Pictures of your Bike

Another attempt at approximating a Gran Sport. The photo doesn't show how bad the paint and chrome are. I did find a reasonable nail varnish as a touch-up. 

Not sure if it would be worth the £££ getting a colour match respray.

I wanted to share a picture of my trusty Perraro Electric Bike! This bike has been my companion on countless adventures, providing a perfect blend of power, comfort, and sustainability. Whether I’m cruising through city streets or tackling off-road trails, this e-bike never fails to deliver a smooth and exhilarating ride.

In the picture, you can see the sleek design of the lightweight aluminum frame, built for durability and style. The powerful 750W brushless hub motor is a standout feature, making uphill climbs effortless and ensuring a swift, enjoyable ride. The 48V 15Ah lithium-ion battery is another highlight, offering an impressive range of up to 60 miles on a single charge, so I can explore without worrying about running out of power.

The bike is equipped with a front suspension fork with 100mm travel, which absorbs bumps and rough terrain, ensuring a comfortable ride. The hydraulic disc brakes provide reliable stopping power in all conditions, adding a layer of safety to my rides. The 27.5” all-terrain tires are perfect for both urban commutes and off-road adventures, giving me the versatility I need.

One of my favorite features is the LCD display, which keeps me informed about speed, battery level, and distance traveled. It’s incredibly handy for planning my rides and keeping track of my progress. The bike also comes with integrated LED lights for enhanced visibility and safety, a rear rack for carrying cargo, and ergonomic grips for added comfort.

Overall, my Perraro Electric Bike has been a game-changer, making my rides more enjoyable and eco-friendly. I’m excited to share this picture with you all and look forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences with e-bikes!

This is a build from the first frame I refurbished back in 2017, a John Atkins.  - I made a mess of it and the livery you see is powder coat.  Not sure yet if I'll keep the red bar tape. A fairly fast ride.

I first put this on here a couple of months ago. It's now got its own hand built wheels.

 I'm struggling with the triple at the front, I sometimes drop the chain when going to the smallest sprocket - blasted Brifters make the cable release so sharp and uncontrolled.  I may change out the chainset, mech and l/h lever for a double. On this frame with no lever bosses, I'm pretty much committed to brifters (or maybe bar-ends). 

I'm going to take you all on a close-up tour of what I think is getting pretty close to perfect for me.  That's taking into account cost, reliability, type of riding.  

The frame 

An EBay mystery - probably early 1990s.  Well worth a professional spray job.   It's the exact right blend of speed and comfort.  It would mount mudguards, but you'd not get above 25s.  It runs 105 calipers.  The decals are those of a Raleigh Competition - seemed near enough. 

Everything I've had from Ritchey has been a good product - e.g. headset, bar tape, stems (though not here).  It's a 1" headset and I've gone the adaptor route and we're running Brand X CF bars got in the sale, which are slightly lighter and I think there's a tiny bit of flex that wouldn't be there with basic alu. The bar tape is easy to work with, the best supplied finishing strip I've seen and is durable, good looking and comfortable. 

The head badge is a decal - I've never figured out the little rivets used to attach Raleigh badges (older ones of which are little more than cheapy tin foil to handle). The little holes in the head tube were infilled as part of the spray job. 

CLICK! What ever is that sound they ask two counties away, not to worry it's just David changing gear. These wretched 10s indexed Dura Ace levers were cheaper than Dia Compe or 2nd hand Campag friction levers. You can't even switch out the indexing.

The wheels, yes I was getting to those.  Currently Hunt 4 Seasons, with Conti 4 season tyres in 25c.  Work well on my local country roads. 

It doesn't show here, but I had to switch out the Hunt QR lever at the back because it's the unenclosed type that don't exert enough clamping force to run with horizontal drop-outs.  I got a pretty patronising reply from them when I asked about this issue so this will be the only pair of Hunt wheels for me. 

I'm quite into the Miche cassettes that start at 13t - I still hardly ever reach top gear.  It's just a question of whether it will fit with the dropouts - one to try when the time comes. 

The cranks are Stronglight Impact double 48-36t. Double shifting is ok, I've pushed it down to 46t triple on another bike, which feels like it's the limit.  Shimano M520 pedals, so not a bike for casual use.  

Seatpost is a middling black alu thing - might ask Santa for a CF one (e.g. Condor or RSP) at some point.  

The fashion choice of saddlebag (Brooks Cambium saddle) is an old school Carradice Zipped Roll in burgundy. 

And by no means least, the whole bike. 

Seen today.
£50 second hand and £90 for the trailer

A couple of changes to this, one of my favourite builds. 

As it's a 22.5" frame, I've always found the bars a bit on the low side. I've changed over to a longer stem, which necessitated new bars for the 25.4mm fit. Having a raised (thicker) clamping area makes so much sense - without it, you can struggle to pass the bars through the quill stem - in this case, I had to bend it out and then bend it back to get the bolt seated.  The Cambium bar tape was amenable to being re-installed. 

