Just a few weeks ago I I was coaxed into doing a SF Randonneur "Populaire" ride . The rando/Riv Venn diagram has a healthy intersection, as I'm sure you're well aware. I saw a repurposed mid-70's Raleigh International, fancy paint, all the modern brazed bits.
Ah, the same International that I allowed myself to lust after for 5 minutes from the Raleigh catalog as a teenager. Knowing full well that I could not afford it, I let my eyes peruse the next model down, the Competition, which was still out of my budget. Flipping the page backwards, the Gran Sport, with fully double butted 531 tubing was oh so close, but I knew I could not save enough in time to get it before the Big Bike Trip I had planned. I settled for the straight gauge 531, high tensile steel fork'ed Super Course MkII, which I kept for the next 12 years before selling it and upgrading to triathlon ready bicycles. 2 kids and 35 lbs later, I started riding again. I now have a 3-speed upgraded to 8 speed commuter bike. The one bike I held onto from pre-marriage days is a Bike Friday New World Tourist. Back to the Populaire. My childless buddy has a Rivendale. Actually, 2 including his Quickbeam. I saw some of the most beautiful bicycles I had ever seen-you know those rando-types, it's about looking good and riding far - which is what a Rivendale does for its owner. With 2 kids to get through school, I really can't justify spending a ton of money on a bike. I'm lucky that I bought my Bike Friday before I got married, so I've got that odd little beast (the clown bike, as one of my buddies calls it). The most time I'll ever get for a long haul of touring for the next 6 years will be one, maybe two weeks, not enough to justify $5k. But I do see myself doing more of these randonneur rides, maybe up to a 300k at some time. Love/hate relationship with the internet manifested: I found that a vintage Raleigh International is an excellent starting point to make a fairly authentic rando bike <http://www.flickr.com/photos/49353569@N00/5154235899/>. Five Craigslist clicks later and I found this: [image: Inline image 1] I couldn't help myself. It was like getting a second chance to ask out that girl in high school you couldn't get up the nerve to talk to. I'll take ownership in a few days. I'm budget challenged, but any spitballin' brainstormin' ideas of what I should do with it are appreciated (no, you can't have it, it's mine!) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
