A pair of vintage Raleigh Sports!

I took quite a road trip with my wife this past weekend. We live near Edwardsville, Illinois, outside St. Louis. We drove almost four hours up to Hamilton, Illinois, near Keokuk, Iowa to see a couple of old Raleigh bicycles for sale by a local teacher there named Chad. I “rescued” two bikes: a 1952 Raleigh Sport three-speed in complete condition, including owner’s manual and tools, and a 1961 Raleigh Sport. Both will make fun projects, depending upon how far I want to go with them.

So I have much to consider regarding whether to just do a good cleanup and get them in riding shape, or do a restore of some sort, or what? The 1952 has a full chaincase, which I've always wanted. But it's also a 21" frame, and I think the 23" frame on the 1961 would be a better choice for a "keeper."

Along the way we also saw an eagle, lots of hawks, deer and other critters. We also did a very quick run up to drive through and see the Nauvoo historic area and the temple. It was a fascinating area, and another real surprise was the beautiful river road between Hamilton and Nauvoo. The road is just feet away from the Mississippi River, which along this whole route is frozen solid. Volunteers at the Nauvoo Visitor’s Center told us that the river has around 12 inches of ice this year. It was odd seeing logs and brush lying on top of the ice all over the river.

Sunny Day Soldier

I was going to write a new posting for this blog. But something came up, and then I didn't, and before long I'd gotten out of the habit. This happens to me a lot!

One thing that I noticed was that I have a lot more to contribute to this blog when I'm riding regularly. And this has been the winter of no riding! I still see other people out riding, commuters all bundled up and a few weekend groups. But with ice and snow, I'm out of the saddle.

I got in quite a few rides up through December, but I think I've only ridden once since then. That was in the end of February when I finally got in a 21 miler near home. But no regular riding, and I'm suffering from it. Gaining weight. Eating poorly. Not taking advantage a couple of times when I might have been uncomfortable but could have ridden a bit.

So I've decided to try a different ploy: I'm going to write anyway. Gonna post something to keep myself interested in cycling until the weather allows me to get out there. Rather than letting the cycling inspire my writing, I'll let my writing inspire my cycling.

I had one bicycle project in my mind all year that I never got around to, and I think it's going to wait a bit longer because I want to do it right. I've built up a couple of bikes just to use up the parts I had lying around. But now I have a specific bike that I want to build, and to do it right requires starting from a good base frame. I'm looking for a nice 70s - 80s road bike, lugged steel frame, like a decent Raleigh or Fuji or something. I'd really like a quality metal, like Reynolds 531 double-butted tubing or better, in a 58cm or 23" frame size. Horizontal dropouts. I want to turn it into a nice "sportster" bike.

My plan is to do an upscale version of the Raleigh 3-speed Sportster bike. I'm thinking an 8-speed Shimano Nexus internal geared hub, Nitto mustache handlebars, a nice sprung Brooks saddle. Hammered fenders, a saddle bag, preferably hub-style generator lighting.

I've seen a few bikes that would make good subjects, but I can't seem to pull the trigger. I'm feeling a bit guilty about having too many bikes right now. So I guess my first task should be to try to sell or give a couple away to make room for a new project.