Thank you Captaincowelly, first of all I've got to applaud the traditional, community vibe going on here, nice one. I had no idea I’d sold two items to you I had lost track as ebay can be quite anonymous but was sure our paths had crossed so there you go and no problem at all. I have never really introduced myself, mainly a lurker, semi regular depending on my obsession levels over the years. Thanks so much for the offer to look in the larder it's appreciated & would be a pleasure. I wasn’t sure on the rules of eligibility of this dynamic thread but I'm grateful to join in and hope this post fits in with a little about myself, some forum highlights & some bike pics thrown in.
So where to start... last week I asked for a little cheeky retrobike member discount for a part I was after from CaptainCowell as always better on here for that personal touch compared to ebay. Discovered myself and Captain have a few similar interests drawn to classic hardtails and specifically Specialized Stumpjumpers of the USA variety. My bike history started off with some shockers though. My first bike was the usual Halfords Apollo (Green & Purple Shimano Tourney SL-MY15 5-speed Thumb Shifters) then a Carrera Kraken (Cadillac esque) which really didn’t inspire off-road confidence so that ended up being a mile cruncher exploring country lanes, remember my CATEYE computer reading approx 1650 miles for the year or so which I proudly thought was a lot on a rather terrible bike. The bike excelled at skidding, mind you. I couldn’t quite believe what I had got myself into, I had spent £345 on it at the time (paying by instalments too as I was skint). One of my friends had a brand new XTR/XT equipped Specialized Stumpjumper while I was still paying off my Carrera Kraken which although I do believe a bike’s a bike I could see the difference in comparison and that’s when the bug of wanting well made, capable MTB’s took hold. I then got a decent red Rockhopper and from there the geekiness was set-in trying different bikes, groupsets, dabbling in the race scene etc. If I could only have one bike it has to be my Singlespeed early mid 90’s white GT I bought on Singletrackworld back in 2007, a simple bike all raggedy now but it’s still going and shows you don’t need to spend a fortune to enjoy a bike. Also like a rigid Saracen but the GT cuts the mustard as a go to daily bike.
A little mention of a post that I always remember on here, a wonderful collection of Flites from
@Alex Creasey “Flites a plenty!”
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/flites-a-plenty-updated-18-12-11.130201/ at the time I thought “why?!” Years later I get it...
Thanks Captaincowelly for the kind permission to have a virtual rummage through your karma parts collection. After some consideration No.29 is a beauty, the BETD link for FSR 99-01 soild piece of engineering. One day I will build a FSR up but mainly I just can’t resist gold parts if they're on offer to enjoy! So Captain if you would be so kind may I please reserve the BETD link? It’ll come in handy worst case as a fancy paper weight
Attached is a picture of my mates FSR and my Tracer taken a while ago, sorry not the best pic & unfortunately no longer have the red Intense.
The scale of my nominations list isn't too broad to pick from to be honest but I nominate
@dyna-ti for helping me out with the odd part I was looking for plus I couldn't help but admire his Hope fanaticism shown in threads
Dyna-ti thanks for sending a message when you saw something I was after (older Hope green trinkets) and I tried to return the favour if I saw some vintage Hope disc brake oddities that might be of interest. I do apologise though dyna-ti if you’re trying to de-clutter accumulated parts as I believe you had been clearing out some bits and pieces recently to invest in an e-bike but you never know so here’s my shout-out.
Thanks again captaincowelly for a feel good thread sharing out some karma