[CR]Westminster & Raleigh Gran Tour question

(Example: Framebuilders:Jack Taylor)

Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 12:59:40 -0500
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Larry Osborn" <losborn2@wvu.edu>
Subject: [CR]Westminster & Raleigh Gran Tour question

Greetings bottom feeders

Westminster was a fun day with a fun bunch of kooks. Well worth the effort to lace up the mukluks and crawl out of the igloo. Spent minimal time in the Sachs/Osborn/Cool/Walsh & Walsh/Bingham/whoever free enterprise zone. Sold enough stuff to pay for my share of the table.

When not actually foraging for my own needs, I took time out to spread the gospel of bottom feeding to a couple first time swappers. Heh heh heh. Always such fun corrupting others. Whenever they started to dither over a particular item ("maybe it won't fit, maybe it won't work perfectly, maybe I don't have the tools, what if the colors don't match, it's not indexed, it's scratched, it doesn't come with directions, it doesn't have a box") I was compelled to bestow upon them the bottom feeder's motto; "For that price, you can afford to be wrong". Have to keep reminding myself of the motto now while going through the "what the heck was I thinking" phase of evaluating the new pile of loot.

Favorite goofy item was a Stein freewheel grease/oil injection tool. Considering my age, mileage, and the current freewheel gain/loss ratio, the spousal unit has received instructions to bury it with me. I won't need it in THIS life. Maybe I'll play around with it some cold, miserable, boring winter day. However, for a buck I can afford to be wrong.

Also found an interesting early 80s British made Raleigh Gran Tour. Possibly a direct decendent of the Super Tourer from the mid 70s, and very different from the US Huffy-Raleigh "tourers" from the early 80s. Full Reynolds 531 with Suntour dropouts, and 41.5-inch wheelbase. Chrome half stays and fork blades, trianglular cutouts in some of the lugs. Black with gold headtube, seattube bands, and decals. Says "From the Lightweights Division of Raleigh" or something like that on the downtube. Set up for caliper brakes, not cantis. With the chrome it looks very 1974, but the decals are very different and the owner said he purchased it just as a frame in the early 80s. So with the serial number (WD4######) I'm guessing 84. I am not at all familiar with the British Raleighs from that period. Anybody know anything about these? Pics will be available to anyone who is interested, if I ever get home some day before dark.

Get thee to a swap!
Osborn