Raleigh Citation converted to single speed
A friend of a friend called me and said get her out of my garage. I rushed over that day on my lunch hour. He had been given the 1970's 10 speed racer by a
neighbour who moved and it hadn't left his garage since. I took her home and in February of 2008 I pumped the tires and took a ride over to Mission Marsh, dodging puddles and snow. Over the next few months I had the rear wheel converted to single speed by Farzam at Petrie's. I tried various handlebars and brake levers but as of now she has an old mountain bike set of riser bars and Avid single digit levers pulling the original side-pull calipers. In the spring of 2010 I helped build a new set of wheels and added Continetal Gatorskin tires. A
brooks B17 saddle which I had experimented with for the Conquer Cancer ride found its way on this old girl. When I found an old
crankset better suited to mountain bike
singlespeeding, the Sugino 48 tooth
crankset was added. Sally made me add the bell as this is the bike I normally ride when she joins me.
After weeks of riding mountain bikes it's always such a rush to jump on Molly and get her up to speed. The Gators easily hold 100 lbs and the 48x16 gearing means a slow start but a
high top speed. I was crossing the bridge to the East End of town one summer afternoon and had just left the saddle
to get her up to speed for the climb. My worst crash ever resulted when the chain broke and I went 3/4 of the way over the handlebars before holding on until the steepness slowed her and we went over. My bruises were about the same
colour as the frame. She's Molly just because it seemed to go
with Raleigh.
Posts
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| Before |
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| After singlespeed conversion |
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| Molly in 2013 |
2012 Update
New since the last update are a sealed bottom bracket, pursuit bars and brake levers and a set of Tektro R559 calipers.
