Raleigh Super Course 12

The bike had found its way to my shop. The luster of the burnt orange paint job caught my eye. Almost copper in the light.

It was dropped off by an old man as part of a package type deal on a day I wasn’t there. He was parting ways with his bicycles and bicycle accessories. We met briefly when he came in another time to drop off a dishing gauge after the bikes. He had also brought in a, still boxed, Shogun road bike from Japan, likely of a similar vintage as the Raleigh.

Unfortunately, I did not know about the bike when we met or who he was. I can only assume why he was parting ways with what are clearly treasured objects.

I rode the bike home after getting it for a steal, subsidizing addiction is a perk of working in the shop. The lugged frame, friction shifting, and rim brakes have captured me. The skinny steel tubes of the frame look so delicate until I remember that they are approaching half a century as a bike frame.

It is funny the attachments we can form with our things. I do wonder about the man who had it before it came into my hands. I love this machine and I am sure he felt something similar. Now I get steward it well for its next rider.