At 04:40 PM 3/8/04 -0800, you wrote:
>Has anyone ever see a Raleigh "PORTAGE"? It has high flange SR hubs, 40
rear, 36 front. But the rims are black, Raleigh 650 X 35B. Down tube decals
with Raleigh 555t, double butted main tubes, designed and engineered in the
USA. Raleigh Cycle Co. of America. It came with great randoneer bars called
Body Geometry, Suntour Indexing, 6 speed bar cons, Shimano "Deer"
deraillurs. It is mettalic green, with an old gold head tube. The decals
are gold.
>Appreciate your ideas, Paul Williams, high 70's and windy today in
Bezerkeley, CA
>
Paul
Portage was part of a trio of touring bikes from Huffy/Raleigh USA, early 80s, which also included the Kodiak and Alyeska if I dismember correctly. (What are the chances?). Portage was the best of the three, but yes the 650 tires on the Portage were a drawback at the time.
I think I have more info on all three in an 84 catalog that never got onto Retro Raleighs. Outside the original scope of the site. Might even have a short magazine road test article if I can find it. If you need that much info.
Not certain what point Phil was trying to communicate in his comment about it being "a failed bike". I'm not aware of any serious shortcomings with the bike, and for some reason I seem to remember John Schubert had good things to say about it in an old article in Bikecentennial magazine. (Apologies to JS if I'm accidentally putting words into his mouth. I'm not sure how they got into MY head. Or why they're still there.). It may have failed in the marketplace, but the fact that it didn't sell by the boatload doesn't necessarily make it a bad bike. Most of the production tourers disappeared very quickly after 85 or 86. The market changed. Welcome to the mountain bike era.
Admittedly I've seen many more Specialized Expeditions and Trek 720s, and personally I consider them to be better bikes, but there were many other decent production tourers available then that I haven't seen many of in the used bike market either. Fuji, Miyata 1000, Nishiki, Schwinn, the list goes on. Everybody was doing it. And how many Bruce Gordon Chinook tourers are floating around? Just hoping for clarification, not an argument.
Larry "But I paid my money and I want my argument!" Osborn "Sorry sir, I'm only allowed to give abuse. Arguments are down the hall".). Morgantown WV