My new bike

As I mentioned in my first post I did eventually stop riding my girlfriends mixte and got myself a properly sized bicycle for myself. This is my 1981 Raleigh Grand Prix. According to the serial number it was manufactured in Nottingham, England in January.

This Grand Prix is a 64cm model, he's one tall bike. I found this one on craigslist and had kept my fingers crossed when I found it that the seller still had it. When I started doing my searches for a bicycle I was originally looking for a Mercier to match my girlfriends. After a great bidding war on ebay I came out with out a bicycle. So off to looking for another. I hadn't originally given the fit a thought and I'm really glad I lost that bidding war now. The ebay bicycle was a 55cm model, it most likely wouldn't have been comfortable to ride.

After purchasing the Raleigh I swapped the seats with the Mercier. I knew that neither one of the bikes had the proper seat and the seat that came on the Raleigh was to wide for me, but perfect for the GF. Though the seat on the Mercier was the proper width it was extremely uncomfortable. It's a plastic saddle covered in vinyl made by Daiiwa of Japan so it really needed to go. I really would like a honey colored Brooks Flyer, but haven't gotten around to it. I think I'll let Santa buy it for me. The Daiiwa did get replaced by a Specialized brand saddle, I forget which model it is though.

As with the Mercier the tires were cracked and have been replaced with Continental Ultra Sports. I love the tires personally. I've also found a Cateye packaged deal for the headlight, taillight, and computer. I've also mounted a Planet Bike bottle cage, and Topeak frame mount pump.

The Raleigh also happened to still have a sticker from the original bike shop that it had been purchased in. Though it has faded I was able to peel back the top portion of the sticker and make it out. The shop was in Houston and after some searching on the web, the shop is still open.

And it begins...

Having been reading several blogs lately, and have decided to start my own. 

My blog reading started with several Internet searches concerning my girlfriends bicycle. An early 70s Mercier mixte her grandmother bought her several years ago at an estate sale for $20. She loved the bike but at the time didn't feel she should ride it as it had to be worth a lot more than $20. So when I moved her from her grandmothers house to her apartment she placed the bicycle in her storage closet on the patio and left it. She forgot about it and so did I. 

She has now moved in with me and was considering selling the Mercier to make room in the house. I convinced her that she should keep it or at the very least let me clean it up and restore it. I was wanting to start riding and just hadn't found the right bike for me. I loved the styling of this bike and thought I might ride it for a bit till I found one that would fit me. (I'm 6'4" a mixte frame is just a tad small for me.)

Here's the Mercier mixte:

This is after I cleaned it up and added some accessories. The bike was so filthy that the paint looked sea foam green instead of sky blue. The handlebar wraps were toast so those got replaced. The gum wall tires on the bike were cracked so those were replaced as well. I added the Planet Bike water bottle cage and swapped the seat for the one that came on the bike I purchased a few weeks after the cleaning of this bike started.