The Black & Tan. In bar lingo, it is a combination of Guinness Stout and Bass Pale Ale.



It is also the name for my "new" bike.

This is a Before & After story. It stars a 1983 Raleigh Super Course. The co-stars include several friends from here on C&V.

The story actually starts with a 1987 Schwinn Prelude that I paid $50 for at a pawn shop.



I fixed up a bit, restoring the early Shimano Indexed Shifting and basically cleaning it up.



I like the way it came out but... the frame was just a little small for me. Enter co-star brockd15. He had a similar problem. He had a 1983 Raleigh Super Course that was one size too big. He proposed that we swap the bikes, giving us both a better fit. I took him up on the offer.

Enter the Super Course:



The only thing wrong with it was a broken Suntour aRX rear derailleur. As luck would have it, my old (wrecked) Nishiki Olympic 12 also came with aRX derailleurs.



That, new pedals (also from the Olympic 12), and a seat replacement, and it was ready to go. It was a nice enough bike, but something was missing. It was just a bit too old school for me. It had old style brake levers with the cables coming out, and they weren't too comfy to ride on. It had narrow drop bars. And the downtown friction shifters on such a large frame bike were a little tough to get used to. I gave them a fair shot, but in the end I decided some changes were in order.

Poking around on C&V, seeing what people had up for sale recently, I found some wider, more ergonomic handlebars and aero brake levers that ddeadserious had for sale.





And shortly after that, I noticed Capecodder had some Suntour Bar-Cons for sale. I love the Bar-Cons I put on my commuter hybrid, so these seemed perfect for my rebuild.



I took one last ride on the Super Course before the transformation- BEFORE:



The transformation is nearly complete. AFTER pictures of my "new" bike, the Black & Tan, will be coming soon.