Mystery Raleigh

The short question

What did I buy?

Pieces of the puzzle

Pictures are here.

-Serial number found on top of the seat tube facing the rear is NK8018900 which led me to N(ottingham), K (july), '78 / '88. Via this guide. But I didn't find the bicycle in the catalogues of the corresponding years.

-Brakes and brake levers by Weinmann

-Almost every part on the bike is branded Raleigh (with the 'normal' font)

-Green gunky mold

The story

I found this (mixte) Raleigh bicycle on the web. Noticed an unusual decal style, rust and instant sex appeal, so of course I bought it instantly.

Now having searched through the entire internet, including all online catalogues from Raleigh dating back from '30 til '98, I'm just confused.

Lookalikes

Raleigh Misty

The bikes on pages 16 and 17 from this catalogue.

Best guesses

Redone paint job with weird replacement decal or a beautiful Frankenstein bike.

Let's kick this mystery's butt!

Raleigh weren't TI Raleigh by '88; so that suggests '78 would be the better bet (aside from the general look of the bike etc).

Best suggestion is it's a Mixte 1978 Raleigh Record Ace, if it's 42-52 front chainrings & a Brooks CR3 Saddle.

Specs from the '78 & '79 bikes are the same - you can check out the spec sheet here:
http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/R ... ations.gif

Osella":25vy9n5k said:

Raleigh weren't TI Raleigh by '88; so that suggests '78 would be the better bet (aside from the general look of the bike etc).

Best suggestion is it's a Mixte 1978 Raleigh Record Ace, if it's 42-52 front chainrings & a Brooks CR3 Saddle.

Specs from the '78 & '79 bikes are the same - you can check out the spec sheet here:
http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/R ... ations.gif

Click to expand...

I'll have to check on the 42-52 tomorrow, but you are right about the saddle and the other specs also seem to add up, so i'm guessing we have a name!

Now, for that decal: why is it I never see another one like it? I mean, it is a more straight variation on the normal 'line-in-letter' font from Raleigh, right?

Thank you for your time!

Well, I'm not totally sure of the decal / name font & design. We used to have what (I think) was the men's version of this exact same bike when I was a kid though, and the downtube decal was the same as yours.

There's other Raleighs from around the same time though that all have different designs & it seems they probably used a different logo/font for each type of bike (Competition/Sports/Leisure/Kids/etc).

Looks like a raleigh super course mixte, Raleigh's version of the carlton courette.

Shaun