Here is one that almost got away...

I was out riding my 1978 Raleigh Superbe and stopped by the coffee shop and saw a fellow with a very early Fisher mountain bike and we got to talking about old bikes.

Looking at my bike he said I must like old Raleigh's and said he was helping his friend's widow sell a 1955 Raleigh Lenton fixed gear that her husband had bought new and asked if I knew about fixed gears and if I was interested...

I punched his name and number in my cel phone and told him I'd call to arrange a viewing and that very night my cel phone was struck with amnesia and lost it's entire directory.



This was in the fall and try as I might, I never saw the fellow or that yellow mountain bike and finally resigned myself to the fact this bike... and my holy grail... had escaped.

Fast forward to the next spring and I am rolling up to the bike co-op and I see the yellow Fisher and when I come through the door there is the fellow who sees me and says, are you still interested in that Lenton ?



It had been consigned at the local LBS which was only a few blocks away and I must have left skid marks racing over there and they had put it in the basement behind a bunch of bike boxes as no-one had shown any interest in it and they were going to return it.

It was at first sight... and the bike was my size.

The fellow and I settled on a price and I rode the bike home that day as after checking it out found it to be 100% road worthy and even better is that I also found a very decent friend in that fellow.

The day I brought "Reg" home...



Now...