Hmmm.....nothing really all that special for me this year. Knees keep going south and the annual miles keep going down. Still seemed to move a lot of bikes both out and in.
Passed the blue Maillot Jaune on to a local friend who got if for a young women who had discovered a love for steel. One of my favorites but redundant since I picked up the same model in Team Z colors.
Then there was that crazy KHS bike I picked up out of curiosity. Tore it down completely then rebuilt 'er. Did a few rides on it and then passed it on. At a loss as usual, LOL! Still I just get so much happiness out of fixing these beauties up and getting them back in use.
Then I finally "gave up" my years long search for the right Peugeot and bought a white Tourmelet from a local seller. I had a similar Champagne Brown one I rode all over Germany in the 80's and had been looking for one in that color for what seemed like forever. This one was freshly powdercoated but an older gentleman and then built up with period correct French parts. But to be honest it was a bit of a mess. Still I was able to sort it out pretty well and got lot's of great rides on it this year.
I seemed to "rediscover" my love for DT shifting this year too. I also went back into my "history" and paid too much for a sort of ratty Raleigh Team USA frameset. I had a mint set of these years ago foolishly let them go. Always loved the paint scheme. This one was built up with mostly Suntour Superbe parts and a NOS Sugino Crank. Originally I had some cushy tubulars on it but then swapped in some beefy CX tires and used it for light gravel riding. Even took 'er up into the mountains but man is the gearing wrong for steep climbs, LOL!
I also picked up a fairly rough and too small Bianchi Trofeo out of curiosity.
. I had a 90's Campione and while that one was mint it just never tickled my fancy. This current celeste bike is soooooooooo much better on the road despite the small size. Here again it's got a lot of Suntour Superbe bits and is so much fun on the road. I polished the heck out of it to revive the shine, serviced everything, swapped on a new wheelset, and then put some fast fun miles on it. I'll try and move it on locally this spring and then try to find a new (old) one more in my size. But to be honest if it doesn't sell I'll gladly keep riding it.
Then there was a Kuwahara Count languishing locally for awhile. Never seen one and I was curious. So I grabbed that also. It's probably the roughest paint-wise of all my bikes but still a real beauty overall. Another full polish, some paint touch up, servicing etc and then many fun rides. Good to get this one back out on the road too. The original owner basically had it hanging for a very long time. Here too though I'll try to move this one locally this spring just due to space concerns. But I won't mind keeping and riding it also.
Not exactly C&V but still has quite a few years on it. Supposedly one of the first European monocoque carbon bikes. She's a real beauty and quite fun to ride. Not sure what I'm going to do with this one in terms of keep it or sell it. II just enjoyed it this year.
The final "project" bike was a cheap, dirty, neglected Raleigh Supercourse with one of those bonded aluminum/steel frames. This was going to be this years donation to the local bike Coop. Once I cleaned it up though I found a really nice bike underneath despite it being a "low end" model. So shamefully I started wanting to keep it for now, upgrade it, and then ride it some next year before deciding on it's fate. Of course that mean donating either the Bianchi or the Kuwahara to the Coop. Then a couple of weeks ago something totally weird happened at the coop (political B.S. so not going into details). Tried to resolve what I thought was a "misunderstanding" by one individual but the Coop board supported the discrimination. So problem solved no more donations to them. So I get to keep the Raleigh for now. Here again a total tear down and rebuild with more modern parts. Please forgive me. Replaced the pretty much mint Exage parts with a nice mixture of Dura Ace and Ultergra bits. I think this bike is beautiful now and can't wait until spring so I can test it out. I dropped over 4 lbs on this one as I sorted it out.
Along the way this year a absolutely beautiful David Kirk Terraplane also made it into the house for a steal of a price. I also picked up a supposed Oscar Freire bike that I'm still trying to confirm the history of. And the past weekend I got my first ever Eddy Merckx bike. It's a 1996 Corsa 01 in Domo Farm Frites team colors. I've spent way too much on bikes this year but it's so much fun getting to enjoy all these different rides.