Purple Ronnie - my partner's new bike

[mikeymustard]

I bought this frame by accident last year: I was looking at two frames on ebay and decided to put a bid in on the one, only to find out when I'd won it that it was the wrong one! Since it was a good price I decided to just take the hit, but when it was unboxed my partner said "that's a nice colour, you've been saying you'll build me a bike, I'll have that one".
The frame is an early 80s Raleigh Road Ace so it's 531 throughout with cute Hayden Royal Sov lugs and 27" wheels. Parts are a mixture of new and old (most of it was built at my friend's house who kept finding new bits for it, for instance the 50-34 crank).
As it's only 21.5" and my partner is quite long (especially her legs) I've gone with a new, longer stem and seatpost, brakes and front derailleur are shimano 600 while the rear shifter is a Deore LX cos I needed a long cage for the gearing; and I knew she wouldn't cope with friction shifting so it needed to be indexable. Unfortunately, the RD seems to be a little temperamental so I'm probably going to swap it for something else quite soon.

I also made the saddlebag so I'm quite pleased with the bike over all, i know it's not a vintage as such but I'm happy that a lovely frame has been reborn

 

[Ganymede]

That is what I call handsome!

 

[biggs682]

@mikeymustard that looks great

 

[welsh dragon]

That is a very classy looking bike and i love the colour the saddle bag looks good as well. Well done. Nice job

 

[Cycleops]

The saddlebag looks like a rather cross face shouting.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Very nice indeed.

 

[TheDoctor]

*approves*

 

[Mrs M]

Ronnie is very smart indeed
Well done.

 

[mikeymustard]

thanks for the nice comments all

The saddlebag looks like a rather cross face shouting.

Yeah, it's shouting at the tailgating car to "back off"!

 

[mikeymustard]

The bag I made for my bike is a bit more "grown up" The grey material is reflective stuff off a hi-viz gilet I <ahem> liberated from work

 

[mikeymustard]

The bags are smart! I like them. I've long had the urge to make one out of old leather, but lack the skill.

They're still a bit amateurish, but I keep fettling them and they're getting better each time I tweak the design. My sewing's getting better too!
Leather work is definitely a bit beyond me (as yet?), but the cordura type stuff I use is easily worked with a domestic machine

 

[cuberider]

Nice bike! extra style points for the tyres

 

[midlife]

Is the stem ok at that height ? Classy looking machine

 

[mikeymustard]

Is the stem ok at that height ? Classy looking machine

Oh yeah - Nitto technomic 225. It's not even at min insertion point! They do a 280mm too!

 

[Drago]

Nice bike, even if the title sounds like something from the Ann Summers catalogue.