The components were the same for either (Thus I suspect the Steel Frame is a Chrome Moly Frame, otherwise why put the same components on an inferior frame?). Since your note says "M" that means it has a straight top tube like an old fashion Male bike, NOT a drop down central tube like an old fashion "Girl's bike".
Now this is Steel Bike, the geometry will be the same if it is an Aluminum frame. I suspect your bike will be Aluminium, but I want to show you the correct GEOMETRY for the web site shows the Aluminium bike with a drop down central tube. Here is the STEEL Venture 3.0
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Most US bike sellers will sell you an aluminum bike, it is considered the better bike frame, please note I said it is considered the better frame, but it is only marginally better then a Chrome Moly Steel frame. Please note the picture for the Alumium Venture 3.0 is the "Woman" version of the Venture 3.0, the male Version has a geometry like the steel one pictured above. I am only putting woman's version to show you want I mean by drop top tube. It appears you have a Straight Tube bike like the Steel one above.
Till quite recently (and may still be the case) the drop top tube was an American only type bike. Europeans and Asian never seem to accept it (basically due to its weaker frame, triangles are preferred in any construction due to triangles inherent strength).
Today, with the onset of TIG welding the drop tube has seen a come back, not only for women in dresses but also by men who have a hard time swinging they legs over the rear of a bike. TIG welding makes a very strong weld permitting drop tubes to approach the strength of a straight tube.
I suspect your bike has a Straight tube, but I can see the advantages of a drop tube. I use to ride a scooter and scooters by design are more like a drop tube bicycle then a regular bicycle and it was easier to get on the seat and off due to NOT having to left my legs over the seat. I suspect a lot of older people have opt for the drop tube for that reason. Modern technology has eliminated much, but not all, of the strength advantages of the regular Frame over the drop tube frame, thus the drop tube frame has made a resurgence among the elderly (i.e. over 50) or other people with problems getting their legs over the seat of a bicycle.
Now, looking at the Raleigh web site, they do mention Reynolds (The major bicycle tube maker) and Chrome Moly on their high end Steel bikes, but uses the term "Steel Comfort Geometry" on the Steel Venture 3.0. Other cites calls it "Raleigh Steel" but no one defines it. This may mean that Raleigh Steel is High Tension Steel, or it may means that Reynolds tubes are known to be Chrome Moly, and Raleigh had to state it was Chrome Moly as part of its agreement to use Reynolds tubes in its high end steel bikes (i.e. Raleigh Steel may be Chrome Moly, but not Reynolds Chrome Moly). I suspect the later, i.e. Raleigh Steel is Chrome Moly but NOT Reynolds Chrome Moly.
On the net I kept running across dealers selling the Venture 3.0 steel and then they repeating what Raleigh says about it i.e. it is a comfortable bike to ride. The price suggest it is Chrome Moly, for the price of the Steel Version is just a bit lower then the Aluminum Version (When they was a difference).
Reynolds is the top name in making bicycle tubing and has been for decades, I have NEVER had a bike with Reynolds tubing, I can NOT see the need to pay the extra expense:
http://www.reynoldsusa.com/
The best way to test the bike is to ride it and if you like peddling it. In the final analysis that is the final test. I remember my old Reynolds, it was NOT marked Chrome-Moly, it did NOT have Reynolds Tubes. It was much easier to peddle then the High Tension Steel bikes I had used previously. It was NOT up to the level of my older brothers Chrome Moly Schwinn, but that was a ten speed, mine was a three speed and I suspect that made most of the difference (and when I biked with him I was in my early teens, and he was in his early 20s, which I suspected made up most of the difference). My one year younger younger brother road a High Tension Steel Bike and I remember having to wait for him (He was younger, but in better physical shape then I was, he even learned to ride a bike a year before I did, thus the difference in ages was less then between either of us and our older brother).
I remember the trip, it was interesting. All three of us decided to bike from the South Park Area of Allegheny County Pennsylvania to the McKeesport Campus of Penn State. I had to be 12, my younger brother 10-11, my older brother at least 22. I remember going up and down several hills to avoid PA 51 (A four lane highway that went through the middle of the Valley we had to travel through and then cross). Then getting on River Road, in the days the Steel Mills were in full operations. Today, with the Mills gone, it is a smooth road. Then the Steel companies thought nothing of running Tractor Trailers on that road to go from one plant to the next. Whenever the City of Pittsburgh decided it needed money, it would set up a weigh stations and see how many trucks exceeded the capacity of the scales (many did). The Mills would pay the fines and kept on making steel. The weigh limit for the road was 80,000 pounds. It was designed for much lower rates being a two lane (one lane in each direction) converted wagon trail. A police officer later told me he had tractor trailers over 200,000 pounds when he weighed them on that road (200,000 was the max for the scale). This excess weight made the road one long rumble strip. Not potholes, the road just went up and down every foot or so. None of out bikes had suspension so it was an interesting ride. When I rode that road in a Car, it was an interesting ride. I did have a driver yell at me for biking on the road, but other then that except for the condition of the road, a long but interesting trip.
I bring this up for your Raleigh reminds me of my old Raleigh. It was a very good bike, not top end but good.
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