George Allen wrote:
> I ride all of mine except for one, a 1974 Raleigh International. And
> it's not because it's a paragon of workmanship. The brazing on many
> Raleighs is atrocious, especially my 1971 International local rider.
> It's because it's never been ridden. The gentleman I bought it from said
> it hadn't and, judging from its condition, I have no reason to doubt his
> word. I can't bring myself to put the first chain mark on the chainrings
> nor brake marks on the rims. I want to sell it because it just hangs on
> the wall but my 7-year old daughter begs me not to. "Daddy, don't sell
> the orange bike. It's your prettiest one." She also has no clue as to
> why I won't ride it. It make no sense to the uncluttered mind of a
> 7-year old. It's a 22-1/2" and she's a tall girl with long legs. Maybe
> one day she can take it for its first ride.
Ah, you can hope, but kids have a tendency to make up their own minds. I used to ferry my daughter back and forth from Kindergarten on the back of my Gitane tandem (with kidback) and we did a fair amount amount of road riding, but when it came time to get her a full-size bike, she wanted a mountain bike -- nothing else would do.
--
John "bemusedly" (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA