GLB
Dirt Disciple
OK, the morning's work completely shot to bits, so the time before lunch adding the last one in my collection. Well, it's not really a collection, they're just middle aged bikes I never got rid of or upgraded. Old friends.
This Ken Bird frame I bought from him in 1990 after getting a bit weary of the riding through treacle feeling of my Saracen Trekker.
It's an odd frame - he told me it was a cancelled order from someone who wanted a bike for fast day long rides. Sort of a presentiment of today's Audax frames maybe. But Mr Bird was good at sales chat and I havce a feeling it wasn't actually new. But it was pristine.
531DB 22.5" 72 degrees approx. Quite long wheelbase, long chain stays, lots of fork rake, and plenty of clearance for mudguards, though no mudguard eyes.
It started off with quite budget equipment:
Anonymous seat pin and Turbo saddle.
Weinmann Prestige brakes and levers.
Shimano 300 chainset (biopace hooray) and rear mech.
Huret front mech and band-on levers.
Cinelli bars and stem.
Olympic pedals, Christophe clips and straps.
The wheels in the first photo were borrowed to try it out until I got Shimano hubs on Campag rims.
Borrowed the bottle cage temporarily from my Saracen Trekker.
Note the old Gravesend CC jersey!
Seem to remember building the whole lot for £300.
The other photo (in the smart Gravesend CC sponsored strip - what a joke that deal was!) was a couple of years later at the start of the Paris to Cambrai randonnee. Chorus seat pin by then I notice and a Huret clockwork mileometer. 140 miles and I wasn't really up to it. By the time we reached the cobbled villages of NE France I could neither sit on that dratted Turbo saddle (replaced next day with Brooks Professional), nor stand on the pedals - I lost several toenails. But it was one of the happy days of my life!
Now it's got a Campag Chorus rear mech and band-on levers (from ebay) and I swapped the 42T inner biopace ring for a 36T TA round one. Everything else is much as it was. I don't use it a lot, except on the turbo trainer where it's parked in my flat. Usually I use my Roy Thame fixed, but this is another old friend that I won't part with. I might use it more for longer hillier rides, now that I'm riding more as retirement looms.
This Ken Bird frame I bought from him in 1990 after getting a bit weary of the riding through treacle feeling of my Saracen Trekker.
It's an odd frame - he told me it was a cancelled order from someone who wanted a bike for fast day long rides. Sort of a presentiment of today's Audax frames maybe. But Mr Bird was good at sales chat and I havce a feeling it wasn't actually new. But it was pristine.
531DB 22.5" 72 degrees approx. Quite long wheelbase, long chain stays, lots of fork rake, and plenty of clearance for mudguards, though no mudguard eyes.
It started off with quite budget equipment:
Anonymous seat pin and Turbo saddle.
Weinmann Prestige brakes and levers.
Shimano 300 chainset (biopace hooray) and rear mech.
Huret front mech and band-on levers.
Cinelli bars and stem.
Olympic pedals, Christophe clips and straps.
The wheels in the first photo were borrowed to try it out until I got Shimano hubs on Campag rims.
Borrowed the bottle cage temporarily from my Saracen Trekker.
Note the old Gravesend CC jersey!
Seem to remember building the whole lot for £300.
The other photo (in the smart Gravesend CC sponsored strip - what a joke that deal was!) was a couple of years later at the start of the Paris to Cambrai randonnee. Chorus seat pin by then I notice and a Huret clockwork mileometer. 140 miles and I wasn't really up to it. By the time we reached the cobbled villages of NE France I could neither sit on that dratted Turbo saddle (replaced next day with Brooks Professional), nor stand on the pedals - I lost several toenails. But it was one of the happy days of my life!
Now it's got a Campag Chorus rear mech and band-on levers (from ebay) and I swapped the 42T inner biopace ring for a 36T TA round one. Everything else is much as it was. I don't use it a lot, except on the turbo trainer where it's parked in my flat. Usually I use my Roy Thame fixed, but this is another old friend that I won't part with. I might use it more for longer hillier rides, now that I'm riding more as retirement looms.
