Someone asked me just now what progress I've been making. Answer: not much. Need to order some parts and wait for some already-ordered stuff to show up; the two tasks at hand are the P/S rack reseal and dressing the replacement engine. Plus, work (as in, real life) has ramped way back up.
Like many of you, I imagine, I need to get rid of stuff, especially as we hope to soon be sans kids at home. A good example is bicycles: my wife and I each have Giant (Chinese) cruiser bikes, ideal for what minimal riding we do nowadays. But when we were younger - I'm talking 25+ years ago - we were more adventurous, she with her 1970's Motobecane women's frame road bike, and me with an unusually nice Raleigh a friend gave me when we lived near Philly. It's a "plain" Super Grand Prix (no Reynolds 531 tubing), so not particularly light, but just a relic from another time (the 1970's ...) when things were made to a delightful standard. I know, the 1970's was the time of the Ford Maverick and Sears Menswear, but let's just agree that back then Raleigh's were made in Nottingham, England and they were nice.
Note, these pictures taken before this weekend's cleaning
But nowadays we never ride these two classics, so I put them on CraigsList. The Motobecane wasn't in as good shape as I remembered ... steel wheels with big wobbles and the wrong derailleurs, installed by a hack bike shop in Latham NY in 1991. A young woman expressed interest and had ... wait for it ... impeccable CL manners! Please and Thank You, questions asked respectfully and answers to my questions provided swiftly. Long story short, on Friday I put new tires and tubes on (because I went to test drive it and the dry-rotted rear went POP), then met her and her BF at a local commuter parking lot, and gave it to her in exchange for two homemade jars of jam. Good karma.
More pre-cleaning photos.
The Raleigh: one guy wrote and asked what the standing height was; I'd provided the frame dimensions in the ad but this measurement (I believe it means height of the crossbar) was new to me, so I measured it and advised him. I'd already said in my ad, "tall guy bike; I'm 6'1" with a 32 inseam and it fits me OK but would also work for people taller than me". He comes back with "I'm 5'10" will it fit me?", then, in the same email, his piece de resistance, "Why did you fail to put the standing height in the ad?". I had to check myself, wanting to say something very rude, but stopped myself from talking out all my (many) current angers and going DefCon4 on this little puke.
Pre-cleaning photos.
Another guy has since expressed interest but must have a very complicated life because he cannot seem to stick to an appointment, although he does give warning when he can't make it; I'll give him credit for that.
Pre cleaning photos.
So what did I do instead of working on the 924S (remember the "S"!) this weekend? I cleaned the Raleigh rather well. No disassembly, but old toothbrushes, WD40, lacquer thinner, leather balm, Simichrome, Britemax polish and Pure Carnuba wax all made appearances.
Pre-cleaning photos.
I already have LOTS of stuff related to my car and tool obsessions, so keeping this bike because it's pretty and reminds me of the gorgeous engineering my mother country is capable of isn't really sensible, but ... I guess we'll see if the fellow with the complex schedule can actually pick a date and stick to it.
After maybe 4 hours of cosmetic TLC. Really? Yes.
Best to all,
John