One of Raleighs marketing slogans .....
" One free person with every Raleigh "
That reminds me about freedom.
Me and my schoolmates used to sometimes go weekend camping.
My bike (before the viscount) was a 3 speed Hercules. I swapped the straight bars for drops and suicide levers. Heavy, but worked ok
Mate Mark had a white Sun, which he never looked after. I remember coming to his house to fix it. He said it would be ok to do in the living room as his parents were out. There was a white sheepskin rug in front of the fire which ended up not white. When his mum saw the rug and I saw her face, twas time for a quick exit.
Dave had an eddy merckx, the falcon one, not the posh one. He swapped his drops for some massive cowhorns. When we went camping, he had everything, tent, sleeping bag etc in a rucksack. When he forgot himself, the bike would wheelie and he'd end up on his back
Andrew was a tall lad but his bike was about 20" with the longest seat post ever. He didn't have room inside so kept it in his yard. Whatever rusted, he'd either gunk in 3in1 or paint over with a brush with whatever was in their shed
Then there was Sean. No idea what bike it was. It was rough painted black and had alloy wheels. He kept telling us it was a pro racing bike. Nobody knew if this was correct or not as we knew nothing about bikes.
And then Richard. He had a tatty JF Wilson 531 bike. But he was a fat lad, so always behind. When we waited for him he used to taunt us by smoking as he rode up to us. Nobody, even him didn't know where the bike came from as there were no cyclists in his family.
Great days, we left after tea on Friday and returned about 7pm Sunday
