Not one to spoil classic looks, Jon, my good pal recently gripped these NOS Eddy Merckx Adidas “creps” ( street slang for shoes ) off Ebay for use on his Colnago Super.
Properly nice, but on my steel bikes I am still representing with the vulcanized sole, full flex and all. You know? I really should look for a solution to that.
So I found my lockring, attached it and went riding, now here it is, in all it’s glory, straight back after it’s maiden voyage as the ‘silver shadow’.
We went on a lovely 30 or so miler yesterday evening with Hardysan on his brand new and totally luscious Parlee. It was a beautiful ride in the evening sun around West heath, Blackwell, Wythall, Lickey hills and then some… I tell you, it was probably the most hills in succession I have ridden round these parts. Not bad training for a european excursion, perhaps do the route 3 times on an empty stomach, with a rucksack on and flat tyres, I’m sure that’d be training enough.
It was all gravy until I reached about 5 miles from home and 30 minutes before the World Cup final began, when I heard “crunch, click, crunch, click, clunk, click”. Strange, so I looked down and to my horror I noticed that the noise that had been coming from the rear of the bicycle for the past few weeks was indeed what I thought it might have been… A knackered freewheel. Damn thing had pretty much fallen off and it was now refusing to engage and turn the wheel.
I had known something was up since I got these wheels, A clunking every now and then when spinning at high revs, but until something broke I had no idea what it was exactly, thankfully it chose to fail in relative walking distance from my home.
Next up it’s a relentless hunt for a 6 speed block and preferably Regina!
From this: A beat up early nineties Olmo San Remo with a flaky paintjob, rust like tears weeping out of it’s surface and in desperate need of some help.
To this: The same beat up old early nineties Olmo San Remo but now with a fresh lick of “silver sparkle” powdercoat and a set of repro decals.
I was prevented from completing the build yesterday evening due to the loss or misplacement of my motherfu**ing bottom bracket lockring. No matter, sometimes stretching out these types of activities is the best way. I now look forward to getting hold of a modern italian BB as, to be quite honest the one it in is a knacker and probably needed to go anyway.
This guy must think he’s me.
Photos sent in to me by my good pal and London correspondent, Kieran Young.
From what I gather this is the Rapha Cycling Club’s latest exhibition of ‘beautiful machines’ that were at some point ridden in the grand tour. Anyone want to correct me on that, feel free.
Either way, lovely bikes and that Raliegh has me salivating no-end.
Cheers for the link up K.
I find myself looking, thinking, researching and stressing at any given moment. You see, my R2W voucher will land on my doormat any day now and it has opened up a can of worms. Do I reach for a better frame with ‘poor’ groupset or a less good frame with a better groupset? After hours of sifting through endless letter forms presented to me by my search engine I think I have an answer.
The answer is to shut the fu*k up and get on with it.
It’s the only way, to make mistakes and learn from them. For instance I now know that a metallic white, 52cm, aluminium framed fixed gear bike with blue ‘deep v’s’ and pink grips is not for me because I owned one just like that. I built it yet I hated it and I learned very quickly that it was too small for me. My love for tradition has put me in the steel bikes bracket ( where one can afford the price tag of such things ) and I’ll probably now ride one of those forever. The geometry, the shape, the balance and the poise of steel bikes has me hooked.
I do my girlfriends head in no-end. Should I get this one, that one? Do you like this colour darling, what about this colour, that colour? I said I do my girl’s head in, well I do my own in too! Sometimes I wish I could lead an easier existence like people I know that have a vision and stick to it. Take my friend Hardy as an example, he has a new bike that he has been building for 8 months and it is now complete. He had a vision and he fulfilled that vision. No doubt he researched every part that he needed for it but I think if I ever go down that route I may have a nervous breakdown.
Talking about my girlfriend she quite aptly put’s it like this. Walking down the cereal aisle in the supermarket, two types of person will act differently – One type will go straight to the Weetabix because that’s what they like, they get it every week, easy. Then there is me, the other type of person, no matter what I know that I like, be it muesli or Cheerios I will still stand there staring, gawping at the choice of breakfast cereals on offer, weighing up the benefits of one over the other, taste, value, it all counts! The only time I will move, reach out with open hand and commit to one cereal in particular is when I am forced to decide or if the decision is made for me. Terrible I know but I am working on it, really I am.
It’s the amount of choice we have these days that’s done it, if you have the sheckles you can literally have whatever you want. Whatever you want! I have £1000 to spend on a bike as I previously mentioned and although the choice is not that amazing at this price point, if there happens to be more than 2 bikes to compare I am screwed, I may as well do ‘eeny-meeny-miny-mo’ it may well be quicker and probably more exciting, too.
I am so indecisive when it comes to these things that I could literally be looking, researching for eternity. The Olmo I purchased a month or so ago that I have wanted to paint still sits bare on my dining room floor waiting for a coat of something, anything! So today, while I have some time to myself, I will take it in to be painted… but what colour? Therein the problem lies. There are so many beautiful colours that I want all of them, yet I can’t have all of them. I will decide on the walk into town but right now, this moment it is Silver with two layers of glitter lacquer. Ten mintues ago it was Ferrari Red.
So there we have it, when it comes to decision making where spending my hard earned scrilla is concerned, I am a terror. Sure, there has got to be loads of people just like me out there who can’t choose one way or the other either and I never want to meet any of them. That said, at least once the decision has been made, probably months, maybe years after the tussle began, I know I made the right one. Or did I?
I think this Cannondale is quite possibly the raddest I ever saw.
It seems like an age since I last mentioned the next Spinwell project but alas, it’s underway. Sourcing the right cloth, finalising designs and liaising with the printer and seamster is hard work, you know!
Anyway, so last night my friend and printer printed up the thirty pre-cut musettes and as always, they look amazing. Next they are off to be stitched up and by one mans hands I might add because as you may know, when it comes to things like this I like to keep things local or as a lot of creative workers say in 2010 “hyper-local”… Whatever that means?
Thanks Dave, they look awesome… Now I cannot wait to see them made up and being used.
