uncle uncle

First off, you need to know there is this, and it's in it's sixth iteration...
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ition-6-a.html

So, last evening, while discussing bicycle riding, the clunker 100 challenge, an old Azuki they may/may not be up for sale, and the Spanish Grand Prix with a friend, this popped up on my youtube subscription feed...


So, last night, I read thru the first 100 or so posts. There seem to be many pro "old bicycle" comments, a spicing of nostalgia, and of course a few "I wouldn't waste my time/$$$/effort" rants. I thought I'd throw this up on the wall here, and see if the "die hard C&V crowd that we are" had any comments, or any comments about others comments. I have just a few myself. 1) I'm totally jealous of the following things... a) a broom wagon with A/C, b) gold anodized Dia Compe components, c) those don't sound like my Huret friction shifters missing my gear changes, d) a vintage bicycle shop 5 miles from me flatting, e) any bicycle shop catering to vintage in a 300 mile radius, and of course, f) missing out on ass hatchets and numb toes is like 37% of the fun of the challenge.

ryansu

Its what all the cool kids are doing, she could have benefited from posting a help needed question on BF before jumping into this challenge but hats off to her for doing 100 hilly miles in one go on that old roadie!

rustystrings61 

She lacks the killer instinct of us clunker fanatics. She doesn't haggle the price, first of all - we all know ANY of us would be trying to get it for less than 100 quid, right? And isn't there ANYONE in her life old enough to say, "Right. Now, those turkey levers? Off they come, they'll only disappoint you." But she makes the GCN point, which is that true cycling happiness only comes with the latest and greatest fashionable gear following whatever idiotic fashion has taken hold in the industry. "It's just too HARD to reach down for that gear lever!" Phhhhbbbbbtttt!

She's the anti-Tom Cuthbertson, who taught me early on to cherish clunkers for what they are. She stands in opposition to Richard Ballentine, whose approach I can quote from memory - "One of my greatest, happiest tours was on a battered 1935 B.S.A. that shed its vital parts like water."

rustystrings61 

Since I've ranted, now I'll rave - my first clunker challenge opened me up to the sheer joy of making something bound for a trash heap into a working bike, and then riding it and discovering just how much fun I could have on rusty old gas pipe. I believe that 27 x 1 1/4 is a wonderful tire size that handles a lot of surfaces surprisingly well, and I'm still waiting for some savvy marketer to relaunch it as the Dirty 630, a la the re-branding of 650 as 27.5. Culturally, there's a lot to be said for anything that fosters recycling, ingenuity, frugality, and sheer crazy challenges that includes reclaiming what might otherwise be scrapped and then going outside and moving around in the air of the real world.