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How obsessed are you?
I find myself checking in here several times a day. I find myself wanting to go take apart a bike...just because. I find myself wondering when I’ll get to go for another ride. I find myself cruising eBay looking for parts I don’t need. I find that my thoughts are more consumed with bikes and learning all I can about them than other things. How bad do you have it? |
Well that makes me feel better. There's more like me out there. :p
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If I'm out walking, riding, or driving and I see another bike go by, I look to see if it's steel
If so I look to see if it's C or V If so, is it V? ...If so, maybe it needs a few mods... |
My name is Steve and I'm a bike addict.
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I don't know what you mean... :twitchy:
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Not obsessed. Just decided it one of the best things in my life - exercise, outdoors, regularly pursued with friends, etc. i mean who would consider ~ a dozen vintage roadies obsessive. Only most of them could use something to be more authentic. It’s only 1:00AM. Ebay’s still open! What’s compulsive about spending a few days/weeks looking for a specific replacement ferrule or brake cable adjuster for a 45 yo bicycle. Who doesn’t spend hours contemplating colours for cable housing, bar tape, hoods. Do vintage pumps count? I am starting a fondness there. What’s obsessive about worrying over a conversion from aero to non-aero. I almost never have sleepless nights over spoke tension or pad wear. Just a normal cyclist here. But I would like to find some vintage jerseys, shoes, helmets - and posters for the bike room. Who wouldn’t pay $55 for the correct repop hoods? But I admit I can get riled over not being able to find NOS Campy clamp-on top tube cable guides or the correct Huret clamp on B.B. guides. And those obscure Zeus parts don’t get me upset too often. What shades of red do I mix for proper touch-ups on that special 531C frame. Will my Weinmann Deltas reward me with scorn from more knowledgble riders? Is my new sealed BB a compromise? What’s wrong KoolStop salmon on a blue Merckx? I apologize for not having the appropriate barends on the Bottecchia. Are my vintage saddles being maintained properly? And doesn’t everyone know that Newbaum’s is 6” longer than Tressostar? I promise I don’t have a gear inch table for every drivetrain. And I haven’t revised my ‘wish list’ for at least a day. |
Obsessed? No.
It goes much deeper and darker than that. 23,117 posts. I've built bikes around a set a pedals, a crankset, and a saddle. So far. :eek: It's at the point where I'll make a politically/socially incorrect comment, just to divert attention away from the bike thing... |
group therapy sure is nice...gotta go, have to check Ebay and craigslist, even though I told myself no more bikes!
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Obsessed? No, its just that im a stay at home dad to my 3 year old daughter. I mean what else do i have to do? Well besides convince the world Wd 40 is a good chain lubricant.
Also im only here because i need one more last bike. |
Bikes are just one piece of the puzzle. |
The line between obsession and healthy enjoyment of bicycles is so far away, it looks like a dot to you.
Extra credit if you get the reference. :) |
I think about owning a bike shop instead of my current job all the time but then I decide I like being able to pay my mortgage (two actually, trying to sell the old house arghh) and other bills. Instead I have a pretend bike shop in my basement. |
That's not obsessed, that's normal.......for this stick, anyway.
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Another one
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I believe I have passed through the worst of it. It helps that I've had several years to experiment and figure out what I like, to create, and fill out the wish list.
That said, I am guilty of having my attention diverted when I notice an interesting bicycle - even to the point where I'm more interested than checking out the bicycle than who's riding it. and... I do not get enough riding in, which irritates me. I've reached the point where I'm in the process of trying to wrap up the handful of remaining projects that I have. Am officially out of "acquisition" mode... until after we move and I can find the townie trike that my wife showed me just yesterday. |
I'm pretty much at the ridiculous point now.
I have a Basso with a perfectly good and satisfying Shimano 600 group on it and I have no business touching it, but I am contemplating changing it over to an Ofmega group, which by most opinions is not nearly as good, just because it will be "Italian". Ohhh vanity!😢 I also might spend 50 bucks on plastic bar end caps and crank caps that are embossed with the Basso insignia on them. From Poland no less! Lord help me! |
Originally Posted by USAZorro
(Post 20547896)
Am officially out of "acquisition" mode... until after we move and I can find the townie trike that my wife showed me just yesterday.
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You guys have it easy.
I am a polyhobby/mixed substance abuse addict. Imagine yourself - addicted to vintage bikes - and then 2-3 other hobbies along with it on the same level. And a full time job on top of that. I am really looking forward to retirement in about 7-8 years (at around 62). Then I can really indulge in what really matters. |
instead of falling asleep I lie awake for hours mentally assembling C&V dream bikes.
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Recently I was looking on eBay at a set of Carlton brake lever hoods ( the black ones for the 70s era Raleigh Competition). I don’t even have this bike yet but I figure that one day I might, and when that day arrives I may want to have this extra set of lever hoods. I hadn’t made the purchase yet and when I checked earlier this morning they were gone, so I dodged that bullet. Those hoods weren’t cheap! Am I obsessed? |
Originally Posted by Pcampeau
(Post 20548095)
Recently I was looking on eBay at a set of Carlton brake lever hoods ( the black ones for the 70s era Raleigh Competition). I don’t even have this bike yet (...) Those hoods weren’t cheap! Am I obsessed?
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Originally Posted by styggno1
(Post 20548036)
You guys have it easy.
I am a polyhobby/mixed substance abuse addict. Imagine yourself - addicted to vintage bikes - and then 2-3 other hobbies along with it on the same level. And a full time job on top of that. I am really looking forward to retirement in about 7-8 years (at around 62). Then I can really indulge in what really matters. |
I've been here two years shorter than [MENTION=108582]RobbieTunes[/MENTION], and I have 34,000 posts.
A bike passes by, and I can date it, I can tell you what's wrong with it mechanically, and what is original and what is not. Sometimes I can do this in a two-second glance. |
Just ask my wife, my kids, relatives, those I work with and nearly anyone I communicate with.
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Obsessed? No im focused.
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