Took the Equipe for a first ride today, it was excellent!
After replacing all the rusty parts and polishing everything that can be re-used I now finally have a working Vintage/Retro Raleigh Equipe.
The first part of the road to a five mile round trip was a little wobbly to say the least. It rides in a totally different way to my mountain bike and the sensitivity in directional control needed to be remembered. The first part of the journey is not a particularly smooth surface, it's single track, is curved with high hedges, and downhill. With my hulk on-board we quickly built up speed, pulling the brakes on an old bike can be compared with stamping on the brakes of a heavy old car with drum brakes. The brakes on my mountain bike would have you over the handlebars in comparison.
So, after an interesting start I was able to put some effort into it. This thing goes for it. I had forgotten the feeling of every pedal stroke being pushed into the tarmac (rather than squidging around on fat off-road tyres.).
I aimed for a long hill, actually it's one that's on the London to Brighton route, to test out the gearing and my legs. I did feel for a much better workout than on the MTB. I did power up without a rest and now feeling the benefit.
Being a hilly route I didn't expect a particularly fast time or speed. But still, I did manage a good average speed.
I'll post my trip stats on a later post.
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