From: Shannon Menkveld <shannon.menkveld@cox.net>
"One of the bikes on my "will own" list is the International. I've got a thing for 1970's Raleighs, mostly due to my dad working in a Raleigh shop in San Francisco back then. He was a "Raleigh man" through and through. And the design of the International seems unique among production lightweights of that time, a more relaxed, all-rounder type frame with racing parts.
I have read, and the archives confirm, that the later internationals were steeper and shorter. When did this change take place? Or, if one were looking for a true, "long-n-low" International with chromed Nervex Pro lugs, what would be the last year that they were made that way?"
Hi Shannon,
I have a '71 International, as well as a '74 model. The '71 has noticably longer chainstays than the '74, so the transition was somewhere in that span.
Looking through the Raleigh catalogs, I can't quite make out when this occured. If I had to guess, I'd say that the '72 catalog shows long chainstays on the International, while the '73 shows the shorter, sportier chainstays.
regards,
Steve Kurt
Peoria, IL