone here with a 26tpi Raleigh Threaded Super Course?
The super course was a top model for a while, and was still high up in the line-up through the 70's.

sailorbenjamin

I think the width is the hard part on these and you have that nailed with the 68mm. Would it be sacrelidge to file mine down a bit? 26tpi cups are easy enough to come by (I have a set or two around).
I've heard of some 26tpi SCs on other threads. I forget where, though.

noglider 

Don't file it down. You need the surfaces to be perfectly parallel. There's a highly expensive machining tool to do that. It's possible that a machine shop can do this for you. A well equipped bike shop can do it for you.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I've heard of some SC's with 26tpi too but its always in the context of "Jeez I really hope my Super Course isn't 26tpi." I just want someone to show me a Super Course with 26tpi to prove that it exists.

Sheldon's article on Raleigh Bottom Brackets suggests that Super Courses with cottered cranks are 26tpi, but its entirely possible he is referring to lesser models and the and not the super course.


sailorbenjamin, you should be able to just use a 71mm spindle rather than having the BB shell milled down.

noglider 

I took my cranks off the other day to clean up the bike. My smallest chainring is bent, causing chainsuck every time I try to use the smallest chainring. The previous owner had replaced the cottered crankset with a triple crank made by some company called Dotek. It's craptacular. But the cartridge bearings don't seem to suck, at least for now. I started to unscrew one of the cups out of curiosity. Then I stopped. I realized that it ain't broke, so I shouldn't fix it. I don't know if it's 24tpi or 26tpi, and I may never know. I may replace the crank, but as long as the bearings and spindle keep turning, I'll keep them.

sailorbenjamin

Mine came cottered with 24TPI. I'm sort of under the impression that 26TPI was a Notingham thing and Worksop might have gotten a couple by accident or borrowed a few when they ran out of 24s during the boom years.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

ok here's something...

again according to Sheldon:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroral...er-course.html
So according to that they're ALL 24tpi and all us Super Course owners can just measure the BB shell and get a Sealed Cartridge in the correct width if we wanted to...or upgrade to a name-brand (read:not Raleigh) Bottom Bracket in the correct width.

I see where the assumption that Super Courses would be 26tpi comes from though
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/raleigh26.html
The operative words there are Generally Speaking and its easy to assume that the Super Course is not BSC threading when The listing of 'higher-end' Raleighs doesn't include the Super Course and additionally it says Those bikes used cotterless cranks. So its an easy assumption to make that the super course would be 26tpi. But Apparently this is not the case.


Raleigh Super Course = 24tpi Bottom Bracket.



pardon me while I go swear at the hours I've wasted and then go order a new BB and crankset.

nlerner

Unfortunately, Sheldon wasn't quite right on this topic. I've had about eight Super Course framesets pass through my basement in the last few years, all from 1971-73 (i.e., all originally with cottered cranksets). Some had 24 tpi bottom bracket shells (such as my current '72), most had 26 tpi shells. That's why Phil Wood Co. labeled their 26tpi rings as shown:



Neal

noglider 

Yeah, but in that picture, Phil misspelled Raleigh, so he must have been wrong. OK, just kidding. It just gets confusinger and confusinger.

DiegoFrogs

You beat me to it, Tom! That's really unprofessional, but I see stuff like that all the time. I try not to let it color my opinions today.

nlerner

There's also a superfluous hyphen, but who's counting?!

Neal

sailorbenjamin

"pardon me while I go swear at the hours I've wasted and then go order a new BB and crankset."

I guess this means you won't be needing my spindle. Trade you cranks for a sunset orange Continental?

ftwelder

I think I found one of these today at a local "bike/yard sale". I was wondering if it is a Super course. I found this bike in this photo to have a fillet brazed BB area. I notice these bikes have lugs. Perhaps someone might have some insight?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frankth...31690/sizes/m/

auchencrow

It's a Grand Prix -( They are easy to spot due to the wrap around seat stays at the Bocama lug, nearest the seat post.)
It appears to be circa '77 with that crank and DR, but I am not familiar with fillet brazing on Raleighs of that era.

Anyway, these were 20-30 steel not Reynolds - one step below the SC, but still a good bike. I hope you bought it for a Yard sale price!

ftwelder

I didn't pick it up. I know the guy is asking a lot more than it is worth. I think it would take $75.00 to get this bike into my van. There are other finer machines in the area at that price. Thanks for the info

noglider 

I've modified my Super Course. Here it is with the Mafac brakes, Nashbar commuter pedals, Campagnolo Gran Turismo rear derailleur and trekking bars. The handlebars and derailleur are the newest thing. I think I like the bars! And the derailleur works just fine, despite warnings from other people.



More pictures here.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

now all you need is bar-end shifters on the ends of those bullhorns.

looks good.