The bicycle fleet

After last posting, I decided to move to bi-weekly posting, and this is for a couple of reasons, one is to actually allow myself the time to write the postings, keep working on ImageFix and to reduce the number of actual topics I need to come up with.

So this week I will attack the bicycle fleet, I actually have two bicycles, they are quite different beasts, at least they started out that way. First is the 2004 Norco Bushpilot. This is designed as a mountain bike or all terrain bike. 8 speeds in the rear and 3 in the front, although it’s called a 24 speed, it’s really 8 speeds in 3 ranges, Low range is used for going uphill, the middle range on the flats, and high range going down hill. It’s not a particularly fast bicycle, but that may have more to do with the “motor”, more then anything else. It’s a little on the heavy side, and passed the half century mark more then half a decade ago…. The bike needs some work, suspension forks are made for 70kg riders, not 100kg+, so it needs to be replaced or repaired, and they can’t really be repaired. Not only is the motor heavy, so is the bicycle, it’s about 16kg.

A4000186

The other bicycle, is quite different, built by Raleigh in Canada, at their Waterloo, Quebec plant in 1975, it’s a classic style road bicycle, it’s built for speed, it has six gears in each of two ranges. These are controlled by manual down tube shifters, thinner tires, and 700C aluminum wheels running Presta tubes, the gearing is quite high, it’s a bike for August when you are already in cycling shape, not when your just coming out of Hibernation, and are at “winter” weight. All decked out, this bike is around 12kg.

The Raleigh was being tossed out by a neighbour, so I essentially got it for free. I completely disassembled the entire bicycle, then reassembled it, replacing some parts like brake pads, cables, cable housings, tires and tubes. The image this week, is the Raleigh upon completion of the rebuild, later the same summer I changed out the shifters, then replaced the 27” rusty chrome wheels with some 700C aluminum ones. This weekend when it’s forecast to snow for 4 solid days, thinking about bicycles and getting out to ride, seems a long way away, but it isn’t. Another month I expect the Norco to see the sun the first time since last fall.