HELP! What Raleigh is this?

[ChopperGav]

Hello all out there, I was wondering if any of you could help in my quest to find if at all possible the model & year of this bike. I have a few ideas & a lot of dead ends.
I picked it up today & here is what I know, it's a Raleigh, my guess made between 67-72, it has 27" wheels, Weinmann centre pulls, chrome headset lugs & lower fork legs, Carlton style loop over seat stays & was originally a bright metallic red. It also has alloy hubs although unsure of the make at the moment, it's a five speed but extra braze ons suggest it could have been a ten speed. It's my guess that the mechs are all incorrect & that said probably the crankset too. So what do you make of it, answers please, I'll take more photos tomorrow, oh yes a real baffler it has a frame number starting with a T with only three digits afterwards.
Help please, thank you.

 

[Cycleops]

That is really very nice! Can't help with the model I'm afraid as I am not a Raleigh expert, but I might suggest that the frame looks rather high end and the rest of it doesn't look like it belongs. Maybe someone started with the frame and built it up? You might find this site useful in dating it http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/FREE_SITE_VINTAGE/VINTAGE_2_Intro.htm

 

[Spokesmann]

The frame looks very carlton-esque to me. Wrap over seat stays and this head lugs too.

 

[biggs682]

very nice , whats your plans ?

love the lug work

 

[ChopperGav]

The frame looks very carlton-esque to me. Wrap over seat stays and this head lugs too.

Thanks for the comments, keep them coming.
That was my thoughts, it's definitely a Raleigh & probably around the late 60's. After a bit more research I have found it has Nervex serie Legere model 48/161 lugs, I found this after trawling through hundreds of photos of old bikes but none of them had a chromed lugs on the head tube, weird. I will post some more photos tomorrow for you all to peruse with some more detail of parts. It was a metallic red possibly the old Chopper colour Carmine but maybe to light. The weirdest thing is the frame number a single letter (a T in this case) & just three numbers & I can't find any other information regarding said number.
On the subject of what I'm doing with it two schools of thought, if I can find out what model & spec then it's back to standard, if not then it would possibly veer down the path racer route, either way I am going to enjoy this one.

 

[ChopperGav]

.
Just a few more shots, slowly this bike is revealing itself. Traces of a pattern from an old decal on the seat tube.

 

[rhm]

What's the seat post size? 27.2 would mean butted 531 tubing. 26.6 or 26.8 would mean straight gauge 531. 25.4 means ordinary hi-ten steel.

Judging by this page from the 1969 catalog, I'm thinking you might have an early Competition, which would be a very nice find. If so, you'll have a 27.2 mm seat post.

 

[ChopperGav]

Wow, thanks for the input, I will measure the seat post tomorrow but the picture of the competition certainly looks the closest to mine apart from the colour choice but then again red may have been an option a few years earlier. I'll keep you posted.

What's the seat post size? 27.2 would mean butted 531 tubing. 26.6 or 26.8 would mean straight gauge 531. 25.4 means ordinary hi-ten steel.

Judging by this page from the 1969 catalog, I'm thinking you might have an early Competition, which would be a very nice find. If so, you'll have a 27.2 mm seat post.

 

[ChopperGav]

Well that that settled, the seat tube measurement is 26.6 or 26.8 definitely not 25.4 or 27.2, 531 straight gauge it is. This is good info but sadly brings me no closer to revealing the model, more digging required. Thanks for the help.

What's the seat post size? 27.2 would mean butted 531 tubing. 26.6 or 26.8 would mean straight gauge 531. 25.4 means ordinary hi-ten steel.

Judging by this page from the 1969 catalog, I'm thinking you might have an early Competition, which would be a very nice find. If so, you'll have a 27.2 mm seat post.

 

[rhm]

Interesting!

Note that seat tubes can get bent out of shape if someone uses a post that's too small; does it look perfectly round? if not, it might still be a 27.2.

The elliptical head badge was a short-lived phenomenon, commemorating some anniversary, and is found only on bikes from the very late 60's and very early 70's. Before the Competition there was a model called the Carlton. Raleigh had owned the Carlton factory at Worksop since the early sixties, but this was the first Carlton made bike to bear the Raleigh name. I don't know much about them; they are hard to google since "Raleigh Carlton" brings up just about every Carlton-made Raleigh. Still, that would be the next thing I'd look into.

Have you found the serial number? If so, look it up: http://www.kurtkaminer.com/TH_raleigh_serials.html

 

[Spokesmann]

Differnet fork crown on the cycle in the catalogue scan

 

[ChopperGav]

Differnet fork crown on the cycle in the catalogue scan

Sorry no misshapened seat tube here it is it would appear straight gauge. Spokesman is quite right it's a different fork crown the one in the picture mine is not chromed. I have found two other bikes like mine on different forums & they are in just as much confusion as me as to the model. One person actually thought it was a Raleigh Rapide, any clues? standard English bottom bracket & I found a second number on the BB shell ending in ED, I can't find which one is correct as I have a number on the rear dropout as well. Help!

 

[rhm]

Raleigh has used the 'Rapide' name more than once, so there's a fair amount of noise on Google. But with your head badge it has to be a late 60's one. I'm pretty sure that version of the Rapide was not imported to the US, so I'm unfamiliar with it. But there are some images on Google:

Seems pretty close, no?

 

[ChopperGav]

Raleigh has used the 'Rapide' name more than once, so there's a fair amount of noise on Google. But with your head badge it has to be a late 60's one. I'm pretty sure that version of the Rapide was not imported to the US, so I'm unfamiliar with it. But there are some images on Google:

Seems pretty close, no?

By jove I think you could have something there, thank you.

 

[airbrake]

It could possibly be earlier than the late '60s - the oval badge was introduced in 1962 although it's use seems sporadic. My 1966 Worksop built Supercourse has one.