Lady in Blue

Or perhaps Blue Lady...

This is my bride's favorite bike, it is a bit old and shows signs of having had a less than gentle life.

My wife has never been an avid cyclist, she did have bicycles growing up and she did ride them about the neighborhood.

When we got married we searched for a suitable bike for her to ride so we could do things more things together. For her, being of below average height finding ANY bike to fit was a challenge. We did find a nice GT Slipstream with 24 speeds in her size, but like many people she has had a real problem with making the front and rear gearing work to her advantage.

We attended an ABCE Tour in New Brighton, MN in 2006. Had a wonderful time and the Blue Colt was one of the donated door prizes. It was preordained! The stars aligned! Destiny! Or whatever you want to believe. ;-) we won the Colt.

She was the only person attending that would be able to ride such a small framed bike. We had it shipped back to our home in NC. Once home we added the lovely wicker basket. It has become her favorite bike, it gets ridden to the video store, the grocery store, the mailbox and where ever else she choses.

The technical details: It is a 1971 Raleigh Colt 3 speed with a coaster brake hub. The Colt was a "tweens" bike. The frame is a petite 17" but with the upright riding position works quite well. The rear hub is the awful TCW II coaster brake hub, but is working well at this time, so we shall leave it alone.

And here is a "family" picture of the two Raleighs that get the most use (out of the dozen or so I own)