1970x Raleigh Superbe/Sport/Tourist - the ultimate comfort bikes?

[t351937]

For the last few years I've been searching for an ultimate comfort bike. By ultimate comfort I mean straight up riding position that grants hours of enjoyable rides. I tried just about everything. The old school mountain bikes seem to be close to my idea of fun. The 1987 Specialized StreetStomper was the closest until I restored a 1973 Raleigh Superbe. It is a shame, but the only Raleigh bikes I've seen before were made in the last 10 years and they were not too impressive.
I am getting into old school Raleigh bikes now - love the indestructible frames; the 3-speed internal hubs are perfect for most casual cycling, the quality leather saddles with springs smooth any road imperfections. The 28" wheels on some of them are awesome! Most importantly, the truly upright riding position makes these bikes the ultimate comfort bikes. I understand the drawbacks of rod brakes on Raleigh Tourist but they look soo irresistibly retro cool!
Were these bikes too common back in the days to be completely forgotten now?

I admire these magnificent bikes, and intend to restore 1972 Raleigh Sports next.
More info about the 1973 Raleigh Superbe pictured below on my site: https://bikesheaven.com/1973-raleigh-superbe-21/

 

[Mark Manley]

A nice job and colour, I have a liking for the Superb along with the Sports having owned the latter as a teenager, although I thought my mate's Wayfarer was better looking. I used to think they were only made in black but a while ago I did a search for different colours and found twelve, I think I need to get out more.

 

[t351937]

Thank you Mark. The 'bronze green' color is original, just cleaned, de-rusted, and waxed for protection. Raleigh certainly used several colors. Here is another Superbe in maroon I hope to start restoring soon. It looks like several bikes made in England during 70x share the same frame. For example, this 1972 Raleigh Sports frame looks identical to this 19xx Norman frame. Only headset badges and stickers are different. Also forks look slightly different.

 

[Mark Manley]

Yes I think Raleigh owned around six bicycle company names and sold this model badged under all of them.

 

[t351937]

I just restored two bikes with nearly identical frames: 1972 Raleigh Sports and 196x Norman

 

[t351937]

Here is another Raleigh-like bike: 1971 Triumph. See more restoration photos of this bike on its page on my site.
These super comfortable and exceptionally well made bikes are not known much in the USA.