> From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
>> I have a 1973 competition that is just like marc garcia's competition.
> the paint on the downtube and seat tube is glossy, but paint in other
> areas is flat black and it actually rubs off on my hand. my bike was
> crashed in 1975 or maybe a little later and so there has been no
> reason to touch the frameset since that time. The perfect transfers
> reflect this fact.
>
> It's common for early 1970's raleighs to have rust coming through the
> paint.
>
> i have other bikes from that era with NOS-like original paint jobs
> that have "raindrops" in the paint the top tube, for example. if you
> hired a new painter in 1973 to meet the explosion in bike demand, i
> think you might have him start on the "black bikes", so i think this
> is just par for the course on raleigh competition bikes in the early
> to mid 1970's.
Just to add to Donald's post: Someimes Raleigh paint is pretty good some times a bit thin. But............ Before cussing the painter; you'd be surprised how many runs and drips on my '77 Super Course weren't paint but actually copper and brass! Found out when I started prepping for repainting it. Headtube and bottom bracket were worst areas. I left them like that too. Same with the Heron looking off to the left because the headtube was brazed in off center. Adds to the charm..... ; )
Pete Geurds
Douglassville, PA