myz34

Someone one town over was advertising this Sprite 27 on Marketplace for $100.00. I talked them down to $75.00 and all I had to do was change the tires (I believe the tires that were on it were original), a minor cleaning, polish the chrome, and lube it up. It has Huret derailleurs, Nervar chainwheels, Altenburger Synchron brakes, and a Rampar light set. I know the Sprite isn't a high end bike, but I figured I could still flip it in the spring for a decent profit. I would consider keeping it, but it's too big for me I've already decided to keep the Royale I posted a couple of weeks ago. My apologies if my terminology isn't spot on. I'm still pretty new to the bicycle world and this forum.

sovende

You didn’t ask but I’m going say that’s a early to mid sixties bike! Others will know for sure. Have you found the serial #/date code?

myz34

The serial number is on the seat lug and it's 3675202. If I'm interpreting Kurt Kaminer's serial number tracker correctly, it comes back as 1972.

cudak888 

What's surprising is that the Sprite 27 (and '72 would be about right for this one) - and all Sprites, for that matter - were upright-bar, Sports-style bikes with 5 or 10 speed drivetrains. This one is basically built as a Raleigh Record - drops and all.

It appears 100% period correct, so either Raleigh spat out an oddity by shipping a Sprite 27 with drop bars, or the dealer - BITD - did a handlebar swap with all the right parts. Reaction to the 10-speed boom of '73? I wonder.

-Kurt

myz34

Every other photo I've seen of the Sprite 27 has had upright bars.

cudak888 

Exactly. The correct-spec 7/8" bars and matching brakes make me think it was a dealer modification when it was new. Probably some spares off another brand-new Record. Or perhaps a Record frame was damaged out of the box, and the parts moved to the Sprite? Who knows...

-Kurt

myz34

I guess all I can say is I'm happy I found it, no matter how it came to be this way instead of having the standard upright bars.

sovende

I was basing my age estimate on the presence of the cottered cranks. I'm clearly NOT an expert on all bikes of the C&V relm but I've had more than a few come and go. I can only recall one that had cottered cranks (I believe it was of a 60s vintage?) and I had more than a bit of trouble keeping them tight on the BB spindle. I sold that one off quickly. I guess I'm not aware of when the trend for cotterless cranks (even on low end bikes) began.
Nevertheless, that bike cleaned up nice! I hope that you can keep the cranks tight on the spindle. If they're OK now, I'd advise NOT doing anything with them!!
RE: having drop bars instead of flat ones for upright riding, it's completely possible that a shop did some custom swaps at the buyer's request.
Another thing (and this may be less true these days) is that a entry level i.e. "low end" bike is less attractive to thieves. To be sure, I'd still lock it up when leaving it unattended

John E

I was going to say that the stem shift is definitely a 1970s thing. Schwinn kicked off the trend with the TwinStik controls on the 1967 Varsinentals.

Cycle Tourist

I've managed a few cottered to cotterless conversations and always found cottered cranks very secure sometimes too much so. That is an excellent looking old timer.