Found a Frame!

Anybody that's read one of my previous post will know that I'm on a quest to build a classic racing bike using only the money we can generate by selling things. We had found a classic Raleigh frame, even built in Nottingham. But alas, the frame was far to big, even for a growing lad like me.

So, the search continued, with one hundred and ten pounds in our fund from sales we looked all over eBay. But there was no need, as a friend of my dads from the cycling club had a frame for sale. However, it wasn't a classic, but a more modern, Trek aluminium frame with carbon forks. By this time we had worked out that a classic frame would be much harder to build, as finding a frame in good condition and the right sized was proving difficult.

This frame wasn't going for free unfortunately, so we were told to make a sensible offer. We decided on eighty pounds. A few minutes later and the frame was ours. Woo! We had the basis of our bike. On closer inspection the frame had clearly been used as more of a winter training bike. Not that we really minded, as we were intending to be able to use this bike on rough roads and out to places were I would want to leave my 'summer bike' outside.

 

Bike Build

To fund our build we listed ten of our classic Scalextric cars on eBay. For that week we scoured eBay and the rest of the Internet and posted on the Beeston CC forums. Towards the end of the week we had found a classic frame from a member of the club, and for what price I here you ask? Nothing. Brilliant we thought, a sixty-four centimetre black Raleigh Sprint Record. Sixty-four centimetres seemed quite large, but 'I'm sure it'll be fine' we thought.

It was until we picked the frame up that we saw how huge it actually was. The frame wasn't in to bad a condition apart from the the small patches of peeling paint. That and the fact that all the paint had been corroded off the back forks from something-hydroxide. Even after a good clean it came out no better.

I was slightly disappointed but we got it for free so there was no loss. A couple of days later the eBay listing for our Scalextric cars, had finished. Eight out of ten cars had been sold, making a total of one hundred and ten pounds. The search for a suitable frame continues.