[CR]Raleigh 71 catalog up on Bulgier's site. - more related weirdness

Greetings campers and Raleigh-phobes

The fun never stops. Recently stumbled across auctions for a couple of the rare and elusive 1971 Raleigh catalogs. As things turned out, I couldn't compete with the Ebayniacs for the full 16-page catalog, but did manage to acquire the 4-pager for just the 10 speed models; Pro, Int, Super Curse, Gran Prix, and Record. Scanned and now up on Bulgiers catalog site, conveniently located with the others in the Retro Raleighs section. Proving once again that old website projects are never done. (When did we start this R-R thing?!). http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Retro-Raleighs/71-Catalog.pdf No mention of the Gran Sport or Competition in this one, but I've learned to expect little from a company that devotes a full page to the bottom of the line Record, and has small useless photos of the Pro and Int sharing a page. (Yeah, I know, they sold far more Records than Pros or Ints, but it's still annoying.). Maybe the GS and Comp were in the full catalog. If somebody in the group was the lucky(?) very high bidder, please share. Inquiring minds need to know.

I've long been missing a 71 in my Raleigh catalog continuum, and one burning question that kept me searching was that I always wondered if there was a Pro with the model designation "Mark III". A minor issue in the grand scheme of things, and I don't think I've lost much sleep over it, but it would give me hope that there might be reason to continue my endless search for order in Raleigh-World. And much less stressful than worrying about the end of civilization as we know it. Read the item description in the auction and there it was. "MK III Professional". MIght have believed that, but it was followed by "IInternational" with two "eyes". Wasn't sure if I had accidentally learned something, or just stumbled across somebody with a twitchy finger or a sticky "I" key on his keyboard. I had to know. Not enough time left to question the seller. My irrational bidding finger eventually overpowered the rational side of my brain which was screaming it's usual "It doesn't really matter !!! You don't care THAT much." Oh well. Curiosity is a curse. And knowledge is never cheap (on ebay).

Some interesting typos and questionable notations in the specifications table. (Sorry, it's what I do.). Proving once again that catalogs are not to be believed or trusted.

"Neuvo" Record, for the Pro and Int, a harmless little typo which persisted in the specs tables for a while. Corrected at least by the 73 catalog.

Weinmann 27 x 1-1/4 rims with "Hutchinson silk" tires on the Pro. Huh?

Same clincher rims listed for the Internationals. Every Int I ever saw on the showroom floor had tubulars. I know many went out the door with clinchers at the request of the buyer, but I don't think they came out of the box that way. Please feel free to enlighten me if your memories are different.

Available frame sizes listed for the Int seem limited. I was always running across 23-1/2 Int frames, but I have a 22-1/2, and just remembered I once had a 24-1/2. Who knows what really happened with the Ints that year.

Probably more weirdness waiting to be discovered. Have fun. Larry "all life's answers questioned" Osborn Bruceton Mills, West Virginia USA