Ozark
I'd say for 50E it's definitely worth a purchase !
It was kind of high end in its day, but bikes rapidly got cheaper and better equipped. Raleigh made the Maverick 5 & 15 in 1985-6 but that was part of their mass market range with a standard high tensile steel frame.
The Ozark and the Avanti were launched in 1987 and were from Raleigh's lightweight division - the specialist part of Raleigh that made high spec bikes - the frames were designed by Gerald O'Donovan who was their chief framebuilder and designer. He designed all Raleigh's pro bikes as used by many continental road teams. O'Donovan designing a mountain bike was a big deal as it was a sign that the older, traditional bike companies were beginning to take mountain bikes seriously.
The Ozark was the standard model, £380 at the time. 531 frameset, I think probably only the main tubes though, so the rear triangle and forks could be cromoly or just HTS. It had a mixture of sub-Deore and non-Shimano parts but having SIS and a U-brake was the height of fashion in 1987. I literally had a crowd of people examining it when I first took it to school. It was certainly a better frame and was probably slightly better equipped than the Muddy Fox courier, it's main rival.
The Avanti was the higher-end model. this had a full 531 frame and forks and the full deore groupset - this cost £580 and was blue and white in colour. As I was 14 at the time my savings only stretched to the Ozark, not the Avanti !
Daley Thompson, the British decathlete was given an Avanti by Raleigh, probably to try and match the publicity Muddy Fox got when they gave the boxer Frank Bruno an Explorer.
Terry...