Show yourself

[VickersVandal]

I don't know if the photo I put up before still exists thanks to imageshack and anyway, it's probably getting on for 8 years since so I thought I'd chuck another one up. This is me taking a moment while out for a ride with the Lesser Vandal. I have a carbon fibre road bike for getting to work but this beast is by far my preferred recreational ride. It's served me faithfully nearly 30 years and is still rocking out.

As they say: growing old is compulsory...growing up is optional...

[Gregers]

Cool. Amazing how long a good bike will last if taken care of. My old Diamondback is also around 30 years old. Still going strong and despite very regular use apart from the last five years is still on its original chain. But the handlebars are starting to look a but pitted.

All the best

Greg

[VickersVandal]

I think my bike would be deeply insulted if I looked after it! :P

It likes things rough and comes back for more. I did treat it to some new* rims recently because the old ones were so rusted they were blowing inner tubes.

My son did ask me today why I didn't get a newer "better" bike. I just shook my head sadly. He says the same thing about my '79 Corolla. You try your best as a parent but sadly they don't always turn out right....


* well...new-ish. They were off a 2nd hand bike I bought for the sole purpose of sacrificing its parts for mine.

[Gregers]

Mine got abuse alright. (rode up, then down the side of a pit stack on more than a few occasions, about 30-35 degree slope of fine coal and grit and about 60ft high. The things you do when you're young(ish) and dumb. Also used to beast it down canal paths and almost went in for an unexpected swim a few times. Not to mention bouncing off the odd tree now and again. All good fum. But I kept it well maintained.

All the best

Greg

[Markh_75]

I had a Diamondback off-roader too. Great bike and did lots of cycling on it including to work and back, but i found it a bit restricted for speed; on the road it was the closest thing speed wise to a Landrover and horse box. I had to get out of the saddle to make it go downhill at any decent speed in order to have momentum to get up the other side and at that i still had to drop right down to the lowest gear!
I sold the Diamondback and bought a road bike (what folks would have called a racer), it was a Chromoly frame by Giant with Shimano entry level gearing, 14 speed, in time i upgraded the drivetrain to Shimano 105, 16 speed; one step below Shimano 600 (Ultegra). Only think i really insisted on was a change of saddle! I had a Brooks B-17 (Narrow) saddle, proper leather racing saddle and it was like the difference between the comfy chair compared to a block of wood, it could be adjusted and was far more comfy than those 'orrid gel things they put on bikes now. Cracking bike, I did hundreds of miles on that, often on a Sunday morning i'd rise early and eat then go back to bed for an hour, i'd get up and make some food to take, fill the bottles, prep the bike (tyres set at 130Psi, i could hear the wheels 'ringing' as i went along!) and do about 60 miles from where i lived into town and out to Glasgow airport, via the Erskine Bridge and back up through Paisley and home. My longest in a day was 130 miles! I won my first time trial on it! I did a 10mile hilly course in 28.5mins! Turned out to be my last time trial because the next one i wrote the bike off on a wide bend, it had been raining earlier in the day and the turn was a junction for a bus route (oily road surface), i was doing 30 Mph and i had checked all round and swung wide to cut the turn but halfway through, the bike slipped; i managed to right it and it slipped the other way and i did about 30ft sliding along the road on my side and got knocked out on the kerb. The frame was bent and the steering bearings were dinged too, the drive train was damaged but still usable, we claimed the house insurance and i bought a new frame, drive train and another set of good wheels.
I bought a 'Specialised' road bike, all premium aluminium in a kind of mid blue, beautiful bike and this time i had Shimano 600 installed, 18speed; one step below the Shimano Dura-Ace pro-racing equipment. It was an amazing bike because it didnt bend! Yes i had steering, but when honking up a hill the frame did not flex sideways at the bottom bracket, (at all!) which meant all the power went into driving the bike forward, i also adjusted the cleats on my shoes so i rode with the ball of my foot and learned a nice fluid ankle motion that was painless and powerful; it was steady as a rock! Did lots of distance on that too! In the end i had to sell because my crash had handicapped me; if it rained while i was out that was fine but it was white knuckle riding, very careful on bends, slowed right down, not the spirit of a road bike. If it rained before i was due to go out i didnt go. That somewhat spoiled my cycling and i was never the same rider after my crash because normally you get back on a bit dented and bruised and get over it; i was in hospital for 14 days with extreme dizziness and percussion and when i got home my first bike was not rideable so i had to wait a few weeks before i got my second one.
I'd take it with us when we were away with the caravan, cycled the Great Yarmouth, Acle, Bungay and Lowestoft areas, also we would go to York and i'd ride a big circuit local to the caravan site. I trained indoors on a turbo trainer in the evenings (and on the road at weekends when the weather allowed) and the first one was darned noisy! It had a fan on it for resistance and i was able to dry some clothes on the rack behind me but it was LOUD! I later changed to one with magnetic resistance instead, it was much quieter. It was one i could fit my bike onto and use but i had to put a 20mm piece of wood under the front wheel or i was getting shoulder pain. I'm 6 ft 3inches tall so you can imagine the size of bike i had! I had some great times on bikes but after that crash i was never the same again. I hardly even climbed out of saddle, i just set my cadence, straightened my back and got up rather comfortably, only time i honked a hill was when it was steep 'killer', i'd let the bike roll itself at the top because i'd be seeing stars by then and my legs would be about the same but i got it back quickly enough.
I eventually sold it to someone from York who felt it was worth the journey to Central Scotland and back for it!

