Last month, when I was riding up to St Johns to get to Forest Park, I paused briefly on N. Mississippi Ave. While on the avenue, I took a photo of this bike:
Yep, yet another Raleigh "Mountain Tour" mountain bike from the mid-80's, just like my Crested Butte! This one is a Grand Mesa, which was the Entry Level mountain bike (bottom of the line) of the series. It featured only ten speeds and those weird oversize caliper brakes that they threw on the low-end mountain bikes of the world. (See any Huffy mountain bike for an example.) This Grand Mesa was a "ladies frame" which meant in this particular case a semi-mixte. (One big "top tube" vs two small thin "top tubes" on a standard mixte.) Nice bike.
On Thursday, I passed by it again. All was not good.
Yep, someone jacked the wheels from the bike. :-(
I have a feeling that the bike hadn't moved in quite a while, and when some unscrupulous theif figures that out, off come the parts. I don't know what state it will be in the next time I pass by.
And if you are wondering: ironically enough, that tag hanging from the handlebars said "I like your bike!" I hope that was put on before the wheel theft...
Yep, yet another Raleigh "Mountain Tour" mountain bike from the mid-80's, just like my Crested Butte! This one is a Grand Mesa, which was the Entry Level mountain bike (bottom of the line) of the series. It featured only ten speeds and those weird oversize caliper brakes that they threw on the low-end mountain bikes of the world. (See any Huffy mountain bike for an example.) This Grand Mesa was a "ladies frame" which meant in this particular case a semi-mixte. (One big "top tube" vs two small thin "top tubes" on a standard mixte.) Nice bike.
On Thursday, I passed by it again. All was not good.
Yep, someone jacked the wheels from the bike. :-(
I have a feeling that the bike hadn't moved in quite a while, and when some unscrupulous theif figures that out, off come the parts. I don't know what state it will be in the next time I pass by.
And if you are wondering: ironically enough, that tag hanging from the handlebars said "I like your bike!" I hope that was put on before the wheel theft...
This just pisses me off.
ReplyDeleteNot just the whole theft thing, but the total disrespect of a cool old bike. by both the thief and the owner who would just leave it out to be preyed upon.
On another note....I sure like your site. Got here by way of Tim-Joe. I am of the touring cyclist ilk and Ill get a chance here in some time to read on your cross country journal blogs. I so like your LHT set-up, I have one myself and I have it set up to be the most comfortable ride I have. That said, I sure like your other bikes too!
Jim
Unfortunately I see this kind of thing all too often in our college town. It especially hurts when the bike is one I'd like to own and treat with respect. Poor little Mixte!
ReplyDeleteoh, SO SAD! but i love that you're hanging "i like your bike" tags.
ReplyDeleteUm, re-read the post. I'm NOT the one hanging the tags.
DeleteThat sucks. The rest of the bike will likely start disappearing quickly. A while back I saw a time lapse video of a bike locked up on a NYC sidewalk. The bike lasted untouched for more than half a year but rapidly vanished piece by piece after the first parts were stolen.
ReplyDelete