David Mullender has been a regular participant in the annual Norfolk Churches Trust Bike Ride, Walk & Drive for the last eight years, raising money for the Trust and for St. Mary’s Church, Haddiscoe, where he also volunteers as Churchwarden. During those rides his bicycle of choice has been a 1937 Sunbeam Light Tourer, which he bought off eBay a decade ago. As an aside this bike features on the flyer for this year’s event, featuring his prize-winning photo from 2023.
For 2025, David will be heading out on a ‘new-old’ bike, which came into his ownership through a chance conversation with a relative. “So, I hear you like old bikes? We’ve got an old one in the shed at the bottom of the garden. You can have it if you like?”
It had been stored in a semi-derelict outbuilding for over 20 years; flat tyres, rusting and strangled by creepers. Recovered to his shed, David and his father stripped it down to its component parts, discovering in the process that it was a Raleigh Superbe dating from 1957.
David’s father, who has renovated other bikes, and from whom his own interest stems, worked hard to clean down the frame and wheels and this perseverance paid off – they came up shining! The chain was removed and cleaned, gears serviced, brakes renewed, and tyres replaced. The biggest problem was the mudguards which had some rust holes in them, but with several applications of black Plasticoat, they now look fantastic. The old, corroded battery was removed, but amazingly the dynamo and original lights are still working. David took it for its first ride in over 20 years a couple of weeks ago and it was faultless. He is looking forward to taking it out on the Bike Ride on 13th September.
It also goes to show how well things were made in the past and how they can be resurrected for the modern world. So, the next time you pass a rusty old bike, give a thought to rescuing it – you never know where it might take you.’
We think that is quite a transformation and we wish David well for his Bike Ride and we are looking forward to seeing the photographs.
