Just for kicks, touring in '76

[drpaddle]

Just for kicks, thought I'd post some vintage pics of touring in '76. First is of my '71 Raleigh Professional (repainted following a criterium crash a couple years earlier) set up for a big trip. 23.5" frame with 40.25" wheelbase. To fit clinchers and fenders on a bike made for sew-ups was a challenge. Had to change out the front Campi brake for a Weinman 500 sidepull. Crank is a Nuovo Record triple from a Schwinn Paramount tandem. The rear der was a Suntour VGT, and front was stock Nuovo Record. Wheels were Nuovo Record with solid axles. Tires were Michelin 50 cottons, and I had to have replacement tires and tubes mailed ahead because 700c tires and presta tubes were so rare in the US at that time. Bags are Kirtland. Front rack was Blackburn and rear rack was custom-made steel tubing. (Yes, there is a squirrel tail hanging from the saddle, a tradition carried on to this day on my bikes as shown on my '81 Ritchy in the mtb forum http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=822940&sid=0f499b1e59f0f97474ad3ab21f707422.)

The Raleigh was absolutely the best of the touring bikes I've owned. Coming out of the Rockies, I could jump cattle guards with a full touring load. It climbed and descended beautifully. Loved that bike.

Second photo is halfway through my 4,300-mile ride across the US on the Bikecentennial route.

 

[Steve Kish]

Better then than now. Good pix. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Agency_Scum]

It's midnight on a rain soaked nightshift here in Swindon UK and I can feel the sunshine from those photos. Cheers mate...MUCH appreciated pictures.

 

[TheGreenRabbit]

Great pics, I hate looking at pics like that as it makes me long for the open road . . .

I have the same pic under the kansas sign, well 20 years ish later and with me in it not you, bt you getthe idea. !

 

[Ductape]

So,
After a trip like that ..
Did she marry you?

 

[drpaddle]

Marry me? Why spoil such a great friendship?

 

[drpaddle]

Missing the open road

Yes, GreenRabbit, I have that same deep yearning for the open road. From 1978 to 1985 I was, essentially, paid to ride my bike around the US. My family had a business making helmets. To promote them, I would fly to some big cycling event, have a good time doing whatever it was, then I would cycle to one or more cities and call on bike shops. It was an effective way to establish credibility and rapport, since few sales reps would actually arrive by fully-loaded touring bike. Events included Crested Butte Klunker Classic, RAGBRAI, TOSRV, LAW rallies, AYH national board meetings, Great Western Bicycle Rallies, and more. Lots of adventures along the way. For example, on one six-week ride in California, I let a beautiful blonde hippy girl playing guitar in the Berkeley BART station take me away to a week on a Moony commune in Booneville.
Now, I'm tied to a desk job, raising kids, and longing for the open road.