Thursday, August 9, 2012

Well Lookie What I Found!

I found something good last week. More on that in a minute. First, a couple of other things.

I need to re-post or cross-post or whatever they call it with this:


Curiosity Killed the Cat

Saw it on Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy and felt compelled to share.

Secondly, I wanted to say a little something about street riding in the rain. I find riding in the rain very pleasant, excepting the times that temperatures are around freezing. At those times I would rather have snow. Even when the rain is cold, however, I really like that all vehicles make lots of wheel / road noise.

I mean, I don't care if your brand spankin' new scooter or car is powered by 100% baby smiles with a backup battery fuelled by nothin' but good vibes, if it has wheels, I will hear it coming in the rain. I like that. I also feel like I'm going faster than I really am in the rain. Don't know why. Anybody else feel that way?

Now, to my originally stated business. I pulled a bike out of somebody's trash last week, intending to cannibalize it for the nice fenders and rack it had. Turns out, though, that it is way too nice for that. I put air in the tires, and despite dried out sidewalls, they are holding nicely. Doing nothing else to it, I took it for a ride and was shocked. Brakes, well tuned! Shifting, just fine and limiters set correctly! Wheels true and spinning nicely! Holy crap!

Mrs. Rantwick has not been riding much, partly because she desires a bike we didn't have until now, a nice simple upright commuter. A "ladies" or "beautiful godzilla" (see BSNYC for definition) kind of bike. The kind of bike The Other Other Other Woman might ride. There's some rust and some scratches I need to clean up as best I can, but I got a perfectly good bike straight out of somebody's garbage! Woohoo!

Here are the tantalizing details:

Frame: Steel, Mixte
Wheels: 27" I think, tire markings long gone.
Gears: 7 sp Suntour on rear, single chainring up front.
Year: No Clue. Help if you can.
Made in Canada, Brand I've Never Heard Of

Now here are the tantalizing photos:




  










Have any of you ever heard of some "Aleigh" bicycle brand? After exhaustive Internet research, I am still totally stumped. So not only is this thing perfect for Mrs. Rantwick, it is some rare "Aleigh" bicycle I have never heard of! Insane!



Yer Pal,
R A N T W I C K

PS - Commenters informing me that the bike is a Raleigh will be hunted down and pestered verbally for thinking me that kind of stupid. Thinking me all other kinds of stupid is fine.

16 comments:

recumbent conspiracy theorist said...

The pic of the litespeed rover is great. My son loved it also. (he's 11 so of course.)

Nice find on the Aleigh. Can't beat the price on that.

RANTWICK said...

I got me an 11 year old boy myself! So yeah, of course!

johnnytrashbike said...

i LOVE trashbikes. i'd like to find one very similar for mrs. trashbike.

RANTWICK said...

I figured you would appreciate!

Steve A said...

I think I need to reconsider my own bike approach...

RANTWICK said...

Yeah, buying stuff is for people with money.

accyclist said...

What does the head badge look like? If you moved the water bottle holder there might be an R under it. Raleigh Sprite made in the 70's

RANTWICK said...

@accyclist - You are a very kind person for not making fun of me. Check my PS at the end of the post though.

Oldfool said...

I can tell when my leg is being pushed.

Anonymous said...

Use balled up tinfoil on those chrome rims, they will shine like brand new!!!

JAT in Seattle said...

I always hear the crowds at the Tour de France yelling "Aleigh, Aleigh, Aleigh!" Are you sure it's Canadian? French Canadian at the very least.

RANTWICK said...

Anon - I've heard or read that somewhere before... any lemon juice required? I think I thought I remembered lemon juice.

JAT - That is how the Englishmen attending the Tour de France say it, I think.

cafiend said...

The first Curiosity/Cat cartoon I saw just had it running over a cat with no caption. I totally missed the joke, probably because I had just spent a lot of money at the vet's and also had dealt with aggressive motorists, so the concept of something getting run over didn't sit well. However, as a brain teaser it was excellent.

Nice bike. You can fit it out for Aleigh cat racing.

GreenComotion said...

That's a good looking mixte. I particularly like the carrier rack.

Peace :)

RANTWICK said...

cafiend - Aleigh cat! Yer the best.

chandra - Agreed... that rack is solid as hell and includes the springy clippy thingy. It is why I stopped our car (along with seeing metal fenders) and made my dear Mrs. Rantwick's eyes roll once more. Now that it turns out it is a bike she's always wanted, her eyes are functioning properly.

Anonymous said...

No Lemon Juice required, only water.
http://www.robertscycle.com/chrome-clean.html

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