I've taken off the Continental 5000s - they weren't all that puncture proof IME and we're running Hutchison Challenger 28s for winter now. 

My BMC Roadmachine One only upgrade is the Zipp 303s and Continental GPS5000S TR 28mm
One of several bikes

My Orbea Terra M21 its the 2× Grx815 I use as a commuter, bike packing and generally whatever else
Only upgrade is the Mavic Allroad Pro
The tyres are tubeless front 30mm Mavic Allroad
Rear 35mm Mavic Allroad
Tyres are easy to install but only have to hear about a puncture somewhere in the world and they will follow, have tried Stans, and the worst Silca am now on Peatys biofibre.
Peatys has worked a few times but did not work on a small puncture in France when I needed it to.
I use a Tailfin bag
Great bike its size is small

In Richard’s Bicycle Book, he surveys the bike market as it stood 40 years ago, going through from entry level to medium/ high end.  How I used to drool over that section. He gets in Touring Bicycles to the Claud Butler Majestic, and its upgraded Special variant, and there’s a pithy little comment, “…of about the minimum quality that I feel is appropriate for regular riding.” The ‘handsome’ RRA is discussed under fast touring bikes. 

So here we are with a recent, slightly mad purchase of a pretty much untouched Record Ace 1983 at a price I’m pretty comfortable with.  It’s had some moderate use, but then I think a long period of non-use.  All the bearings were pretty dry. 

It’s lost its toe clips, someone had tried to wrap a second layer of h/bar cloth which was all a bit manky. It appears that the brown pigment on the brake cables had faded. The tan Weinmann hoods were on the way out too - no longer available AFAIK. Someone had also badly coloured the top ends and infilled the lugs, which I’m pleased to report came right off with cellulose thinners. 

So here it is, replete with new Schwalbe Road Cruiser tyres, Dia Compe hoods and Newbaums cloth. The 27” tyres that were on it and the tubes seemed to be the originals, Raleigh branded, and you rarely see the original suede saddle (not that it’s anything like that highly prized holy grail, the blue Road Ace saddle.) The gold ESGE mudguards, no longer made, are often missing from RRAs you see about, or they turn out to be damaged or faded.

The Road Cruisers are fatter, so the rear stays are a replacement from Spa and the addition of SKS pop-outs gave a small, but necessary bit of give at the front.  It’s hard (impossible?) to find the single stays in the right length, and many modern stays are 3.4mm diameter, so a lot of eyes don’t fit. 

Among the many things that have changed down the years is that handlebars are wider - these are 375mm wide and I normally ride 400 or 410 mm - it’s really noticeable.  Brake shoes and callipers are better these days, gearing is way better - not sure the old skool 52/42t chainset is for me and the "Campagnolo" 144 mm BCD isn’t helpful. 

I’ve previously done a 1984 RRA, sticking where possible to the sprit of the original, but upgrading brakes, 700c wheels, Stronglight chainset and 10s gears. But, I’m going to banish these impure thoughts for a while and see if I can get along with this one as it is. 

http://classiclightweights.net/united-kingdom/raleigh/raleigh-catalogues...

https://www.jordan-maynard.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Raleigh-catalo...

Brian Rourke, 1983. 
Just had some new wheels so given a it a thorough clean and taken a photo for the scrapbook. Also swapped the rear mech from a PAT 74 to PAT 84. Got to move with the times, haven't you. 
Largely used for commuting. Hence the need for new wheels. And use of a good saddle. 
Occasional outings into The Peaks. 
 

New bike day!

I just used my Brompton to pick up this Trek District 4 equipped. I was going to build something like this myself, but this ticked nearly all the boxes as built.

Dynamo powered lighting
Full mudguards
Belt drive
Internal hub (8 speed Alfine)

The only change I plan to make soon is maybe cut down the bars. As supplied they are over 68 cm, which just seems ludicrously wide for a city bike.

My personal bicycle realized, as I do for my customers, entirely handmade.

This is my Super Light Steel Frame Bicycle completely handmade by Forgione Telai

Super Light 6.4kg Racing Bike: Customized frame in Columbus steel with the Silver Fillet Brazed technique and components to go even under the lower limit weight suitable for competitions
 

The limit weight to participate in the races, what you imagined could only be approached with a carbon frame, the fateful 6.8 kg, you can have them with a complete bike with a steel frame!

You can also have a bike that weighs less than 6.8kg but made with a Forgione steel frame!

Project "Superlight steel" complete bike with customized frame and lightening details in Columbus Spirit steel joining method: Silver Fillet Brazed.

Raleigh Record Ace catching the midday sun. 

New 46t chainset installed.  A home respray of the ice green 1983/4 model. 

My daily commute bike (tbf it is my only bike) - a Voodoo Limba.

23km a day. Up to 4,700km since new.
Put anti-puncture tyres on it, mud guards and clipless pedals.

It's been great for my commute - I was only supposed to cycle a few days a week, but I've been doing five days a week for a year and a half now. Never want to go back to driving!