So the first time I ever rode a road bike, I was about 17, and it was a red and black Raleigh Record ten-speed of some indeterminate year I got from a garage sale for what must have been $30. It had awful black grip foam, and rust spots everywhere, but it was beautiful. My friends snarked that everyone’s parents had one or two of those in their garages. The cool thing at the time were 21 speed Mongoose mountain bikes from Walmart, and compared to those things, that Raleigh just flew. I wrecked it accelerating out of a corner, the chain caught, or something, and I still wear a scar where the bike chain caught my right leg.

The first thing I did when I went to college was to visit the Blackstone Bicycle Works and get myself a road bike. It was too big, but you can’t imagine how good it is to ride on the lakeshore path before as the sun rises until you’ve done it. That bike got stolen from under me, and then I had a dark blue Raleigh that likewise got stolen. My last road bike was a 1980 Raleigh Super Grand Prix, which I bought at Working Bikes, still before old bikes were considered cool. It had mostly original components, and after a tune up would ride like a dream. My favorite feature of the bike was the TI Raleigh Tour de France sticker on the toptube. A friend and I turned it into a fast boulevardier.

What I love about Raleighs is that they’re really racy, and there’s just speed for days in those old frames. Unlike on an old (say) Schwinn, I never feel like the bike is holding me back. It’s a good feeling, knowing that your bike isn’t going to let you down. And I’ve always just liked the way Raleighs looked, with their skinny steel tubes and that slight taper on the front fork. It looks like a road bike from before EPO, and that kind of matters to me. For a long time, I’ve wanted a steel road racing bike with lugs and modern components. I’d asked around about getting an old frame converted, and it didn’t seem worthwhile considering the price of a modern gruppo, and then Raleigh released the 2010 Record Ace. Reynolds 520 tubing, lugs, and ULTEGRA. Apparently, Raleigh decided to build by dream bike.

At the price range of a new Raleigh Record Ace, I could have gotten basically any bike I wanted. A new Specialized Roubaix costs less (note here, this bike is full carbon). Any aluminum frame cyclocross or timetrial bike would have cost less. I was in striking distance of an entry level Rivendell. But this new bike of mine is just beautiful. They don’t make a prettier road bike (bespoke custom builds not included), and it runs fast. Sure, I can’t quite keep up with the new carbon bikes, but in 30 years, I’ll still be riding this one. It’ll be my old Raleigh road bike, from when they still made such things. It’s beautiful.