My winter projects: Raleigh RSW's

I recently came across a couple of Raleigh RSW's on eBay that were being sold as "local pickup only" down in Nehalem, OR.  Nehalem is just east of Manzanita, a coastal town the family and I frequent almost every summer.  I knew it was going to be a stretch for the seller to get many bids,  seeing that people would need to go to the Oregon Coast to get them, so I put the bids in.

Here are some pictures for the eBay ad...

So, bike number one is a 1970 RSW MkII.  It looks pretty much stock

Bike number two is a RSW 16.

Post Script: 3/21/2013
It is now about four months since I originally wrote this post up... and frankly these bikes were what pushed me over the edge.  The condition was poor and they weighed a fricken TON... each....

Even our dog Hazel was disappointed!

I had just returned from a trip with my eldest son, and traveling with bikes was really on my mind.  But NOT these bikes. Too heavy.  And not Twenties. Too heavy and not small enough.  So what to do?

Sell these and get a Brompton!!  More to come on THAT decision..

Starting Over

There has been so much going on recently that I need to just clean the slate and start over here...

Bikes coming and going.  We moved to a new house (more storage - yeah!). Working again..

Where to start...

First, my dream of one day doing a bike rental business aside the Pacific Ocean has left.  Come on, I was thinking, is this really going to happen??  The answer came back at first as a niggling "maybe," and then continued to get louder as "no."  So the bikes I had been collecting for over three years, at one time thirteen (13) Raleigh Twenties are starting to find new owners.  I'm going to be headed down to Portland next Friday to deliver another two.  This will put me down to ( a still ridiculous) eight R-20's:

Current R-20 Bikes I Have
  - My eleven year old's bike.  He LOVES his R-20.  It's a really nice green frame with 20" 451 narrow wheels.  I have a set of Schwalbe Durano's only pumped to 80psi so the road shock isn't too bad.  It really moves and is very nimble.

  - Our electric bikes.  These are two Twenties we converted into electric motor bikes.
  - "The Rainbow"  I have five R-20's, one of each color (blue, green, brown, white and orange).  My kids won't let me get rid of them...



Second, I finished a custom re-build of my red Raleigh International frame.  Powder coated gloss black with gold pin striping and a fresh decal set, full Campy Nuovo Record, hammered fenders, Brooks saddle and bar tape... this bike is a dream.  I plan on making it my main ride this spring and summer.

Third, and most extravagant, we are now members of the Cult Brompton.

Fourth, I have two vintage dream bikes, fully stock examples (well, except for wheel rims) of a 1974 Raleigh Professional AND a 1974 Raleigh International.  Beautiful bikes...

Fifth, I have decided to keep the two Raleigh Tourists that I built up for my wife and I.  Even if we ride them a couple times a year, they are just fun bikes...

I will be doing separate blog posts on all these, particularly my experiences with the Brompton, over the next little bit.  For now, I just wanted to say:

I'm Back!

charles