Well, this is embarrassing: There now seems to be a pattern where every year my Raleigh Superbe is out of commission for three or four months. In 2022, I snapped the rear axle, last year it was a broken spoke. This year (or technically last year) it was a flat I got on my December 23, 2023 ride I did after Coffee Outside. When I noticed that the rear wheel was losing air, the light was dim and I was just a mile from the MAX, so I wheeled the bike to transit and put it aside when I got home.
When I finally got around to tending to the flat, I noticed that the rear wheel had two nasty gashes on the rim. The scratches didn’t go all the way through, but the defects gave me pause. Even if the rim was structurally sufficient, those two gashes could make for problematic braking. Well, thankfully I had another rear wheel, but it was the one that had the broken axle. So I brought both wheels to the shop to see what they could do. Basically what happened was the good guts of the AW hub on the gashed wheel went into the broken axle one.
Now I should have taken care of this biz a lot earlier (and should have dealt with that broken axle back in 2022), but I wasn’t in a big hurry since I had two other bikes to ride. (Three, if you count the Heavy Duti.) It’s not that I don’t like the Superbe, but having it out of the mix for a bit meant I would just concentrate on the Bantam and Brompton. And after years of ambivalence about the Bantam, it was nice to have more of an excuse to ride my only custom machine. (The recent changes I did to it didn’t hurt.) And the Brompton also has had a bit of a “honeymoon” period since I got the smaller Fairweather bag. Riding both of these bikes has been fun, but then I started to miss the Superbe, and that finally motivated me into action.
Besides getting the wheel fixed, I got new tires. Over the eight years I’ve had this bike I’ve switched back and forth between the two best tire options in the oddball 26″ x 1 3/8″, aka 650A or ISO 590 size: Schwalbe Delta Cruisers and Panaracer Col de la Vies. The Panaracers that were on there did me well, but they are over two years old, and these tires aren’t particularly long-lasting, so I got the more durable (but less supple) Delta Cruisers. I once again opted for the whitewalls. I thought about getting cream tires, but they are now only available in the “Plus” version, which offers thicker tread and more flat protection. I always felt that the flat protection on the standard version was good enough, and figured that the Plus tires would prioritize flat protection for the sake of ride quality. And they were $10 more than the standard version. So whitewalls it is! And this is the first time in forever that all my bikes sport Schwalbe tires.
And it’s great to have the Superbe back in rotation. Sometimes when the bike is away for awhile, I wonder, “Do I still like three speeds anymore?” Then I get on it, and I’m like, “Yes, this bike!” There’s just something about the ride of a vintage British three speed. It’s not fast or particularly light, but it’s comfortable. And classy looking. I pretty much figured out how I wanted this bike to look when it debuted in spring 2016, and it’s had some minor tweaks here and there (handlebars, grips, brake levers, saddle), but overall it’s remained the same machine.
*****
For the first ride since getting the bike back, I decided to head somewhere I hadn’t been in quite awhile. Johnson Lake1 is not far from the house, about six miles north. But because it’s not on the way to anywhere else, and a bit difficult to get to from the south, I don’t go there much, the last time was (gasp!) three years ago. So I threw my Carradice Camper Longflap saddlebag on the bike and headed north.
I don’t use the Camper on the Superbe that much anymore. There was a time when I wasn’t that into panniers that it, along with its fraternal twin, the Carradice Nelson Longflap, was used almost exclusively. I did eventually get back into panniers, and use this setup most of the time, especially with my Philosophy pannier. I do like the easy on-and-off of panniers for everyday riding. But sometimes I want something that speaks more “adventure”. And a nice saddlebag does the trick. A traditional British transverse saddlebag conjures up images of vintage Rough Stuff adventures.
And as I’ve said before, a vintage three speed is a great Adventure bike. It doesn’t have the fat tires of modern adventure rigs, nor the gearing. And that’s fine, because the type of adventure I most like doing has nothing to do with “shredding the gnar”. It’s more about having a machine that’s capable enough of doing most of the types of riding I want to do, at the speeds I like, which is generally slow. I want to poke around, meander, take out the Olympus OM-1n and take pictures. Hang out awhile in the park and sketch while listening to the weather radio. That kind of adventure.
And on this particular ramble I got to explore a variety of places, a few that I hadn’t explored in awhile, or at all. First up is the weird bit of land in the Sumner neighborhood that abuts the west side of I-205 between Sandy Blvd and Killingsworth Lombard. The land use of freeways create these kinds of dead zones that serve no apparent purpose and have no real use. Many of them become “green spaces” by default, as does this one. In years past any use was not tolerated, but it appears that ODOT is allowing some “trespass” now, as there were a couple dog walkers here when I arrived. From the top of a small berm I got a great view of Mount St. Helens. There were a few paths that wound through the property, and the mix of grass and trees gave this dead zone a bucolic vibe. I just wish that this could become a real place than a marginal one. It could be a safe spot for the houseless to live for a time, perhaps one of the “pod villages” that are popping up around town. (As it was, there are a few campers, but not many for such a large area.) Or it could become an actual park.
The Johnson Lake property was showing signs of spring. Besides the constant din of nearby I-205 and maybe a freight train, it was pretty quiet down there. Like every time I’m down here, I’m the only one around. It’s so out of the way for everyone it hardly gets any use, which is nice, because there’s barely any garbage to be found. There’s not much to do at Johnson Lake, just one path winding through riparian deciduous forest, and one overlook on the lake. But that’s plenty. One of these days I’ll remember to bring a camping stool and sit awhile.
From the lake I rode on the out-of-the-way bike path that parallels NE Alderwood. This path has been around for quite some time, as evidence by the roots poking up through the pavement. While I’ve ridden it many times in the past, this was the first time in awhile. Where the path follows the north side of Alderwood, it’s blocked from the street by trees, and the view is of a big field. If it wasn’t for buildings in the distance, you’d think you’re in the middle of the country. There’s also a spot off the trail where I brought a Midnite Mystery Ride during the summer of 2007 (or it could have been 06 or 08?) I chose this spot because there were a lot of mounds, and once you got behind one you wouldn’t be seen from the street. The mounds are now smaller, though, so not so great of a spot for hiding. But besides the mound land I encountered another pastoral scene, a branch of the slough that I didn’t know existed. I hung out there for a bit, watching geese and ducks on the water. This is another marginal zone, owned by the Port of Portland for future development. It would be nice to preserve some of this for a park or at least let people use the land in the interim.
From there, I hopped on the Red Line MAX at Mt. Hood Station and got off at Gateway to ride the rest of the way home. It was a 12 mile/19.3 km ride overall, a good first springtime adventure on the Superbe. Now that it’s back I’m going to ride it a lot.
- Note to Stasia: You thanked me for letting you know about this place in 2019 and 2021 and said you’d go there at some point. So no need to tell me that again! (And you really should just go there.) ↩︎
Urban Adventure League 
Wow, have I mentioned thanks for letting me know about Johnson Lake? 😉 heh.
You are welcome! But have you gone up there yet?
I have the Schwalbe “Plus” tyres (the Marathon Plus) and they really roll much worse than the normal Marathons (which Jana has on a similar bike). It’s 20″ size thus the difference may be more noticeable here.
On my “three-speed” Moultons (with the Sturmey-Arche AW4 hubs) I use or the Marathons or thne Continental Urban Contact tyres (which I actually prefer).
Of course the 16″ wheel size – even if it’s the traditional British size, too – is much more common now so I have much wider selection than you have.