RE: [CR]Raleigh Competition, 1972

(Example: Framebuilding:Tubing:Falck)

From: <"kohl57@starpower.net">
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: RE: [CR]Raleigh Competition, 1972
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 14:54:40 -0500


Original Message: ----------------- From: Donald Gillies gillies@cs.ubc.ca Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 10:36:00 -0800 (PST) To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Raleigh Competition, 1972

"I have a COMPLETE 1972 Raleigh USA catalogue. The one in the archives is not complete. However, even the COMPLETE catalogue does NOT list a Raleigh Competition."

Don... this is why the Competition is such a mystery since Raleigh, in a fit of English understatement, decided it was so good, it didn't even need to be in a catalogue!!

One might call these Competition Mk 1s, c. 1969-71, or maybe even Gran Sport bis or the Spanish Competition as a nod to the Zeus components. Raleigh at least tried to sort things out with the '72-'78 version, the Competition Mk 2, which was the French component one and finally, the Italian one (Campy) Competition GS c. 1979-84 (?). Of late, the Mk 2 seems to be the favourite. Certainly the rarer one. I dare say there is a "barely ridden" Comp GS on eBay every other week. Alas I sure wasn't clever enough to buy one of those...

This weekend my long-suffering '79 Competition GS project is finally finished thanks to my local bike shop (so that's what LBS means!) and I shall take my first ride on a derailleur bike (Campagnolo too! Oh boy!) since I was 18. I need to remember how all this works first...

Peter Kohler Washington DC USA

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