Hi folks!
First, thanks to all of you who gave me such a warm welcome to the list...and those of you that offered to "feed" my Raleigh appetite. Sad to say, I'm not in position financially to take any of you up on that right now.
Funny related story however. My apologies to those of you who are also IBOBs...you've heard this already. When I was recently visiting family in Maryland, I did some work on my sister's early 70s Raleigh Record. You remember that one--basic low end steel frame (1020, 2030, whatever), cottered Nervar cranks, Huret Allvit derailleurs, etc. The basic "10-speed" of the bike boom, right down to the stem shifters and "safety" brake levers. Well, my sister has never seen any need to buy a newer bike, since for the modest riding she does, the Record is fine. Over the years, it's gotten a few upgrades...basically a change to SunTour derailleurs and new tires and pedals. The funny part is, when I went to a local shop to pick up some new cables for her, I saw another Record, same vintage, same color, but with some new parts on it, hanging from the ceiling. I asked how much they wanted for it. The guy said $350!!!! Now, I'm as fond of old Raleighs as anyone, but that's just nuts! Apparently, they have a guy who buys up yard sale bikes, fixes them up, throws on some new parts, and then passes them on to the shop to sell them. The Record has a cheap alloy crank, new derailleurs, and new wheels with alloy rims instead of the chrome rims...but $350??? It was neither "original" enough to be collectible, nor "modernized" enough to compete with something new or newer. Very odd. All the more odd, since they also had a Motobecane Grand Jubilee, also with newer components, probably an early 80s model, for $400. Now that one I could almost see, but the $50 difference between the two was bizarre. It didn't exactly inspire me with confidence in the shop's knowledge of older bikes.
Tim
Tim Fricker
tymn61@earthlink.net