BoTM Bike of the month February 2022 - fillet brazed special

Bike of The Month
Okay thats what wanted to know. I went through the botm register and couldnt find it.
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/?prefix_id=1okay then.

Please delete.
Have to build some more bikes or even quit taking part.
What would be definetly easyier

Sorry for doing it again.
Kay
Don't even think of it, your bikes have been an inspiration for years, and anyway I reckon you're owed a badge as I counted at least 3 BOTM's 😉
 
I thought we could enter bikes twice: once in a normal month; once in a special.

Did Kay win in a normal or special? If normal, I think he can enter it in this special.

Edited to add: Never mind, just read the rules and as it won it’s irrelevant, can’t be entered again.
 
A photo of me, eight years ago, riding a 1940s Pope Manufacturing Co. (Columbia or Westfield brand) in a 50 km XC mountain bike race. Over 2000 people enter this race so it’s a zoo. When I got the bike it was leaning against a fence. The daughter of the original owner gave it to me. It had one inch pitch drive but had been outside so long it was all rusted beyond repair. I disassembled it, tossed out the mechanicals and stripped away the rust and left it raw, no paint. Old Gigant front drum brake, Bendix coaster brake from the1950s and a fork and two dissimilar rims I had laying around. It was all silver colored and rough so I christened it the Silver Maggot and it was all of that. A real klunker for sure. The frame was filet brazed, after a fashion. Alot of these American built frames, from this period, had the bottom top tube just stuck into a hole on the seat tube, No brazing there. Drives me nuts, but I just left it that way. The rest is hand filet brazed. This was a wonderful riding single speed bike for this kind of stuff. I went so fast down all the hills it was a jiggly blur. My method was to outlaw the use of brakes and lay flat on hills. I passed many people like this who were done coasting and peddling where it started to get flatter. I use a different klunker each time I do this race. People would ask me about the bike when I caught up and passed a group of riders. I told them I got it for free. Usually they say ”mine cost $$2000 - $5000“. My line was “that’s too bad”. Makes some people grumpy. There is nothing like riding this kind of bicycle as far as enjoyment goes. 87A075A1-410E-4B36-AC3B-41B64040B992.jpeg
 
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Hamster's 1995 Dawes Edge XT 653
Throwing this Dawes Edge XT into the ring. I bought the frame from Gaddmeister - it had issues with a broken canti stud. Repair thread here: https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/home-canti-stud-repair.409558/
Anyway, it's my go-anywhere do-anything runaround ideal for (my local area) New Forest's gravel fire roads linked by tarmac. I realise that the purists will be cringing at the drop bars and three flavours of XT. It's a rider not a garage queen, but a classy frame in fillet brazed Reynolds 653.
I built it up for a bit of fun, but it's just SO nice to ride that my 1995 P7 barely gets a look.
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I’m throwing this one in the mix for your consideration.

It’s OldSkoolReTool’d’s 1982 CUSTOMIZED COOK BROS. RACING STRAIGHTFRAME with fillet brazing and internal cable routing done by myself back when mountain bikes were first starting to evolve.

I may be a bit biased since I have owned it for 40 years (since new); but
I think It has a lot of (my) Heart and Soul embedded into it.

It has the DNA of a Racing Cruiser.
…..came to life as a Klunker.
…..came of age as a full fledged Mountain Bike of its time.

It also has some deep roots into its early local mountain bike scene.

Here is the link to its thread: https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/1982-cook-bros-custom-fillet-brazed.441404/

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