Another one from my small collection; a Raleigh Team Cadet.
I actually found this bike in a factory skip about 20 years (or more) ago, a quick "ask" of a chap in the factory resulted in me acquiring it ("Yeah, that's Bert's, he chucked it in there this morning... Bert? Some lad here wants your old bike!" *pause* "He says you can have the *censored* thing! Help yourself!").
It was incomplete; no wheels, bars, brakes or chain. The chainwheel was OK, and is the one that it currently carries.
Considering it has been stored incomplete for many years, the paintwork is very good (in fact much better than my similarly-liveried Gran Course), although most of the decals have gone. It has the Aerospace Contour seat- and down-tubes.
I decided to build this one up a few weeks back; the idea was to have it as a spare bike for one of my partner's grandchildren, as it is far too small for me.
Sadly, it is a mishmash of bits that I had to hand; brake calipers are from a friend's RRS, which I "chopped" many years ago, bars have "trainer" levers (not sure if the Team Cadet had these, or "proper" levers), steel wheels, and horrid bear-trap pedals, which were not fitted at the time of photographing.
The almost-completed "Thing." It rides better than it looks... :roll:
Something I noticed when viewing the photos... The lugs on this frame are different to those on my Gran Course. (It's only took me 20+ years to notice.)
Now I think about it, the gold-finish brake calipers do not suit this machine.
A plain alloy set of Weinmann 500s would be better. I think I have enough bits to make a set...
Today I bought some cushioned handlebar tape, and a scruffy, but perfectly useable, secondhand Selle Royal Pullman saddle.
I actually found this bike in a factory skip about 20 years (or more) ago, a quick "ask" of a chap in the factory resulted in me acquiring it ("Yeah, that's Bert's, he chucked it in there this morning... Bert? Some lad here wants your old bike!" *pause* "He says you can have the *censored* thing! Help yourself!").
It was incomplete; no wheels, bars, brakes or chain. The chainwheel was OK, and is the one that it currently carries.
Considering it has been stored incomplete for many years, the paintwork is very good (in fact much better than my similarly-liveried Gran Course), although most of the decals have gone. It has the Aerospace Contour seat- and down-tubes.
I decided to build this one up a few weeks back; the idea was to have it as a spare bike for one of my partner's grandchildren, as it is far too small for me.
Sadly, it is a mishmash of bits that I had to hand; brake calipers are from a friend's RRS, which I "chopped" many years ago, bars have "trainer" levers (not sure if the Team Cadet had these, or "proper" levers), steel wheels, and horrid bear-trap pedals, which were not fitted at the time of photographing.
The almost-completed "Thing." It rides better than it looks... :roll:
Something I noticed when viewing the photos... The lugs on this frame are different to those on my Gran Course. (It's only took me 20+ years to notice.)
Now I think about it, the gold-finish brake calipers do not suit this machine.
A plain alloy set of Weinmann 500s would be better. I think I have enough bits to make a set...
Today I bought some cushioned handlebar tape, and a scruffy, but perfectly useable, secondhand Selle Royal Pullman saddle.
