The other day I was dropping something off at a friend's house and on the
way home drove through an area which was scheduled for council pick-up
(they have bi-annual bulky refuse pickups in this part of Australia). Now
being a bit of a scavenger these pick-ups are very appealing to me. Some
months ago I picked up an old road bike to supplement my main mountain
bike, however it was a bit tatty and had steel wheels.
On this occasion however, I saw a bike by the side of the road and
thought, "maybe it has alloy wheels that I can swap out with the other
one". A quick check in the semi-darkness showed that they were so I
picked up the bike and its separate front wheel and mudguards and slung
them in the back of the car.
I got home and put the front wheel back on, gave the brakes and gears a
quick check - nothing a good clean and an oil wouldn't fix, then rode it
up and down the road. I then put it back in the garage and finally looked
to see what make the bike was. It was clearly a Raleigh but it was hard
to make out the model as the paint was worn at that point. On closer
inspection it turned out to be a Record Sprint.
Now when I was about 12, I used to bug the local bike shops asking for
bike catalogues although there was no way I could afford a new bike. The
one bike that I really drooled over was, you've guessed it, the Raleigh
Record Sprint! Black alloy rims, black frame, black brakes. Cool!
It's only taken 22 years, but I got one, and it was FREE!
:-)
Graeme