Art Design Studio Fine Art Tips / Creating Art in Small Studios. Yes it is a design studio located down town of our small mountain town

This bike was a very nice Craigslist find. You can read about it in my earlier post.

I finally decided to sell my classic black, vintage '72 Raleigh Sport through the local Craigslist.  I'm a little sad to let this bike go but I do need some extra cash.  Within the last couple of years,  I've bought and sold six different vintage Raleighs and this bike happens to be the very first one I've bought and restored; so it does have some sentimental value.  The frame of this bike is not made in England but was made in Malaysia of all places and does have some surface rust on the paint; the chrome is not in so great condition. So for a bike I would like to keep as a collectable, I do prefer a "Made in England" and hopefully a much cleaner bike. I am always looking, so if you are selling let me know! This bike does have some nice parts; it comes with a vintage Brooks B55 saddle though not original to the bike; all the original Raleigh "R" nuts and bolts and even comes with the Sir Walter kick stand which is pretty rare.  I replaced the tires with some white-walls and it rides very nicely for a 40 year old bike. I listed the bike for $180 and a prospective buyer responded almost immediately. He came to see the bike the following day and within seconds of looking at the bike, handed me two hundred dollar bills and told me to keep the change.  I felt pretty good to sell the bike at a good price but it was definitely a bitter sweet moment. See pics below. 

This is a screen shot of Craigslist's ad for '67 Raleigh Sport 3 Speed step-thru I bought in South San Jose, CA a few weeks ago. I've been obsessed with vintage Raleighs lately and this is the 6th Raleigh 3 speed I bought within the last year or so. It came with the original Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub-dated '67 and shifter; The original paint on this bike is in great condition considering being 45 years old with just a few minor scratches here and there; all the chrome are in excellent condition without hardly any rust; overall a very clean bike. A great find for how much I paid!

I don't know if you can see it in the picture(click to enlarge) but the original Brook saddle was really warped and dry so first thing I did when I brought it home was to apply a generous amount of leather cream; sprayed quite of bit of water both on top and underneath the saddle; strapped the seat into a nice shape and tied it over night. Fortunately, the next morning, the Saddle took on a decent shape and the leather seems to be salvageable. Today, I inflated the tires and rode around the block in my neighborhood and thought how nice the bike was. But for now, it is sitting in my garage and I haven't had anytime to work on it more. I will upload some more pictures later.

Couple of my Raleighs I sold recently:

Just finished my "Raleigh 3 Speed" for my etsy shop. I could have finished it a week earlier except I did the unthinkable; as you know I create all of my work digitally but I made the mistake of filing the work in a different format and lost all of my original file and had to re-do the whole work. This work was based on one of my beloved vintage bikes: Raleigh 3 speeds made in England(see below). You can purchase it here.

I have been looking to buy a front rack(retails for about $60+tax) for my Public D8 in a matching cream color but the Public Bikes store was out of stock. Craigslist once again came through with a brand new rack for $25 dollars-I did have to drive about 15 minutes and meet-up with a stranger in front of a restaurant. Here's a couple of other racks from Velo Orange that I like-see below: