Raleigh Portage

Back in June of last year, I picked this 650b-wheeled Raleigh at a yard sale. It was in such good shape, I would have thought it was brand new if I didn't know that these were built in 1988. The tires were even the original "Raleigh" branded items.

I had originally planned on selling the bike, hopefully making a couple of bucks in the process. But, I started riding it around, and decided to keep it and put the "Clubman" project on the back burner. I put some wider bars and a Brooks Professional saddle on it, but left it otherwise stock. Until, this week, that is...

Friday, I went to Cycle Analyst and picked up some Schwalbe tires and a pair of Nitto Mustache Bars. I had decided to build it into my version of a Bridgestone XO-1.
I cleaned up an old pair of Suntour Bar-Cons (I only went so far as 800 grit sandpaper, which gave me a finish which closely reproduced what those shifters looked like out of the box), and routed the cables under the bar tape, contrary to the traditional routing.

I like the look of mustache bars with exposed brake cable housing, but I think adding exposed shifter cables makes them a bit busy. They seem to shift, just fine, routed in this manner so I think I'll leave them that way.

Too bad the paint is so nice. I sure would like to paint it orange like the bike I linked to, above. I don't think I'm likely to find an orange XO-1, any time soon. It was a limited production bike, with 1000 units being built each year in 1992 and 1993.

I think this will make a nice little long-ride bike. I plan on trying for my Super Randonneur status on it, this year.

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