Ploafmaster General

Forgive the frankly terrible photograph of an otherwise beautiful bike. I was in haste to capture its current state in the sunlight. Even without having cleaned it, this bike’s “sugar plum” paint job sparkles. The seller on Marketplace, asking $75, was the original purchaser, having bought this for his wife in Syracuse, NY in the 80s. It has been kept in his basement and barely ridden at all. Everything is original except for the tires (perhaps tubes?), stem, handlebar, brake levers, and grips (as sold it would have had a Sakae polished aluminum stem with drop bars and appropriate levers).

I have been following this bike for many weeks and finally was able to make the trip up to Fredericksburg to take a look. I want to make this a chill, mostly upright bike for my wife to cruise around with me on pavement. After ensuring the seat post and stem weren’t seized, I forked over the cash and gleefully loaded it into my car. Why am I so excited about this particular bike?

This is a 1986 Raleigh Olympian - a model in the Raleigh USA lineup. The catalog, for reasons lost to time it seems, mis-states the frame material as some Raleigh-rebranded double butted CroMo steel (“Raleigh 555”), but the decal on the bike itself indicates a different variant, Raleigh 575SL (SL = “super light”) triple-butted. Digging through some bicycle forums confirms that the decal isn’t specific to my 1986 example, and while Raleigh may be pretending at some Reynolds-style branding, it does at least seem to be some very nice steel. The bike model itself wasn’t necessarily one of their top models in the whole lineup, but it appears to have been the top of the Sport Touring range. It includes some really nice touches:

• Shimano Light Action front and rear derailleurs with ratcheting friction shifters (goosebumps here) on a stem mount
• lovely Sakae cranks, 110/74 BCD that should allow me to make the gearing a bit easier
• Sakae fluted alloy seat post
• Suntour freewheel that still feels pretty nice
• Dia Compe caliper brakes with a quick release on the front (the rear on the mixte doesn’t have this because it’s bottom pull)
• pretty much every bearing on this thing is sealed, at least according to the pervasive decals—hubs, bottom bracket, and I think even the headset? I’ll have to check that last one

Anyhow, I’m currently disassembling the bike so I can give it a good clean and check out the inside and treat it with rust prevention. Then I want to give the whole thing a gentle polish to really bring out that sparkle. Long term plans include a Nitto quill stem and some VO or Riv handlebars, easier gearing, and probably a 650B conversion (folks have made it work on this exact model with Tektro R559 long reach brakes) so I can squeeze some 42mm tires in there. Fun project for me, nicer and more comfortable bike for Valerie!

Looks like VCU Police wasting resources to shame pedestrians again instead of protecting them.

One of my favorite parts of scrolling through Marketplace is the implied seller’s resignation when you see a price beside a prior, struck through price. You can feel the deflation as that vintage pram reduces from $225 to $75.

Another day, another horrifyingly racist statement from Stephen Miller that ought to earn him eternal tack hammer strikes to the testicles by gleeful children (I like to imaging a cackling kid running to the back of the line for their next turn).

Finally ordered spokes and nipples (already have the hubs and rims)…gonna build the wheels for my grocery bike once those arrive!

Like, these SunTour XC-9000 levers have no more slop than Paul Canti Levers. Not an exaggeration. Moto-style, beautiful, and smooth, solid movement. Good, chunky barrel adjusters, too.

Some of my favorite words to see on the eBay are “SunTour NOS”.

I submitted a request to the city’s 311 system 4 days ago about a sign leaning over in front of my house at risk of falling over (loose in the ground like a truck maybe backed into it). They just showed up in the last 30 minutes and took care of it!

Picked up some Odyssey/Vans slip-ons at an outlet this past weekend. In the past I could never get Vans slip-ons on my feet because of a high upper part of my foot, but these worked somehow and feel great. And you know what? I totally get why folks like biking in these things. Super comfy.

