Tag: Raleigh

November 3rd – Spotted at Birches Valley, a Haibike electric assist full suspension mountain bike. An extraordinary thing, first I’ve seen in the wild, it uses the Bosh bottom bracket based drive unit that seems to be the best such solution on the market. They seem to be a Raleigh connected brand, and this is about £3,500 worth of bike. Very heavy at over 21kg (46lb), I see little point in them, but the most astonishing thing was the owner abandoned this and went inside for a coffee without locking it.

To me, electric bikes are cheating. But each to his own.

February 1st – this is one for the bike anoraks. I spotted this classic, original, early 80s Raleigh Arena frame on the train home. It’s been converted to a nice fixie, with modern wheels and a nice Brooks swallow saddle. I think it’s quite new, as the chain was bright and the rims and tyres looked like new. In the original design, there would have been 5 or 10 Sachs Hurret gears, controlled by down tube shifters. I wanted one of these as a kid.

The effect was only spoiled by the owner leaving his empty water bottle behind. Odd that he didn’t appreciate being reminded that he’d forgotten it…

April 23rd – In Leicester again, whilst cycling to work through the surprisingly sunny, summery suburbia, I spotted this gorgeous 80’s ladies road bike. Looks like 6 or 7 gears with down tube shifter, beautiful, pristine condition Raleigh Mixte frame, steel wheels. This is a gorgeous bike, and somebody loves it. A real gem, I just love that style of frame. My only beef would be with the untaped bars – bet they’re agony on a cold day…

June 11th – When I finally got to Pelsall Canal Festival at about 2pm, there was a sharp downpour. For 20 minutes, everything was wet and miserable, but then the sun came out. Whilst wandering around looking at the boats, I noticed this fine old Raleigh roadster complete with steel rims, hub dynamo and 3 speed Sturmey Archer gears. Sadly, the Brooks leather saddle wasn’t looking in the best of condition. The hipsters in london would kill for a bike like this.