retro rider in dallas...
 

hi new to the forum but not new to cycling.

what i love: wool jeresys, frank patterson pics, brooks leather saddles

what i despise: yuppies who want to "be faster in 10 weeks", bicycling magazine, any nonsteel bikes, yuppie phonies in usps jerseys.:beer: :beer:

Steel is the only way to ride and welcome to our humble forum
:beer:

Welcome to the forums :)

thanks! im here in dallas tx on my new bianchi eros with a brooks honey flyer saddle.

im putting a deposit down on a ramboulliet (?) bicycle next month. i love fancy lugs. its either the ramby or a bob jackson. since im a poor student here in dallas ill be buying the frame only and robbing my eros for the gruppo.


any other traditionalists here in this forum?:)

I'm pretty retro myself. My two bikes include an early '70's Gitaine and an mid '80's Centurion. Both bikes are steel, lugged, with lots of chrome. To me nothing on a bike says class more than steel, lugs, and chrome!

My Gitaine is mostly Campy but since it is so old and it is my beater bike I replaced worn out parts with inexpensive ones. Since it is French threaded I'll probably toss it when the bottom bracket gives up the ghost (last tuneup the
races were very pitted).

My Centurion is the "Cinelli Project" frame which was made in Itally by Cinelli and was Campy Super Record but after running low on freewheels I switched my shifters, rear derailleur, and hub/cluster to 9 speed Campy Veloce. My bike is no longer completely retro but it mostly is ;)

Since there are so few lugged steel frames with lots of chrome I don't know what I'll do when I need a new ride. Both of my bikes have seen a lot of miles, abuse, and crashes so I don't expect them to last forever.

There's a few!

If you're tight on cash, move fast on the Ramboulliet and you might be able to get an orange one for $990. You might also want to look at Mercian. You can get a custom frame for less than the cost of the Ramboulliet (or more, depending upon options).

Don't know if I count as a traditionalist or cheapskate, but my bikes are all lugged steel. My "good" bike is a 1988,89 vintage Schwinn World Sport bought new for about $200. My Frankenstein is a combination of two crashed Takaras. Latest adoptee is a Peugeot UO8, found moldering at the local basement bike shop. And there's a Puch/Ted Williams/Free Spirit picked up at a yard sale for the kid, back when he was a kid! I've a hankering for one of the new Romulus/Redwood bikes from Rivendell.

Ride on!

I ride an old Cinelli with a mix of old Campy stuff on it. Use it in triathlons and get sneered at by the guys who try to buy speed. It has an 8 speed rear end but I use Fiction DT shifters on it.

I have a new set of Suntour Superbe Pro that has never been built up that I am thinking of finding a frame for. It took me a couple of years to get all the parts via E-Bay and bargan tables.

The best way to deal with people who snear at your classic ride is to ride them into the dirt.

In my experience triathletes are usually pretty accepting folks unless things have changed a lot since I used to participate in them. In one triathlon that I rode the bike leg for (we won the team competition btw) one woman rode a bottom line mountain bike. The week before the competition she brought her mountain bike to the bike shop I worked at to have it checked over and the huge wire baskets removed since she was competing next weekend. At the event nobody sneered at her; they all cheered her on and admired her for participating.

In bike racing circles everyone loves my classic bike and components. They often say things like, "I used to have a bike like that; I sure wish I still did!" I still ride the same bike that I rode my first group ride, my first century, my first bike race, and my first triathlon on. I did get a little hacked off at one guy though. I put my bike on my hitch bike rack first then my wife's Shimano Ultrega TIG welded aluminum Trek. My wife's bike fell of the rack. Luckily the only damage was a taco'ed wheel I rebuilt and some scratches to her brifter. After the incident another cyclist said I should have put her bike on first and the old bike on last just in case. My bike may be old but it is a hand made classic instead of being mass produced disposible item. You can find TIG welded aluminum bikes in any shop but try finding a fine Italian lugged steel one these days.

The people who sneer at your bike are not cyclists, they are poseurs.

I have a problem with yuppies too but I also am eye balling a new bike for competition because I am starting to get serious about racing

my two current bikes are

a mid to late 60's kobe cobra 10spd road bike old japanese lugged frame on of the first with alluminum rims and sakae allum road bars and quill

a early 60's sears freespirit 12 spd made by puch
that s being turned into a single speed commuter


and soon a brand new fuji comp bike

I only have classic bicycles, lugged and non lugged. Lugged I have a Raleigh RSW, non folding, the bicycle I assembled with a Reynolds 531 frame for my thriatlons back in 1990 and the most important component in this bicycle are a set of Péllissier hubs. I also have a Colnado from the 80's, full Campagnolo, a Bertin also from the 80's with full 105, I am building a fixed gear with a Nishiki Olympic 12, and I am trying to buy a Motobecane grand touring and a Mercier from the 60's from 2 friends nearby. I found on the rabish been a Bidgestome MB - 1, made in Japan 1987, but unfortunatly, is a bit too big for me. Most probably is my ticket for the Motobecane :D All the yuppies on bicycle meetings joke with my bicycles, but I feel very confortable and happy with my bicycles and I do not feel that I ride slower that the most modern all carbon fiber machines.

(snippage occured)

You can toss that Gitane to me if it is around 54cm. :D