Raleigh Sprint.... or is it?

[Shiney-Napper]

Hi I was recently given a Raleigh road bike from a friend. He has owned it for about 15 years and bought it second hand. The bike has been painted white but the front of it is a metallic grey or gunmetal colour which I believe to be the original. It is fitted with a six speed cassette and as you can see has sprint decals on it. The gears etc are Sachs Huret and the bars and wheels are raleigh. I want to restore it and use it but I wanted to find out what model it is and how old it is so I can buy the correct period decals for it.

If anyone can shed a little light on the subject it would be appreciated.

Thanks

Stuart

 

[MrW]

I'm pretty sure that this started life as a 1984 (ish) Raleigh Equipe

 

[widowmaker]

Re:

Looks like an Equipe, my brother bought one new

 

[Shiney-Napper]

Re:

Thanks for the replies, what makes you think it's an Equipe? I would be delighted if it was as I bought one new in the mid 80`s. I had a wee look into Sachs Hurst it seems they were bought by SRAM. The research I did says the rear mechanism is from 1984 so your guesstimate were spot on.

 

[DrewSavage]

It's looks a lot like the Equipe in this 1987 catalogue - http://veterancycleclublibrary.org.uk/n ... %20Library).pdf - the decals are the same. I'd guess Raleigh changed the branding the year before or the year after.

Looks like the Super Equipe was the same thing and had the same standard frame but with alloy wheels - bit of a false economy to put lighter bits on a fairly heavy frame if you ask me.

The Record Sprint in that catalogue, on the other hand, has a frame made from Reynolds 501 tubing and the distinctive black frame and gold-coloured groupset - if it's a different-coloured version of that, then in my view it'd be really worth having. But, you know, that's just one man's opinion.

 

[MrW]

It's 100% an Equipe, circa 1984

Someone has removed the decals, which would have overlaid the grey, as they were silver and yellow

Lot's of these still around, a quick google images search will find you lots of examples

The 1987 catalogue has the updated version, which had new decals, and braze on gear shifters and bottle mounts

 

[MrW]

1986 Brochure: (spec didn't change until 1987)