Is it Folly to Think My Bike is a Raleigh?

After the food bank on Saturday I took my stuff home and after that had half an hour before going over to Bike Pirates, so I went online briefly and headed out.

I was alone in front of the shop for about ten minutes before a tall guy with dreadlocks rode up on a bike that looked like it could be my velo’s big brother. The lugwork was only slightly different but the serial number was not in the same place. I asked the make of his bike and he told me it’s a Raleigh.
            Later I tried to track down pictures of Raleighs that might look like mine and found that the 1973 Raleigh Grand Prix has similar lugwork to mine and the serial number is on the left rear dropout like mine, which is a rare placement for serial numbers and apparently only the Raleigh Super Course and Grand Prix had their serial numbers located there from 1970-1973. It doesn’t fit exactly because according to the only person online that seems to be writing on this topic, all the serial numbers that were on the Raleigh dropouts started with “0”, whereas mine begins with “J”. The writer though says that his data is not complete, so maybe he’s wrong.
            I had thought that my bike was French because George, the guy that sold it to me told me so and he has a reputation for being a bicycle expert, but maybe he was wrong. I remember that I put a Peugeot bottom bracket into my bike and that I used a tool to re-thread it. I don’t know if re-threading it meant fixing the threading or reversing the threading or if the latter is even possible.

The guy with the dreads said that his is also getting on to 50 years old. He told me though that he wants to get a lighter frame because the weight of the steel one is hard on his knees.

When the shop opened up I took stand number three. I wanted to replace the locking nut for my back brakes because it had gotten all chewed up on the outside and it was difficult to tighten. Dave found one for me right away. I balanced the brakes and tightened it, then after several tests of spinning my back wheel and slamming on the brakes I didn’t see any change in the balance, and so I was done. The dreadlocked guy’s Raleigh was right beside mine on stand number four and I pointed out the similarity between our two bikes to Dave. He thought because of that that mine must be a Raleigh but when I mentioned the Peugeot bottom bracket he said that it couldn’t be a Raleigh then.

Since I was only at Bike Pirates for half an hour and had only gotten one used nut, I only donated $7.00 this time.

I rode down to No Frills where I bought three litres of yellow Ontario plums, a small bunch of bananas, two pints of blueberries, coffee, tea and a whole chicken.

For lunch I made a toasted, ham, cheese and tomato sandwich.

In the late afternoon I took a bike ride to Danforth and Pharmacy, up to Eglinton, across to Warden and then south again. That completed my exploration of all the streets west of Warden and south of Eglinton. Next time I’ll be back around Danforth and east of Warden, though I don’t know if Danforth is even interesting after that point.

On the way back I stopped at the Bank of Montreal just east of Yonge Street to take out $300 and then I went down Yonge. A couple of blocks south of Bloor I put my hand on my pocket but could only feel my phone. I had forgotten to take my money from the machine. I turned and headed back but the machine was empty. I’ve probably done stupider things than forgetting $300 but I’ve never lost or forgotten that much money in my life. I needed money so I had no choice but to take out another $300. On my way home it occurred to me that maybe after a certain amount of time the bank machine rolls unclaimed cash back insider. If that was the case I could only hope that number of seconds or minutes passed before someone else came in and found the money. I know I would have taken it.

When I got home I went out to the liquor store to buy a couple of cans of Creemore. After that I called Bank of Montreal customer service and was on hold for twenty minutes, during which time I posted my blog. The support person confirmed that the ATMs do suck unclaimed money back in but she didn’t know how long it takes. She put in an investigation and said they would check the cameras for the time of my withdrawal and if the money went back in they would have it on record. She said they’d get back to me next week.

I had two eggs and a couple of parathas for dinner with a beer and watched two episodes of Dobie Gillis.

The first story featured the return of the smooth and conniving Cousin Virgil, whose new goal is to marry the daughter of a rich businessman so her father could set him up in business. Just then Dobie’s beautiful and rich new girlfriend Cecily arrives to apologize for being late but she was downtown buying a new yacht because the old one was wet. Just like in his previous appearance, Virgil manages to charm Dobie’s girl, turn her against Dobie and then steal her away without Dobie even realizing that it’s happening. He also enrols in the same business course as Dobie, which is being taught by Cecily’s father and charms daddy as well while at the same time sabotaging all of Dobie’s efforts to do well. As before, Maynard is the only one that knows what a cad Virgil really is.

Cecily was played by Lory Patrick, who did a lot of beach moves and married both Dean Jones and Harlan Ellison.

The second story features the first celebrity guest appearance on Dobie Gillis, as The Lettermen are performing at Dobie’s college. They kick their lead singer, Tony Butala out of the group because he is too much of a ham but their contract for their concert at Dobie’s college says they won’t get paid unless they perform as a trio and so they want to find a stupid, talentless and disposable student to temporarily take Tony’s place. Dobie tries to help Maynard join the group but they choose Dobie. Dobie at first agrees but for Maynard’s sake he is about to reject their offer until an attractive student named April who is the music critic for the school paper has gotten word that Dobie is joining The Lettermen and to please her he stays in the group. April becomes his press agent. The singers Jim and Bob don’t want Dobie to sing but to just stand there and make rhythmic noises with his voice and they also don’t want him to publicize his performance but thanks to April word gets around and Dobie becomes a campus sensation. Maynard is still angry at Dobie and rents him a tuxedo from a magic shop with all kinds of tricks attached to it like rabbits and flying ping pong balls and shooting water. The night of the concert the suit does its dirty work and it’s a disaster.