Dating (and building) a Raleigh Grand Sports

[bikemig]

I picked up an early 70s Raleigh Grand Sports last year and I'm finally getting around to building it up. This bike can take a fat tire so I plan on building it as a light trail/gravel bike with 700 x 35c tires. The frame was spread to 126 OLD and the drop out hanger chopped off by the previous owner (who was the original owner as well). The bike had a weird selection of parts when I bought it. The headset was in good shape though as well as the very nice 125 mm stronglight spindle. I had a few questions:

(1) Is there any way to date these bikes? It has a 5 digit serial number stamped on the left rear drop out (Zeus competition). The serial no. is 33548.
(2) Does someone sell the stickers for the bike? I'll likely pick up the right 531 stickers but I wouldn't mind the rest of the stickers as well.

The first pic is how I bought the bike (Mafac brakes, mismatched wheels, and a nice brooks saddle (not visible in the pic). The second and third pics were taken recently after I stripped the bike down, rebuilt the headset, and dealt with the crank as the dust covers took some destructive persuading to come off. The paint is in good shape but I'll touch it up and wax the frame before building it. I have a set of Weinmann center pull brakes and levers that I pulled off a Raleigh Competition that I'll use in the build and I may stick with these wheels (ugly looking hubs but the mavic MA 40 rims are in great shape). I have a Stronglight 99 triple that I'll use on the build as well as a Raleigh branded suntour rear derailleur.

 

[bikemig]

I've made some progress on the Raleigh Gran Sport. The serial numbers for the early 70s Raleighs seem to be a bit of a mess but given the Zeus dropouts, this is likely a '71-'72 Gran Sport. The idea is to build this into a vintage gravel bike since it has ample clearance for reasonably fat tires. I'll use 700 x 35c Schwalbe Marathon Racer tires. I would have liked going a bit wider but the drop out was hacked off which means I have to run the derailleur on a hanger. I can't get the wheel all the way back in the drop outs and that will limit my tire choices a bit. I've picked out the parts; overhauled the bottom bracket, headset, and hubs; and cleaned up and waxed the frame. The first pic is the bike; the second the parts. I'm going to run a stronglight 99 crank with 47/34 rings and a 13-30 7 speed Sachs Maillard freewheel.

 

[bikemig]

I finally got around to building up my early 70s Raleigh Gran Sport. There were a lot of niggling issues I had to deal with (reaming out the seattube, rebuilding the Weinmann centerpull brakes, piecing together a bottom bracket). I'm running a 50/34 shimano deore MT 60 crank, a 13-30 6 speed suntour new winner freewheel ,and 700 x 35c Schwalbe Marathon "racer" tires. This is a very solid bike. It is a responsive and reasonably light machine suitable for roads and gravel. It makes me smile when I ride the bike which is all you can ask for after rebuilding an old bike.

These are some pics of the bike on a recent 25 mile bike ride:

 

[RetroDavy]

Looks great. Nice job .