CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Thanks Gembo for pointing out the heritage bikes in the current Raleigh range, I'll have to look those up. It begs the question though as to what their marketing dept is about, on cycling web sites I frequently see references to steel bikes from Genesis and Charge, not to mention Colnago, never seen any ref to Raleigh.
On subject of TdF, not forgetting Laurent Fignon's 7 second defeat by Lemond was on a Raleigh.
Just found an interesting link via google. Note the 1979 time trial machine weighing in at 17lbs !
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/builders/raleigh-sbdu-builders.html
All good links
Fignon is quite bitter about his 8 second defeat which came in the last day which was a time trial of 24.5 km during which Le Mond took more than two seconds a kilometre out of him. It would seem that whilst Laurent had a Raleigh, Greg had an illegal tri-bar set up? Laurent also ad a saddle sore or spot under his buttock that was uncomfortable and appears to have prevented him giving a urine test at the doping station and giving it later on the train to the last stage. Laurent also accusing Le Mond of being a wheel sucker.
Doesn't really count for the title of this thread, but on Friday I finished servicing the iron horse, a '77 Raleigh Esquire I got in the Omni car boot sale for £50.
I gave it away to make room for newer bikes, and to help out a colleague whose bike had dissolved, and for ages we never quite got round to arranging a time for me to tidy it up. Then I saw the same beast in the Bike Staton for £200, and used that fact as emotional blackmail to ensure I got to give it TLC.
Rode it back over to hers, and it's almost heartbreaking that it's too small for me. Still rides beautifully.
Red trike with solid non-pneumatic tyres that I remember ending up getting stitches in my head after falling off the pavement. Then graduated to a Raleigh Commando followed by a grasshopper (not of the recumbent version!). I remember being very jealous of a friend with a Raleigh Arena until ... untill I tried to stop suddenly using the suicide brakes - why were they called that? Student years was a Falcon Black Diamond (?) which was brilliant.
A couple of years ago someone worked out that Fignon would have won if he had lost the pony tail. His bike from that race was in the London science museum for a while when I lived down there.
RSW 14, until I "borrowed" my older brother's single speed tourer with big wheels, I lost control of it on Berry Hill lane, crashed into the side of a Triumph, smashing out my front teeth. Banned from cycling till the age of 15, when I was bought a beautiful matt black Puch Prima 12 - 2x6 glorious gears. This was stolen from outside Mansfield library, and I used the insurance to buy my first guitar (which I still have and love, but I still can't play it well :). A summer job in '85 got me my Edinburgh Country, which I lost during a flat move in 94. In '99 my best friend gave me his ex-wife's Giant Chicago, which ignited a love of bikes, even though it was far too small for me, I graduated to a Spec Hardrock Sport in 2001, which carried me for over 25k miles before I gave it to my boss in '09 when I got my beloved Croix on cycle to work. In between times I got an HPVelotechnik StreetMachine in '03, an Airnimal Chameleon in 08. I still ponder what to do with the Mercian frame and forks I have in my attic, or whether I have enough bikes already.
I have absolutely no idea what make my bike was although I do remember it was blue and I was a bit embarrassed by it (I think because of its swept back handlebars). I did spend many a happy afternoon riding it in and out of streams and up banks pretending I was a competitor in Kick Start http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_Start_(TV_series) which I now realise means I was BMXing before it was even invented.
Na BMXing was invented in the early to mid 70's and Kick start was first aired in 1979....... Sorry for the pedantry...
Yeah - I did a bit of googling after I wrote that and realised but decided not to pedant my own post. It didn't reach our shores (or at least the corner of Scotland where I was) till a good deal after that though...
Lolz
Fignon is quite bitter about his 8 second defeat which came in the last day which was a time trial of 24.5 km during which Le Mond took more than two seconds a kilometre out of him. It would seem that whilst Laurent had a Raleigh, Greg had an illegal tri-bar set up?
Now that I've just finished reading Richard Moore's Etape book, this finally makes sense to me.
I don't think LeMond's tri bars were illegal, per se, just not in common use. Fignon was using disc wheels and otherwise conventional bars.
(Also thought it was worth the thread-bump for all y'all newcomers.)
My Raleigh Chico which was cheapest bike in the Club Book (name for Kay's catalogue £25 now or £2 a week for 52 weeks - which was what my mum went for) was in fact a single speed hipster bike, little did I know its skinny tubes and lack of gears made it cool when all the chopper gang and grifter boys were mocking me..
Being mocked for having presents bought out the club book does not constitute an adverse childhood experience but it still rankles. Wish I had kept the LED watch I was given when everyone else was given LCD, would be on antique road show with it now. Black strap Matt silver casing with big button for illuminating the red screen
My bike was also from 'the club book'. An Elswick Sovereign folding bike which was essentially a copy of a Raleigh Twenty. It once folded on me while riding along a road, something a proper Twenty physically can't do. A kind man washing his car saw me in tears and helped me with the latch to close it again. I never quite trusted that bike after.
When I wanted to start cycling again, I decided modern bikes intimidated me so Mr Trix got me a proper vintage Twenty, only 5 years younger than me, in tribute to the one that wasn't.
I am now well past being intimidated by multitudinous gears etc and, after not turning a wheel for a year, Fenella the Twenty went to the Bike Station a couple of weeks back. I hope to see her out and about sometime.
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