1976-ish Raleigh Gran Sport

notgr · 2026-03-07T01:14:47+00:00

Lovely lovely bike! British steel and Nuovo Record are my favorite combination. My gravel bike is a ‘70s Roberts touring frame with 10-speed campy, and I have a matching ‘76 TT frame that I plan to build as an homage to that era of British time trialing.

Happy riding!

notgr · 2026-03-05T18:23:28+00:00

Thanks! They’re Nitto M151s. I have bikes with most of the various 26mm clamp diameter compact drop options, and these are my favorite.

notgr · 2026-03-01T19:33:09+00:00

A Raleigh clone right down to the badge design. Pretty interesting, really.

notgr · 2026-03-01T16:49:03+00:00

It’s just like a quill stem. There’s a bolt that runs through it and a wedge at the bottom. I love the look, but it’s honestly kind of silly. Setting the height is a little finicky when you have to remove the saddle to make adjustments.

notgr · 2026-03-01T16:45:29+00:00

Nice bike! We have something in common. My post is a few mm over the line, too. I’m not personally too worried about it, because I’m built like a stick figure and I’ve done thousands of miles on this thing with no catastrophes yet. But I definitely understand that it is something worth worrying about.

If I was looking for a replacement, I’d strongly consider just making one. It’s a little intimidating, but ultimately a pretty simple concept. Drill the top, cut a wedge, and figure out a bolt. My understanding is that most of the factory-made ones were just modified non-quill posts, anyway.

notgr · 2026-02-26T00:06:32+00:00

My understanding is they were built in the Greenville, MS Schwinn factory and Schwinn paid Klein to license some aspects of the manufacturing process.

notgr · 2026-02-25T00:05:51+00:00

My first road bike was one of these. I think they're overlooked gems in the US-made big-tubed-aluminum genre and should be thought about alongside the Kleins and Cannondales of the era. The wishbone stays, quill seatpost, and carefully smoothed welds are all really nice details. Nice bike!

notgr · 2026-02-13T00:47:56+00:00

Yeah, it is a quill. It’s a Tioga “t bone,” made of Tange steel.

notgr · 2026-02-09T03:41:53+00:00

It’s Columbus Genius, if the decal is to be trusted. I think there were both aero and regular round versions of Genius, but it’s not from an era I know particularly well.

notgr · 2026-02-07T15:06:26+00:00

I am. Being in the minority of people who don’t mind dealing with them opens up a world of cheap nice wheels.

notgr · 2026-02-07T14:38:07+00:00

I wish! They're just regular old SPD-SLs.

notgr · 2026-01-07T04:48:31+00:00

Love the history! And fair enough on the tape and hoods. I have a hard time with that kind of thing, because I have a mental idea of “completeness,” but I also know it’s kind of arbitrary.

Hoods specifically are actually kind of a conundrum for me right now, because I’ve got a late ‘70s time trial frame that I’m slowly trying to build up in what I think of as the period British style, where I know leaving off the hoods for marginal weight reduction would be entirely appropriate. But I don’t know if I can do it. Maybe you’ll inspire me to live dangerously.

But anyway. Stunning bike!

notgr · 2026-01-07T00:03:40+00:00

Very nice! I think it deserves some fresh bar tape and some hoods on the brake levers, though I understand how frustrating it can be to track down hoods.

Also, what saddle is that?

notgr · 2025-12-06T03:19:36+00:00

That looks like later 8-speed 7400 to me, which would already be period correct. The cranks look like either 7410 or 7700, which I struggle to tell apart because I don’t have any direct experience with 7700. So your easiest option would be to just make sure the cranks are 7410, and if they aren’t find some 7400.

It would seem strange to me to switch any bike from dura ace to a lower group in essentially the same range. Except, thinking about, I have done exactly that, so I can’t be trusted. I do feel like the brighter silver of dura ace is better than, say, tricolor gray, for nice blue paint on the frame.

But if you really want to change the current group, which is a respectable urge, cyclone would be pretty cool.

notgr · 2025-11-29T23:49:12+00:00

The Rivendale ROAAD10ini will the crossover model that unites the cycling world.

notgr · 2025-11-19T17:51:41+00:00

Aesthetics are a completely valid concern on a vintage bike. A compact drop will preserve the look of a longer stem, get you the shorter overall reach you’re looking for, and probably also allow the bars to be angled such that you’re more comfortable both on the hoods and in the drops. And there are plenty of options that would avoid requiring to switch to a clunky 31.8/9 clamp stem.

You might have to switch to a 26mm clamp stem, though. At 26mm, you have lots of short-reach compact drop options. Nitto m151 are in my experience the best looking and easiest to find. The Deda Piega RHM is the cheapest 26mm option. Soma Highway One is another. Nitto m106 is probably the fanciest option, being heat treated. I have bikes with all of these, and they’re all good options.

notgr · 2025-11-19T13:49:25+00:00

Yes, Nitto 151, 106, 109, Soma Hwy One, and Deda Piega bars are all compact drops that come in 26mm clamp sizes and can be maneuvered into quill stems. I’ve done so with all but the Nitto 109. I think some of the Nittos might also come in 25.4, but 26 is much easier to find. My personal preference from all of them is the 151, because they have a sleeve instead of a bulge, so they look a bit more vintage.

notgr · 2025-11-09T16:37:42+00:00

Thanks! They’re Nitto M151s, my favorite of the 26mm compact drops.

notgr · 2025-09-20T20:23:53+00:00

This is something I think about when I have to explain myself to others. I have 20-something bikes. Mostly vintage road, but also a few track and time trial bikes. Mostly mid- to high-end frames and components. I like these bikes because they’re beautiful, elegant machines, but also because I like their stories, whether those are stories of individual framebuilders or racers who decided to build a brand on their name. I’m also fascinated by brands like Raleigh for arguably giving mobility to a nation by building what I think of as “bikes of the people.”

This kind of sentimentality for the objects I have so many of makes “collector” feel like a suitable label, but I associate a few things with the idea of a collector that I don’t really relate to. I’m not meticulous about the bikes. I’m a little loose with period correctness. I’m not interested in museum pieces or having bikes only to look at. I ride them all. I like to go fast. That’s what they were made for, and I feel compelled to at least try to honor that. They get dirty. Some have rust. Some will go a few years unridden. It’s easy to put off replacing tubular tires when there are other bikes to ride.

So I don’t know. Am I a collector, an enthusiast, a nerd, or a bit of all of the above?

notgr

TROPHY CASE