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Not a Restoration

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P
Found one of these stolen, thrown into my yard. Made an attempt to reunite with the owner, never found him/her. I don't remember the outcome, but no cops. The cops here make absolutely no effort to do anything about stolen bikes other than to periodically auction off the bikes they possess

Stolen bikes make me nervous.... glad it's gone.

Kevin
Funny you bring that up. Neighbor is an older, retired guy, who delivers parts for Oriley Auto Parts, two days a week. Stuffing a bag of trash in the dumpster, he finds a bike. Brings it home, calls the cops. The bike is a Framed “Woftracks” fat tire bike, covered in cheap green spray paint. List price was about $1500 when it was new, and, the cops are interested in seeing it. The CSO comes over, takes a picture of the serial number, and tells the neighbor if he doesn’t hear back in three days to use or dispose of it how he wishes. He disposed of it at my house. We cleaned up the bike, and my son uses it to train for his HS mountain bike racing team. I checked with the cops, and they told me they have a record of recovery on the bike, attempted to find the owner, and released it to my neighbor, no stolen property charges can be filed, but, if the owner comes forward, with documentation, it would be good to give it back.
I’m OK with that. We’ve had it a few years now, no trouble.

Ted
 
Kevin,

It's a smoother ride that the Raleigh Professional, tracks with less attention, and I suppose it could be fitted out as a touring bike. I have ridden both. Been working in shops off and on since the 1970s. I still think it rides well enough, has a weight comparable to the Professional, and the components were about the same. It's a full Reynolds 531 frame and feels responsive. Even a lot of modern bikes are only a pound or so lighter, until you get into carbon frames and wheels, so the primary weight issue with the bike is the rider.

The downside for me was that it was built for 27" wheels, so when I put 700c wheels on it, I had to compromise on the brakes to make the reach. I didn't want to have to source a set of 27" rims and lace them onto Campy hubs only to be severely limited in tire choices.
When I restored my LeTour, a shop here found some very decent alloy 27" rims. The GS has stock alloy rims. But yeah, you're correct about 27" tire choices. For the LeTour I used Trisports Flackjackets. They've worn like iron, but not sure they are available anymore....don't have the gum-looking sidewall.....all black. I don't care about authenticity there.

Kevin
 
P

Funny you bring that up. Neighbor is an older, retired guy, who delivers parts for Oriley Auto Parts, two days a week. Stuffing a bag of trash in the dumpster, he finds a bike. Brings it home, calls the cops. The bike is a Framed “Woftracks” fat tire bike, covered in cheap green spray paint. List price was about $1500 when it was new, and, the cops are interested in seeing it. The CSO comes over, takes a picture of the serial number, and tells the neighbor if he doesn’t hear back in three days to use or dispose of it how he wishes. He disposed of it at my house. We cleaned up the bike, and my son uses it to train for his HS mountain bike racing team. I checked with the cops, and they told me they have a record of recovery on the bike, attempted to find the owner, and released it to my neighbor, no stolen property charges can be filed, but, if the owner comes forward, with documentation, it would be good to give it back.
I’m OK with that. We’ve had it a few years now, no trouble.

Ted
That's more traction than I'd get with the cops here......they really don't care.....even if a kid is standing there in tears over his stolen bike.

Of course, if the owner came fwd and could prove it was their bike, I'd give it back.....right thing to do.

Kevin
 
When I restored my LeTour, a shop here found some very decent alloy 27" rims. The GS has stock alloy rims. But yeah, you're correct about 27" tire choices. For the LeTour I used Trisports Flackjackets. They've worn like iron, but not sure they are available anymore....don't have the gum-looking sidewall.....all black. I don't care about authenticity there.

Kevin
I think if I wanted to really restore a Raleigh I would buy a full bike in reasonable shape to work with. Starting with this frame/fork, this one was always going to be a compromise for me. You can't care too much about tires if you want to ride, you have to take what's available.
 
I think if I wanted to really restore a Raleigh I would buy a full bike in reasonable shape to work with. Starting with this frame/fork, this one was always going to be a compromise for me. You can't care too much about tires if you want to ride, you have to take what's available.
Agreed, I wasn't poking at you because you didn't restore your International to 100% perfection. I don't really care other than when 'I' buy an old Raleigh, I want all the original parts to be there. I don't care about tire matching....I want the best modern road tires that will fit. If that's blackwall, then so be it.

Kevin
 
Great... now I miss my old Raliegh.

And thats likely to cost me money.
I've made a couple of small changes since I got the bike to being rideable, but it is now my regular road bike. I had been riding a modern gravel bike with road tires and I went ahead and put the gravel tires back on that one. The Raleigh is such a great ride. I'm even getting used to the downtube shifters again.
 
Those old Raleighs ride great. I had one in the early 80's (cant recall which model) but it had the shifters at the tail end of the handlebars.
 
Those old Raleighs ride great. I had one in the early 80's (cant recall which model) but it had the shifters at the tail end of the handlebars.
Those were Suntour Bar-Cons. I ran a set of them on a touring bike. They were great for shifting on a climb where reaching for downtube shifters would have been chancy at best. You replace the downtube shifters with a dual cable stop and run cables and housing out of the handlebars. Great, now I want a set.
 
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