Last week I joined three friends for a century ride.  Our intent was to take part in an organized ride, which never really happened.  We did, however, ride 105 miles.  Most of it was pretty flat, but there were some horrific headwinds. 

I rode a late 70’s Raleigh Competition converted to 650B wheels with a porteur rack, porteur handlebars and a 1x7 transmission - a city bike set up.  It’s the bike featured in the banner on our website.  One of the crew was on a ’59 three speed Schwinn Tiger.  We all had panniers and too much stuff, and we probably made too many stops for libations and conversation.  Finally pulled in around 10:30PM.

I’ve had this Raleigh for a few years.  I picked it up with four other bikes that included a large-frame Gitane Tour de France and a Peugeot PX10.  I have not touched the two French bikes, but chose instead to set up this Raleigh.  Looking around my shop, there are an embarrassing number of nice bikes that don’t get ridden enough.   

This tends to happen as an expression of bicycle love.  There is, however, a threshold on collecting and one should be alert to crossing that line.  One should listen to loved ones and visitors for cues that you may have a diagnosable state. 

I have about 25 bikes in my shop to accommodate a family of four.  To ward off calls from reality show producers, I have a “one in - one out” policy.  So I do occasionally sell or give away bikes.  But there are a couple of bikes that I just can’t seem to part with. 

One such bike is a ’76 Raleigh Super Course mixte.  I bought it as a frameset.  Over the years I continue to make improvements, despite the fact that even with several potential riders in our household, it spends all of its time hanging on a hook. 

I have seen a few really nice vintage mixtes and this is one of them.  As with all Super Courses of this vintage, the main tubes are Reynolds 531 straight gauge tubing and, at 27lbs, is fairly light. The welds are a little sloppy but you can’t beat the paint scheme.  I took it to the Heartland Velo show in Madison a couple of years ago as a model bike for panniers.  But other than that trip it’s been on the hook. 

I should probably pass it on, but I can’t seem to do it.   Meanwhile, I’ll check the DSM-5 to see if I’ve passed over the line.

Worked on the the 1965 Moulton”F” frame yesterday.  I think I mentioned this in my previous post, but everything on this bike was made in England.  I do not have pictures of the final product.  It was dark by the time I took it out for its maiden voyage.  The verdict is not in yet, but the early indicators point toward big fun on small wheels.

Speaking of gratuitous pics of sweet bikes donning Ironweed bags, check out this 1959 Schwinn Tiger.  Interestingly, I think of the Schwinn as the quintessential  American product.  However, unlike the Moulton which is 100% British, if you look close, even the 1959 Schwinns had stuff that was not made in the USA.  There are at least two components on this Tiger that were rebadged as “Schwinn Approved” but came from elsewhere.  Can you identify the components and their country of origin?

In other news of the week, the nice people at BicycleSPACE in our nation’s capital did a very nice review of our panniers.  Thanks for the kind words!

An old friend of mine picked up a 1959 Schwinn Tiger three speed at a yard sale for a $25.  He decided to share his good fortune and donate the well-preserved beauty to the Iowa City Bike Library.  Wherever this thing was kept, the humidity was low and the UV exposure was minimal.  In fact, we opened the battery powered headlamp and found a couple of incredibly well preserved Eveready “D” cell batteries.  The price (20 cents) is on the battery.   There is also a guarantee printed on the battery that says Everready will replace your flashlight if it is damaged by leakage.  It gives an address where you should mail your damaged flashlight.  A simpler time, for sure.

Speaking of bike lighting, I had the Peugeot Nouveau Style out yesterday and tested the bottle dynamo.  I’ve always been a fan of the lighting systems on vintage French bicycles.   The French took painstaking measures to conceal unsightly wiring inside frame tubes and along the crimped edges of fenders.  This was a tidy aesthetic that never caught on with the British.  The Brits were not troubled by dangling wiring.  I prefer the clean look.  Today, with hub dynamos, LEDs and capacitors, I’m thinking bike manufacturers ought to set up city bikes and commuters with internally wired, fender mounted lighting systems.