Road Bike Restoration!

[SkipdiverJohn]

Not many youngsters seem to ride drop bar bikes these days, most prefer horrible draggy low rent suspension MTB's.
When I was young, if you wanted to arse about and show off you rode a Chopper or Grifter. If you were serious about being able to go further afield than just a couple of miles you rode a "racer" - even if it was just a basic 5-speed hi-tensile one with steel wheels like my Raleigh.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Not many youngsters seem to ride drop bar bikes these days, most prefer horrible draggy low rent suspension MTB's.
When I was young, if you wanted to arse about and show off you rode a Chopper or Grifter. If you were serious about being able to go further afield than just a couple of miles you rode a "racer" - even if it was just a basic 5-speed hi-tensile one with steel wheels like my Raleigh.

True that. I had a Raleigh Grifter then a Raleigh Burner, and once I was in my teens I wanted to go on longer rides and I got a Peugeot of some sort... (me on the right below, sorry, bad quality 80s pic). The teens near me are all doing long wheelies on huge Carrera MTBs, none of them seem to be on road bikes. Just gone out of fashion I think.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Where was the picture taken, the brickwork of the building behind has something of a Northern look about it? Liverpool, Manchester?

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Where was the picture taken, the brickwork of the building behind has something of a Northern look about it? Liverpool, Manchester?

Yes it's Manchester, good spot! That was my school (built in 1887) and you're right, there are a lot of Victorian buildings in the North West that had that red brick and yellow terracotta look.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Yes it's Manchester, good spot! That was my school (built in 1887) and you're right, there are a lot of Victorian buildings in the North West that had that red brick and yellow terracotta look.

I thought it might be, as the favoured brickwork of Victorian London was yellow stocks. Red brick is far less common here, and tended to be largely restricted to expensive areas or landmark buildings.

 

[Gunk]

True that. I had a Raleigh Grifter then a Raleigh Burner, and once I was in my teens I wanted to go on longer rides and I got a Peugeot of some sort... (me on the right below, sorry, bad quality 80s pic). The teens near me are all doing long wheelies on huge Carrera MTBs, none of them seem to be on road bikes. Just gone out of fashion I think.
View attachment 568797

A Peugeot Premiere HLE and a Raleigh Eclipse. I restored one of each last year.