...Reason is that in mid-March I visited SJS Cycles as part of a visit to family in the West Country. Spent a very enjoyable and productive hour with the sales staff, talking about sizing and equipment options for a Raven Tour.
So, I think we’ve reached the end of the beginning: no money has changed hands yet, but I’ve pretty much decided that I’ll go ahead with a Raven Tour purchase later this year. My current plans are to buy the heart of the bike—frameset, hubs and wheels—from SJS, and then have my LBS add other components such as bars and stem, brakes and fenders, etc., and to tweak the final sizing as required. (Some parts, such as my saddle and racks, I’ll simply transfer from my current touring bike.) This arrangement will be a bit cheaper than importing a complete bike (frame and components being subject to much less duty than a complete bike), but also allows me to direct some business to my local shop, and to work with them directly on sizing.
In my time with SJS very helpful staff we were able to work out the sizing: a 565S (to receive my VO rando bars) is very close to my current bike in the key areas. And, we worked out the colour scheme too—black and silver. I like black-and-silver on bicycles & motorcycles, and the Raven’s colour will be a wee bit of homage to the 2-wheeler it will replace:
The buy-and-build of my Raven will take a while—I expect it to be ready a bit less than a year from now, for the spring of 2014. Why so long? Well, what price a Raven? It’s not just the fairly sizeable amount of coin to be put on the barrelhead -- other considerations come into play too. First, “No More Stuff.” Or as Colin Chapman used to say, “Simplify and add lightness.” So, adding one two-wheeler implies moving an existing one. Secondly, the matter of workshop space becomes, er, pressing. Lastly, in the interests of domestic harmony, the whole plot will be revenue neutral, as the tax wallahs say. (I do recognize that hthis bicycle is very much in the domain of wants, not needs...)
So, I’ll finance the Raven and create the necessary space by selling my ’57 AJS ex-comp 350cc scrambler. Have found a good home for it, an optometrist in Hamilton (just west of Toronto) who has several other bikes of the marque, including a 500 Matchless scrambler and a ’54 AJS 7R, the 350 camshaft racer (!!) All this is to be finalized in the coming couple of months.
I expect the neighbours will be relieved. Folks in suburban Ottawa don’t see or hear many high-compression big singles, so, each spring when I fire up the Ajay, mild chaos ensues on my street: dogs bark, cats dive under cars, horses twitch their ears, beautiful women swoon, and strong men weep tears of unrequited longing. Chances are that no-one will even notice the Raven. You’ll see from the foto below that they can hardly ignore my old single, even before it makes any noise. It's a fairly high-revving bike for a mid-50's single; up on the cam in third at 6000 rpm, it makes a splendid racket. (Never in town, of course.)
Over the coming months, then, I’ll finalize the details of the Raven's specs. With Dan’s very welcome help, I’ve determined that a 36 x 17 chainring and sprocket will give me gear-inch ratios that are virtually identical to the 7 or 8 gears I use most on the time on my Eclipse. Have to check out some new pedal options this summer (the Shimano PD A-600), with my Look/Keo cleated items as the reliable fallback. Then there’ll be the choice of dyno-hub and lighting, and the delicious dilemma of VO or Honjo alloy fenders. I'll opt for a 36T Surly chainring, just in case there's a Hebie chainguard in my future. On the question of tires, the CGOAB forum on Marathon Supremes, Racers, etc., and 1.75 or 2.0 tires, has provided a wealth of info and opinion; and on wheels, your posts on the Thorn forum have been very helpful—my thanks for all that.
Will post the results as they take shape, and/or questions as they arise. Enjoy your summer (or Southern-hemisphere-winter) rides. – J.
