Purple Ronnie - my partner's new bike

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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 :smile:
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Ganymede

Veteran
Location
Rural Kent
That is what I call handsome!
 
OP
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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"! :smile:
 
OP
OP
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
 
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