More bike gossip.

I'm trying to organize a weird bicycle shell game whereby I would sell Victoria to the gal who has been after me to sell for months and use the money to buy a 1970's Raleigh Superbe and a baby bike seat that would clip to the frame.

Here's the thing: Victoria has all new parts on an old frame.  This would be an all old parts on an old frame that still could not pull the trailer, but could hold a baby seat.  What that means in practical terms is that I would at some point need to replace the rims and tires.  It has a 3 speed hub in the back and a dynamo hub in the front that would need to be laced into new alloy rims so the brakes work better.  The paint is in OK shape, there are some minor rust spots on the chrome.  It is a better bike to start with than Victoria was.  I am breaking even on the sale of Victoria (which I never thought I would) but would have to use the difference between the sale price of Victoria and the Raleigh to buy the baby bike seat.  I would end up with a bike that.... has different features.

For example, with steel rims the Raleigh would not be safe in the rain, Victoria was.  On the other hand, if Toddler girl is in an open air baby seat, we won't be biking in the rain anyway.  However, with the baby seat blocking the rack, I won't be able to go for groceries on the bike.  On Victoria, Toddler girl would go in the trailer and the groceries would go in the wald baskets.  Victoria really struggled to pull the trailer, but we could do it.  The Raleigh can't use the trailer at all and the baby seat will partially cover where the panniers would go.

But in a few years, Toddler girl will be in a trail-a-bike and the Raleigh can be fixed up at that point.  In the mean time, it would be fine for going to the park and library and the sort of stuff we do everyday.  I would just have to organize grocery shopping for in the evening when T can stay at home with Toddler girl.  That's kind of a pain because I like spending time with T in the evenings, but we could make it work.

Yes, it would be nice to have a cargo bike of some description, but since that isn't going to happen.....

In the mean time, we have cut our car use by two thirds.  Which is nice because gas prices are way up and if we didn't have a plan in place I would be completely stranded.  Many days the car just stays parked.   I wish I could say that cutting the car use has saved so much money I can afford spiffy bikes, but.... it hasn't worked that way, yet.

I still need to decide what to do with that Raleigh Colt I ended up getting stuck with.   Do I keep it for Toddler girl on the off chance that she might want to ride if for a couple of years when she is older?  That feels like hoarding.  She likely will end up too tall for it to be a forever bike for her.  It should go to someone who is petite who could use it.

What I really need to do is clean it up and take a bunch of pictures with my new camera.  There just never seems to be the time.