I'm not really old enough to fit the "vintage" category but my fisrt road bike was a 1982 Raleigh Olympian. I soon got the bike fever and started mowing yards all over the neighborhood to get money for my dream bike. I also did car detailing to help.

Slowly I bought part after part and ordered an Italian frameset from a local shop and around Thanksgiving I had all the pieces to put together my dream machine.

One week later at the age of 13 I was proud to ride my 1983 OLMO Nuovo Super Sport painted pearl white with blue lettering. I went all out on my ride with Campy nuovo record cranks, campy record front der., campy record aero seatpost, 3TTT stem with the Italian pentograph colors, Campy record hubs with Ambrosio rims, DiaCompe 400 brakeset that was anodized a coca-cola color and a selle italia seat. Pedals were Ofmega and the rear der. and shifters were Campy that was smooth finished and polished. I can't remember the group it was in but is was 2 or 3 below the record group.

This was a sweet riding bike and it was all mine that I built myself at the age of 13 and raced it several times. I still have some photos somewhere.

don d.: I'm from the Baton Rouge area and I did get a few parts from Gus Betat & Sons. I sure miss that old shop. I would love to just look at all the old inventory today.