Winner of last month’s coveted OTSOTM, Mark D, has offered another early 80s beauty for our enjoyment.  In addition to the sweet OTS, Mark also enlightened me we his home-brew-chain-lube.

Found this nice 1983 Raleigh Super Course mixte on CL for my wife as a Christmas gift. She wanted something vintage (like me), and she likes Raleighs.

The serial number on the bottom bracket indicates it was made in 1983, and the ’83 Raleigh catalog description confirms this. The Raleigh Cycle Company of America made it during the brief time they manufactured bikes in Japan exclusively for the US market (about 1982-1987). The label says, “Designed and Engineered in the USA – Made in Japan.” These bikes were produced under license by Bridgestone and were outfitted with quality Japanese parts. Later, manufacturing was shifted to other parts of the Far East, notably Taiwan and China.

The bike color is metallic black and champagne (gold). It has fairly ornate lugs and cool engraving on the seat stays and fork tops. The paint and decals are in excellent condition.

It appears to be all original, right down to the plastic pie plate. All it needed was a thorough overhaul and new tires and tubes. The foam grips were dry and torn, but the seller included a old replacement set, still in its 1986 packaging, which claimed they were the, “Official grips of the Ride Across America.” Foam grips are often derided, but they are in fact very comfortable.

When I got it, the old freewheel wouldn’t spin at all. I assumed that it was dirty or rusted or worse, and I thought I would have to find a replacement. However, I took it off, wiped it down, laid it on some sheets of newspaper, and gave it a thorough drenching with my homemade chain lube, a 50/50 mixture of 30W motor oil and mineral spirits. A rust-red river of gunk ran out. I flushed it a few more times until the mixture came out clear and then let it drain overnight. Voila! It looks and spins like new.

This bike rides super smooth and quiet.

Frameset: Raleigh 555sl full chrome moly with full braze-ons, double-butted main tubes
Brakes: Diacompe side-pull
Handlebars: Raleigh USA alloy
Grips: Johar of California foam grips
Crankset: Aero alloy, 52-42T
Derailers: SunTour ARX
Shifters: SunTour Power Shifters
Freewheel: SunTour gold 13-30T
Pedals: SR SP-152 alloy quill
Rims: Araya alloy
Tires: CST General Style 27×1-1/4″ gum wall
Saddle: KashiMax Sports padded vinyl, Osaka, Japan
Color: Metallic black and champagne

Enjoy.

Mark D
Cooper City, Florida

Thanks Mark

Here’s a marque we haven’t seen for a while. This is Gabe S’s 1973 Mercier. Nice to hear she’s come full circle.

My friend Frank gave me this bike in bad shape about ten years ago. I intended to fix it up but it sat in my shed for five more years another pal[Scott] wanted it so I gave it to him. Scotts son stripped it and left the frame hanging in his garage. Last summer I was checking out Scotts sons fixie and saw the old frame hanging. We discussed modifying and I got the old frame back. At first it was going to be updated then I decided to check ebay for original parts. WOW bike lust set in and since then I have been all over getting parts. I even bought a peugeot for the crank set. This is a great hobby for me. Thank you for the website. Gabe S. Stockton Ca

Thanks Gabe

Some sweet and tender one-owner goodness in the form of a Motobecane Grand Record. Thanks to Rich B in CA for this beauty.

I bought my Motobecane when I 1st got into riding as a frame only about 30 years ago & built it up w/ quality Campy Super Record & Cinelli components. The freewheel is even Campy, an Aluminum 12X23, It’s made of Reynolds 531 tubing & has Swiss threading for the Bottom Bracket. The pedals shown on the Picture are the more modern Look clipless pedals. I have the Campy SR & Cinelli clips put away. Although billed a racing frame, the wheelbase is a little longer than other race bikes, but appropriate for the period it was made. That said, it is a very comfortable riding bike w/ the longer wheelbase. I enjoyed it immensely on long rides through the hills/mountains of Woodside, CA on many occasions. It later gave way to other bikes that I built up in my 30 years of riding, It is still in remarkably new condition for it’s age, as I was & still am proud to be it’s owner…

Regards,
Rich

Thanks Rich

Hope everyone has a weekend as loose and carefree as the chain of Sam L’s Morrison.

Go Ride Your Bike!

Year: 1981/82
Morrison – High Tensile steel frame/ Alloy Rims & some components.
Bought it new at Narrabeen Cycles – Sydney Australia when I was about 14 after saving my arse off for it.
What do you think?
Sam

Thanks Sam

More of last winter’s offerings from Art F. A pair of fine Gitanes,  the first an unidentified, the second a Grand Sport De Luxe.

Hi Cameron, Art F here . I picked up a nice white Gitane at a thrift store recently cleaned it up and tuned it with new tires , cables, and brake pads. I replaced those horrible plastic Simplex derailleurs with some use shimano derailleurs which was a big improvement. It rode pretty nice and I sold it quickly. But what I can’t figure out about Gitane bicycle is how can you sell bicycles with no indication on the frame of what model this is and what year it was made. That’s almost as bad as the listings in the Washington DC craigslist with a subject Red bicycle $100 and then the text says” I’ve had this bike for a while but bought a new one . It rides nice but the tires are flat” Then maybe there is a fuzzy picture in dim light of a bicycle piled in the corner of a garage.YAAAGH . Anyway if someone can lead me to the decoder ring for Gitane bicycles , I’d be eternally grateful.

Gitane no 2 is Green and was labeled as a Grand Sport De Luxe . From my research I found out that this was a low end model . It gave me fits with the wingnut rear wheel attachment sliding out when hand tightened . Lost a sale when someone rode 10 feet and then tire rubbed against frame. After that I cranked down on wing nut with a pliers and told the buyer to carry a pliers with him in case he had a flat. This bike was a low profit one for me as I put on new tires , cables , front derailleur and brake pads and sold it for $100. I got it for frree because a local non profit that ships bicycles to Africa and south America decided it looked too bad to send overseas. I bet this bike is still tooling around DC in 10 years after I gave it the mini rebuild .

Thanks Art