A British cyclist is set to tackle the entire 3,344 kilometre route of this year’s Tour de France on a Raleigh Chopper. Dave Sim will take on the challenge this summer to raise money for the charity Hope for Heroes.
Sim has already taken part in Etape du Tour on his Chopper, having finished the sportive last year amongst the top twenty percent of finishers. This year, he has decided to take it to the next level by covering the entire route of the three week race.
His bike is a Mark III version of the bike from 2004. The original version of the bike was released in 1969. The bike featured a choice of a single-speed hub, or a 3-speed or 5-speed Sturmey Archer gear hub, selected using a frame-mounted console gear lever, which was one of its “cool” features.
The Mark III version has handlebar mounted gear controls rather than the original groin-catching gear lever. Also, the frame is made from aluminium rather than the original which was made from steel.
36 year-old Sim from Southport, Merseyside has made some minor changes to the original design, including improving the brakes and strengthening the wheels for the stage covering the cobbled sectors of Northern France.