[PaulBradley]

I used to have a Chopper bike - does that count?

[Markh_75]

[JohnRatzenberger]

I don't know if the photo I put up before still exists thanks to imageshack and anyway, it's probably getting on for 8 years since so I thought I'd chuck another one up. This is me taking a moment while out for a ride with the Lesser Vandal. I have a carbon fibre road bike for getting to work but this beast is by far my preferred recreational ride. It's served me faithfully nearly 30 years and is still rocking out.

As they say: growing old is compulsory...growing up is optional...

Well, it looks like the biking Australian, Richie Porte, is going to make the TDF podium for the first time in 10 years !!

[MarkyM607]

I used to have a Chopper bike - does that count?

Did you have the suicide gear stick down on the centre bar?. I did!!!

[Gregers]

Quite a cycling career there Mark. The last decent road bike I had was built for me. A mates dad made frames as a hobby/side business and he made one for me for free but I had to buy everything else. It was as light as a feather, everything Shimano, gearchage was thumb/finger index on the bars 21 speed (Leeds, where I grew up is very hilly) . Once was beasting it on a long downhill sloap and I was pulled over for doing 46 on a 30 road, I suppose overtaking a police car wasn't such a good idea. Got off with a telling off as the cop was a cyclist too.

I had a chopper as a kid too. Nutcracker gearchage went to a front derailleur and had the hub swapped over at the rear so it was 18 speed. It got scarily unstable at speed.

All the best

Greg

[MarkyM607]

Quite a cycling career there Mark. The last decent road bike I had was built for me. A mates dad made frames as a hobby/side business and he made one for me for free but I had to buy everything else. It was as light as a feather, everything Shimano, gearchage was thumb/finger index on the bars 21 speed (Leeds, where I grew up is very hilly) . Once was beasting it on a long downhill sloap and I was pulled over for doing 46 on a 30 road, I suppose overtaking a police car wasn't such a good idea. Got off with a telling off as the cop was a cyclist too.

I had a chopper as a kid too. Nutcracker gearchage went to a front derailleur and had the hub swapped over at the rear so it was 18 speed. It got scarily unstable at speed.

All the best

Greg

What about the strip across the bend in the seat that said 'Do not carry passengers', did anyone pay attention to that!!?

[Gregers]

Nope. Iirc the most that got on mine was four. Me, one behind me. One of the small luggage rack and one on the handlebars. Yep, young and dumb.

[DGD]

This is me being thrown out of a perfectly good plane at 15000 ft on a visit to my daugter in Perth WA. I'm the fat grey haired one not the good looking Russian in the helmet.


It was a family thing as we all met for my 60th birthday





This was a prelude to a South East Asia cruise just as Covid kicked off. Trip included Saigon



Got back to sunny Ireland in time for Lockdown Part 1.

Looks like part 2 is on its way but at least I got some adventures in before the madness.

[Markh_75]

My face ripples like that when my wife is driving!

[PaulBradley]

Geez, Mark - did you have to say that just when I took a big gulp of tea?! Now I've got tea all over my desk....