Ottorange

I am new to this but just found a bike today at work. It was in an old vacant building we own. Someone from our construction crew must have found it and stored it in there. I am sure I can have it. From a quick googling I found out a little about the bike and how much people love them. Guess I am just lucky. I have been searching on and off for a bike to restore for a year. This seems perfect. I would welcome any advise on what to do first. When I was searching for a bike before I always thought I would sandblast it, powder coat it and put on new components. Now I realize this is not some old Schwinn so I should probably try to restore it. Seems difficult but I would love a project to obsess over. I'm trying to upload an attachment but it's too big. I will upload to flickr and send out a link.

Edit: here is a link https://www.flickr.com/photos/83603868@N05/9157950483/ Hope that works.

Velognome 

Nice...Welcome to the forum!

KonAaron Snake 

RHM and Photogravity will be very excited and have a lot to contribute...congrats on your find!

Ottorange

Do I message those guys or will they just see this? Not sure of BF etiquette yet.

WNG

Private messaging won't be available until you pass 50 posts. I'm sure they will see your thread very soon. That bike model has been a hot topic here in the past. Congrats on your find.
And welcome aboard!

Chris W.

Welcome to the Forums! Looks like a great project, you will find great inspiration here ;-)

Cheers,
Chris

Lascauxcaveman 

Very cool bike. Most of the time when somebody frets here about whether they should do a blast & powder job on a old frame, I say "Meh, do whatever you like."

But in this case I'd say, "Don't do anything drastic." Be interesting to hear from the local cognescenti as to how original this thing is. They're going to need a lot of good pictures, so get out there and get shooting.

oddjob2

I musta left that in Hoboken last month!

Forks bent!

Have fun with it!

Ottorange

When I get the thing home I will post a lot of pictures. It has a very old brooks seat. Not sure if that is savable. From the originals I have seen online it looks like the handle bars are not original and it is missing the fenders. I'm excited but I don't even know step one here.

ColonelJLloyd 

This thread makes your photos look good, Aaron.


front_fork by costellokr, on Flickr

KonAaron Snake 

Heh - admittedly I'm no photographer, but I'm not THAT bad

I have been upping my photo level of late.

Ottorange

Hey now. I got three quick photos with my cell as I was waiting for a delivery. More pics once I get it home but just found out some news on who owns it. Our construction department cleaned out my bosses' father's house when he moved out and they found this bike. My boss used to ride it in high school. I asked him about it and he said he didn't even know it was there. He has very little interest in it. I said I wanted to restore it and if he wanted to get rid of it he should tell me. He said ok and then changed the subject. I'll bring it up again next week and see if he wants to part with it. I was hoping to bring it home today but it might take a little longer. Don't want to sound too eager or it'll end up on ebay.

photogravity

To say that I'm excited to see another Norman Rapide is an understatement. I damned near peed my pants when rhm sent me the link to this thread. I have speculated that perhaps my Rapide was the only or at at least the last known one in existence, but this proves otherwise. I used to claim that I had a unique and rare bike, but now I can only say it is rare.

As far as acting too excited about the bike, I'm with you: Don't overplay it. If you want to capture this bike, you'll need to be careful of the alternative happening: eBay.

Finally, if you do manage to acquire this bicycle, please do not refinish it. If you are looking for something to refinish and restore, look for a lesser machine to do that to. This is such a rare bird that it would be sad to see it lose all its history and character.

rhm

Though frankly I don't think eBay would bring that much money for one of these anyway. Hardly anyone seems to know about them unless they've seen this forum.
I look forward to more and better photos. Do I see stem shifters?

Ottorange

I'm having guilt about the bike. From it's age it had to have been my boss' Dad's bike from the 50's. My boss has little interest in it but he has a son who is into road biking. The kid used to do some racing and I am very close with the family. I'm going to tell my boss this whole story. His son is 22 and will think it's very cool. The more I think of it I know they won't try to sell it. They are a very wealthy family so I am sure the money they might get from it wouldn't mean much. I have been talking to Dallas through email, I'll put him in touch with my boss after I tell him. My boss leaves tomorrow for two weeks so I will tell him when he gets back.

Ottorange

In related news I still really want to do a FG/SS project. Maybe my good karma from telling me boss about the bike help me get a nice steel frame to get things started. Anyone in the NY/NJ area have a bike taking up room in the garage? I'm 6'1".

rhm

Well, that's an interesting predicament! As you say, the son may have an interest, but then again maybe not. Not everyone appreciates old beat up bikes the way we do! A lot of people get rid of old stuff just because its old. Do keep us posted, though. Good luck!

Ottorange

I figure I at least tell them so it's all on the table. Either way it's not getting thrown out. I'll either tell them and they'll fix it up or I take it and fix it up. I'll let you guys know what happens.

KonAaron Snake 

I agree with RHM - while it might be rare and cool, I don't think that's going to translate to high $$$. It's lesser known, I think people are generally less aware of, and interested in, the clubman bikes, it has heavy patina and isn't an eye catcher. I also don't see the need for guilt here - I doubt many 22 year old roadies are going to have much interest in their dad's 28 lbs steel dinosaur. It needs a good home with someone who'll appreciate it - like RHM or photog if it won't be you.

Velognome 

Can I have the address...I'll be over as soon as it gets dark.

photogravity

That's great to hear and I applaud your approach on this. There may be some sentimental value to the bike at a minimum and, in a best case scenario, the bike will be put back into its original condition. I'm still quite interested in seeing the bike, if only to document that there are others in existence other than mine. I'll be looking forward to hearing from you in a couple weeks.

photogravity

Actually, Aaron, the Rapide weighs more like 22-23 lbs. These were true lightweights in their era.

KonAaron Snake 

With a rack and kick stand? That would be impressive.

sailorbenjamin

Tell the boss that you'll be sure to do justice to his father's memory but taking excellent care of the bike.
Or by sending it to someone like me who'll take excellent care of it.

photogravity

Point taken, but I'm pretty sure it's still under 28 lbs even with the kickstand and rack. Obviously I wasn't including the kickstand and rack, but my Rapide, even with fenders, is in the 23 lb range.