Ok, so I haven’t posted in a while, but that’s just because I’m working on something big that should release in a year or two. I’ve also been a little out-of-the-business lately, since I got a new job in the technology world and haven’t been dealing with bike stuff for a while.
Also, for a year I lost my main bike.
But now it’s back and better than ever!
The full story is that around 2006 I was getting into bikes in a big way. I bought a mountain bike and shred the hell out of it, then I built up some scrapyard fixies and shredded the hell out of them too. Eventually I determined I needed a solid, new bike with a warranty.
So I bought the Raleigh One-Way in early 2007, on sale for $700. Shortly afterwards I started this blog, then I got a job in the bike business and have obtained and dismissed at least a hundred bikes for my personal collection since then, but the Raliegh One-Way remained throughout.
I’ve raced it, I’ve toured on it, I’ve made money with it, and I’ve crashed in catastrophic ways, yet it remains in great condition. Every single part has been replaced except the frame and fork.
But there was one flaw: the paint. Since the day I bought it the paint has been flaking off. Every few weeks for a decade I’d have to go over it with black touch-up paint to cover all the little blemishes.
Then last February my buddy’s brother, who works as a autobody man, said he’d like to get into painting bikes on the side. He said he’d do mine for free as a portfolio piece. Hell yeah.
Then one thing after another happened; he lost his work space, the first layer of paint came out bad, the paint stripper guy was busy, and on and on.
I thought the bike was gone forever. But eleven months after I started the saga, The Raleigh One-Way returns.
Though it is no longer the One-Way. Too much has happened to this bike for it to keep the branding of a long-dead and sold-off bike firm. It’s my bike, not there’s.
And thus I give you, The Aurora Sparkle!
And here’s the before:
Much improved, right?
Let’s compare some more.
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| Before |
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| After |
I also took the opportunity to file down some of the yucky welds and smoothen out the dropout, which had been much crunched over years of clamping:
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| Before |
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| After. I couldn’t file it totally flush, but it’s better, right? |
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| Before |
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| After |
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| No more bubbling paint chips! |
I didn’t replace all the parts during the overhaul, just the cosmetic things.
Hopefully I’ll get another decade out of it.
