Dump Pick Raleigh

There is something very special about a bicycle you pick from the dump. Saving it from the crusher and putting it back on the road for an extended life of real bicycle adventure.
I have had many. My first Golden Arrow came from the Sherborn dump. I got the frame and fork with its Brooks B19 saddle, Black enameled North Road bars, and Raleigh 3 pin crankset. I got the wheels the next week because they had not been thrown out yet. Dunlop 26 x 1 1/4 lightweight Endrick Pattern rims, Fixed and free with a Bayless Wiley 19 tooth freewheel. Very cool bearing design, the B-W had a very different style of bearings that since I have never seen again. Ball and a dimple ended curved rod about 1/4" long and another ball, then another rod, And the Raleigh Wing nuts, Oh those Raleigh Wing nuts!
Anyone can go into a store and buy a bike. With enough time and money, one might find exactly what they want. Shopping the dump is totally different. Its all by luck. Timing is everything but its hard not to feel that you saved the bike and maybe its not by chance that you found it. Of course its a free bike, but when it comes down to it, the money or lack of it, is not the best part.
The first ride on the "Dump Pick Raleigh" has you smiling in short order. It's not long before it strikes you. "How could anybody through this out?" How different it is to enjoy a Dump Pick as much as the next guy on his $5000.00 carbon 11 speed, maybe more.

Then it hits you, maybe its worth more. When you can lean your bike against a store window and come out and find it, you realize full bicycle freedom and what cycling should be. Hop on and go. Lock it where you want. Happy and Heads up. Bike and rider, "One."