Red Raleigh Randonneur - Stolen in Cambridge

[CJ]

My daughter's touring bike was taken last Saturday 17th, in Cambridge. It's the one she's riding in the picture on p56 of the current issue of Cycle and the cover of Feb 2010.

It's resprayed red (Randonneurs were never made that colour) but still has the heron head badge and Raleigh stamped into the seatay tops. The saddle is also an eye-catching red Selle Italia Ldy. So if you see a red saddle amongst a row of bikes, please take a closer look. And if it looks like Amy's: PM me and dial 101 and ask for Cambridge Police, crime number CF0237750612.

This bike has a lot of other very unusual parts. Like the rear hub-mounted dynamo (driven by flipping a lever into the spokes) visible in the photo above. The Primax headset is also very rare, it has an internal locknut. And the black cable hanger is deeply worn on its upper left aspect by a brake casing rubbing on it - that doen't rub there anymore. There are extra 'cross-top' brake levers and old-design Campag Ergopower 10-speed levers, operating Shimano 8-speed gears.

There were a few different bits on it when stolen, most noticably a Blackburn front carrier: the original low-rider model, with slots cut in the top plates for old Carradice pannier hooks.

Here's another photo (older, before the extra brake levers):

[CJ]

Forgot to mention: when stolen the bike was fitted with Barelli pedals (very rare, made in Bar Hill near Cambridge in the 80s), toeclips and straps, not SPDs as shown.

It also has original 1990s Continental Top-Touring tyres (I bought a lot of them cheap) with distinctive Y-cut tread, on new-ish DRC ST19 rims on its old Shimano hubs.

And the frame has been drilled at the bottom head lug and rear of the chainstay for an internal dynamo cable: coaxial rubber-insulated, as per Schmidt, connecting the Basta Pilot LED headlamp and B&M Seculite rear.

[CJ]

She's got it back!!!

She'd put up posters offering £100 reward in case anyone 'found' it. Someone evidently decided that was a better price than they'd get for a hot bike elsewhere.

[PDQ]

Nice one! Bet she's pleased.

[swansonj]

Excellent news.

I didn't want to post this before in case it seemed insensitive. But, horrible though this incident was, what an interesting insight it gave the rest of us into how the Juden family personalise their bikes. What's with the rear-wheel dynamo, for instance?

[CJ]

Excellent news.

I didn't want to post this before in case it seemed insensitive. But, horrible though this incident was, what an interesting insight it gave the rest of us into how the Juden family personalise their bikes. What's with the rear-wheel dynamo, for instance?

Thanks.

Rear wheel spoke-drive dynamo? Well they're not very efficient, perhaps even worse than a bottle, overheat and fail if you ride too far too fast, but they're cheap, don't slip in the wet and can be guaranteed to work when you need them.

It's nevertheless a poor system for commuting, when lights are sure to be needed every day for half of the year. And it's rubbish for Audax - too far and too fast in the dark. But for normal touring, where one aims to ride only in the light but will sometimes miss, it's just the ticket for those few miles in the dark at the end of a long day or from B&B to pub of an evening.

With this system there is no drag when the lights are off - which is almost all of the time - and no more weight than a pair of battery lights. Unlike a pair of battery lights, that travel hundreds of miles unused in the bottom of a touring bag, they don't get their lenses all scratched up and won't have flat batteries by the time they're wanted!

[horizon]

Was it locked at the time of the theft?

[swansonj]

Excellent news.

I didn't want to post this before in case it seemed insensitive. But, horrible though this incident was, what an interesting insight it gave the rest of us into how the Juden family personalise their bikes. What's with the rear-wheel dynamo, for instance?

Thanks.

Rear wheel spoke-drive dynamo? Well they're not very efficient, perhaps even worse than a bottle, overheat and fail if you ride too far too fast, but they're cheap, don't slip in the wet and can be guaranteed to work when you need them.

It's nevertheless a poor system for commuting, when lights are sure to be needed every day for half of the year. And it's rubbish for Audax - too far and too fast in the dark. But for normal touring, where one aims to ride only in the light but will sometimes miss, it's just the ticket for those few miles in the dark at the end of a long day or from B&B to pub of an evening.

With this system there is no drag when the lights are off - which is almost all of the time - and no more weight than a pair of battery lights. Unlike a pair of battery lights, that travel hundreds of miles unused in the bottom of a touring bag, they don't get their lenses all scratched up and won't have flat batteries by the time they're wanted!

Thanks for the informative reply to what could have been seen as an intrusive question, Chris. The other message I take away is that at least one member of the Juden clan cycles at least sometimes with (a) a helmet and (b) toe clips and straps!