The 2011 AIDS Ride For Life Bike Raffle!
The visible part of the Team Gimme! Ride For Life fundraising effort is now complete and ready for mass consumption, er, contribution. This year, thanks in big part to Director of Coffee, Colleen Anunu, we have a genuine Sears-Roebuck "coupled" bicycle. Word on the street is that Colleen spotted this diamond in the rough one morning while towing the coffee cart to the Ithaca farmer's market. I'm glad I was not with her that morning, or else there would have been some epic thumb-wrestling over it. No matter, my lobbying effort prevailed and now you have the opportunity to win it and help local folks in need!
This bike is similar to a folder, but without a hinge. The front end - handlebars, headtube, wheel and half of the downtube detach from the rest of the bike to be stowed or portaged. The element i like the most about this bike is the long wheelbase luxury. This is not your typical twitchy 20", you can carve sick lines with this whip while remaining fully upright, confident, and reeking of pure style. If this bike were any more laid back, it would be a recumbent, or a lowrider. It will be the envy of all Williamsburg.
This was by far the most intensive restoration I have done. The frame was sandblasted and powdercoated by Will at Cayuga Powdercoating. The same was done to our Probat LG5 a few years ago, and it is still looking great. I cleaned and polished the chrome, repacked bearings, replaced all corroded fasteners with stainless steel, sourced new fenders, tires and chain.
Enough about the bike, the real focus here is our commitment to helping our community by raising needed funds for Southern Tier AIDS Program. Team Gimme! makes the Ride For Life our greatest effort each year, and we value everyone who contributes - jersey sponsors, customers, friends, family and even total strangers. All that good energy together makes the 100 mile ride around the lake seem effortless. To get in on this action, please visit the Cayuga Street Gimme to purchase raffle tickets. If you cannot make it there you can still participate! Visit the Team Gimme! fundraising page at firstgiving.org.
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