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11-17-09, 04:59 PM
Hi all,
I'm from a little country town about 20K's NW of Newcastle in NSW, the founding state of Australia for the info of those o'seas.
I got my first bike at 11, about 57 years ago, and it was a 26" frame, fixed gear (about a 15 tooth) was dark green and weighed about 1 ton. About 39 coats of all sorts of paint later (I think including paving paint) it weighed about 2 ton. I loved it to death.
About 3 years, and a school holiday job later, I fell in love with an ex track bike at my LBS. In comparison to my first bike this one seemed to weigh about 6 oz. I destroyed the track rims in about 3 weeks. In my defence, our only sealed road was the one that ran through town. Back to the LBS and came home with a new set of rims, the rear one with a 13 cog on one side and an 18 on the other. From memory the only gearing available in those days was the Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gears.
I never left home without a pair of BSA spanners in my back pocket to reverse the back wheel when the going got steep. I quickly learnt that it was impossible to keep up with the pedals on a fixie going down hills so I learnt to steer my bike with my feet. Well I was 14 and bullet proof. I rode that bike for over 30 years till passing it on to a younger brother.
My current bike I've had since 1991. It's a cromoly frame badged "Centurion Cadenza" with mainly Shimano 600 bits and a 7 speed cassette. I was living on the Gold Coast at the time and the coastal strip was dead flat. I used to do 30-40 K's every day and a once weekly 80 K trip.
About 8 years back I moved to my present location and for some reason stopped riding. Other than about 8 weeks of use when some a'hole pinched my truck, it has been gathering dust in the shed.
Not any more. Stripped it down, cleaned and polished it, replaced tyres, tubes and rear der. pulleys (with some help from this forum) and went for a ride yesterday, twice. Did about 6 k's each time, fairly high cadence and just looking to loosen things up (mine, not the bikes). I walk about 8 K's daily with my Staffy so I am not totally unfit but I was soon reminded that you do seem to use different muscles on a pushie. No aches and pains today and I'm about to go again.
Well that's enough waffle from me. Looking forward to swapping ideas, hints and lies about riding prowess.
Cheers
trublubiker
PS: The nic came from a period when a bike was my only means of transport.
I'm from a little country town about 20K's NW of Newcastle in NSW, the founding state of Australia for the info of those o'seas.
I got my first bike at 11, about 57 years ago, and it was a 26" frame, fixed gear (about a 15 tooth) was dark green and weighed about 1 ton. About 39 coats of all sorts of paint later (I think including paving paint) it weighed about 2 ton. I loved it to death.
About 3 years, and a school holiday job later, I fell in love with an ex track bike at my LBS. In comparison to my first bike this one seemed to weigh about 6 oz. I destroyed the track rims in about 3 weeks. In my defence, our only sealed road was the one that ran through town. Back to the LBS and came home with a new set of rims, the rear one with a 13 cog on one side and an 18 on the other. From memory the only gearing available in those days was the Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gears.
I never left home without a pair of BSA spanners in my back pocket to reverse the back wheel when the going got steep. I quickly learnt that it was impossible to keep up with the pedals on a fixie going down hills so I learnt to steer my bike with my feet. Well I was 14 and bullet proof. I rode that bike for over 30 years till passing it on to a younger brother.
My current bike I've had since 1991. It's a cromoly frame badged "Centurion Cadenza" with mainly Shimano 600 bits and a 7 speed cassette. I was living on the Gold Coast at the time and the coastal strip was dead flat. I used to do 30-40 K's every day and a once weekly 80 K trip.
About 8 years back I moved to my present location and for some reason stopped riding. Other than about 8 weeks of use when some a'hole pinched my truck, it has been gathering dust in the shed.
Not any more. Stripped it down, cleaned and polished it, replaced tyres, tubes and rear der. pulleys (with some help from this forum) and went for a ride yesterday, twice. Did about 6 k's each time, fairly high cadence and just looking to loosen things up (mine, not the bikes). I walk about 8 K's daily with my Staffy so I am not totally unfit but I was soon reminded that you do seem to use different muscles on a pushie. No aches and pains today and I'm about to go again.
Well that's enough waffle from me. Looking forward to swapping ideas, hints and lies about riding prowess.
Cheers
trublubiker
PS: The nic came from a period when a bike was my only means of transport.