Filed under: Anecdotes
I just gave a 1971 Raleigh Sports to my sister for her birthday. It’s an old 3-speed town bike. I think it’s gorgeous and it has changed my appreciation for relaxed riding bikes.
When I first started working at the shop it was hanging in the basement, totally neglected: rusty and gummy. I saw potential in it. It reminded me of the old Raleigh my boss in Seattle had, I forget what model it was, just that it was red. I rode that bike once and enjoyed it’s simplicity and old-world feeling. Seeing the Sports in the basement showed me the potential to ride that way again; with little hesitation I bought it for thirty bucks.
Whatever opportunity I could get this winter past I tinkered with it and refurbished it. I re-laced the rear wheel, polished the hub and steel wheels, overhauled the bearings, set new cotters, and ran new cables. I got rid of and covered all of the rust spots on the frame with touch-up paint. (Like the guy I work with said one day, rust on a bike is like herpes, it never really goes away—charming, huh?) The bike looks sharp. The only thing I never got around to doing was re-upholstering the saddle. It was an old cheap Brooks, fake leather on plastic with nice springs on double rails; I might break down and get a softened up B66 if I can source one.
My sister came to town this weekend and I sent her off with a “new” bike. She loves it, I’m happy to provide. She plans on riding it around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, it’s a perfect town bike for that.
I got to ride it once and loved it myself, it was smooth and comfortable, shifted a tad rough, but braked spot on (new pads). It was faster and lighter than I expected and handled surprisingly well on sharp turns. What I loved most about the ride though was looking down and seeing that bright shiny rim reflecting it’s spokes and the trees and sky above. I’ve never really ridden a bike with steel rims like this before, their wide and flat profile of them is really awesome I think.
I took a few photos of the “process” that can be viewed here.
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