As previously noted, I haven’t been able to ride much the past couple of weeks, but today I was back on two wheels, and the weather in Richmond was just the chef-est of kisses.

Latest Pink Sky Rides vid combines my love of film photography (with an RZ67, no less!) and bikes as she photographs her husband’s dope GT: www.youtube.com/watch

Stopped by Crust today and picked up the new 800mm Shrike bar (so it also has a 31.8 clamp diameter) in black along with some matching stem spacers. Gonna use this bar on the Diamondback Apex I’m working on. Pumped!

Lotta great sounds out there, but I’m pretty sure a laughing baby is the best sound.

Cutting it a little close, but we booked a flight for the family to LA for spring break. Gonna go see my grandma while we still can!

BREAKING: President Trump signs EO ordering Americans to acknowledge that he definitely strongly wipes his own butt, and never needs help contrary to the very bad lies told by Demoncrap toilet traitors.

In the throes of grief as my mother-in-law approached the end of her life, my wife said to me, nearly in tears, “Just please don’t get hit by a car on your bike. If something happened to you I would fall apart.” I haven’t ridden my bike, really, since a 7 mile ride on February 23rd.

I have felt a bit unmoored these past few week. Supporting my wife is my top priority, but cycling—particularly outside, not on the trainer—has become a real benefit to my mental and emotional well-being the past 3 years. Sharing some of the grief with Valerie, sharing the lack of proper or at least uninterrupted sleep, and not wanting to make her any more worried, I have stayed off the bike. That comment really hit me. You see I have been hit by a vehicle on my bike. More than once. So I understand why she’s worried. But every time I’m out and about and see folks riding around town it hurts a little.

I have distracted myself by working on bikes in place of riding them. Stripping down the Diamond Back. Tweaking the Trek. Today I did a whole bunch of stuff, like radius-ing the rear fender on my Space Horse, swapping chainrings on the Bombora, and changing out the shitty grip shifter on my son’s bike. I rode three of my bikes around the back yard a little bit to check some of my adjustments. The weather has been extraordinary and looks to continue for the next week and a half. I have come to the conclusion that I need to get back on the bike.

I talked to Valerie about it and she’s cool with it. She’ll continue to grieve and process the passing of her mom as we await the funeral and burial, but she’s not terrified of me getting struck down in the immediate future. And while I can’t predict every driver’s behavior, I’m not so worried about it either.

Adorable 3…4 year old? Strolls singing into the bagel shop. She spots embroidered Tweety on the employee’s blouse and exclaims, “I know that bird! It’s from, uh, from…Space Jam!”

My mother-in-law passed away this evening. As it happens, it’s 18 years to the day from when my dad died.

Grateful for the ability to take some time off. Grateful for her that she could be present with her mom as she passed. Grateful for helpful and caring friends.

Would you, uh…would you buy a jar of, um…Vaseline…from Facebook Marketplace?

Distracting myself from the impending bad news by trying not to buy all the nice, old SunTour components I find on eBay.

I will gladly spend money on quality bike tools, but for certain items I just can’t justify it. I’m not even gonna buy a used Park Tool or Unior headset press unless I’m pressing in 10 headsets a day.

WFH (working from hospital) this week so my wife isn’t alone here while my mother-in-law is on hospice.

It’s been dark enough dealing with all the national bullshit while my wife’s mom is dying, but now while she’s in hospice near the end, we get a new war for breakfast. Too many fucking horrors at once.

Dang, these new Shrike bars from Crust are super dope, and may work for the resto-mod of the Diamond Back. I’m sill partial to the Fun 3 Bars from Sim Works (love them on my Space Horse), but I can check these out in person at the source.

Yesterday I got a wheel set for $60 with 90s 8-speed-era Dura Ace hubs. The rims are too-skinny-for-me Mavic Open Pros (decent shape), but the hubs are fantastic and the price was worth it for them alone. I’m probably going to take the hubs out and re-lace them to wider rims for some wider tires.