Some good progress over the weekend. Thanks to a nice man on Freecycle (thanks Keith!), I've been given a broken down Raleigh Pioneer to use for parts. So I now have a functioning front wheel, stem and set of brakes and brake levers.
The Raleigh Pioneer was the first ever generation of hybrid bike. Though it was fairly low-budget in its day, the parts that still work seem to be fine. And on a heavy old steel frame I'm not too worried about minimising weight. But the huge, awkward riser handlebars have got to go... I'm just not the hybrid kind of guy. I'll be dropping them off to the Oxford Cycle Workshop along with the frame, which hopefully they can find some use for.
The weekend also saw my first major mechanical cock-up of the project. In trying to remove the cranks and chainring from the old Raleigh, I completely stripped the threads, meaning that there's no way of getting the chainring off. I'd like to think that maybe it wasn't my fault - the threads had been exposed to the weather and were maybe a bit rusty - but let's face it, it probably was. Next time I'll try making sure I've got a solid fit.
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