So life got crazy and I have not written in this blog for a bit but here I am with an update, I want to start by saying that I have not ridden nearly as much as I wanted to this season but an attempting to get back into a groove and wanted to share something that I picked up over the summer.
My cousin works for people running their estate sales, garage sales etc and from time to time I get a text with a photo attached asking me about a bicycle and am I interested in it from these sales. The family and I were vositing Mystic Aquarium one day and a text came through with a very bad image of a small red Raleigh bike, to me it looked like a folding bike but my cousin insisted that it did not fold and wanted to know if I would like him to get it. I returned his text with what I would pay for it not knowing what it was or the exact condition as to my cousin every bike he finds "is in awesome condition" and went on with my day at the aquarium. He texted me back "Got it" a couple hours later, so now I needed to swing by to pick it up, fast forward a couple weeks and I pull up to his house and out rolls a Raleigh RSW 16.
I ride mountain bikes, I never ride anything but my mountain bikes but I have lots of bikes of all different sorts and I always tell myself that I will take the Schwinn Criss Cross out for a ride some day or I will go for a nice easy ride on that Motobecane that I am working on but I always take one of my mountain bikes and the others sit. When I saw the RSW I thought, this one is a keeper, it looks cool and like nothing that I have, a smart guy would clean it up and post it on craigslist but its hard for me to get rid of a lot of the bikes that I get, addiction maybe? or perhaps I just get attached after I do the work on them I am not sure.
This bicycle seems to be in great shape and everything works as is, the internal 3 speed hub shifts nicely with no noise or play, there is minor surface rust here and there and it has a nice chrome rack on the back. The wheels are true and even sport the original white tires! The tires are no good but are there and look cool, I attempted to put some air in the rear tire but as soon as I put the cap on the tire blew which scared the hell out of me because its not what I was expecting so it will need tires. Of course i will go over the whole bike cleaning, lubing and adjusting everything and I will probably just buy a cheap kids bike off of craigslist to scavenge the tires from for now and toss a better saddle on but I may hold onto this one for a while because I find it a cool little bike.
I wanted to mention that Motobecane that I have been working on because its just about completed and I do not think I will be keeping the bike which is unfortunate because I really think that its a good looking bike now that its almost done. I went with a dark red Fi'zi:k bar tape and will be adding a saddle with rivits along the edges to finish it off, I am also o the fence with adding a rack onto the rear as it has a sleep look and the rack may throw that off. The Moto is currently in the back of a large pile of bikes or else I would pull it out for a quick photo, trust me its looking pretty decent!
I will try and post more often again as I make progress on whatever I may be working on at any given time and I will try to get more ride photos to pop in with as well.
I thank you for taking the time to check out my little space on the web.
Until next time, Keep on pedaling!
I had one of these for my 10th Birthday. It may not be a MTB but they are quite nimble and can go anywhere. I almost lived on mine, took it out for rides over 50 - 60 miles. It could take corners like a motorbike and was good for wheelies. It was stolen from my parents garden after I left home, that was over 30 years ago, but sometimes I miss it. The biggest drawback to these bikes were punctures, you need at least 4 tyre levers and it's better with 2 people. Even then you can ruin the tyres by stretching the metal beading. But you can't beat one of these for nipping around town.
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