Greetings from Denver, CO. I'm Ray, 52. Spent most of my life up until 2014 in Maine when I moved here after a long hard road. Anyway, I joined because I love bikes. I can't afford the new ones that are decent. Not sure I'd be willing to shell out the $15,000 for the sweet dark purple Santa Cruz they have on display as you walk in the door of my LBS even if I had it. Some things, although very VERY nice, are just over the top. Purple is and has been my favorite color since I was a kid and built a 1/24 scale plastic model of a 70' or 71' Cuda in "Plum Crazy". I think I was around 10.
This was coincidentally also around the time I learned how to ride a bicycle. My uncle who took care of me was a road bike guy, Peugeot to be specific. He worked hard to keep me alive and out of state's custody and to have things he wanted as well so my first bike was my mother's childhood bike. I believe it was an old Schwinn banana seat cruiser, 20" with "ape hanger" style bars complete with plastic tassels, chrome fenders, etc. It wasn't a springer though. Anyway it had been in storage for a long time so he wanted to refurbish it for me. It was originally yellow but the paint was badly faded and almost white-ish with cracks and the chrome had little pits of rust but he went to work on it and when he asked me what color I wanted it, I told him the Cuda purple on my model. He went to the local Napa and got touch up rattle cans of Mopar Plum Crazy and shot it. He did a good job on the bike but it was a single speed with coaster brakes and all the cool kids had BMXs with freewheels and rim brakes. This was in the early 80's in Maine.
So he took me to Sears and got me a Huffy Pro Thunder BMX. It had a chrome frame and blue tires and pads. I thought it was the shiznit until I got going full speed down the side street we lived on heading straight for the intersection with a heavily traveled commuter street and went to hit the brakes only to find out that there were none. Or at least not the ones I was used to. My uncle had given me the lowdown on these new fangled brakes but by the time I realized that I was about to be roadkill I couldn't remember which one was which and he was in a panic hollering from the other end of the street helpless to grab the hand brakes so I did. Both of them with all I had. I didn't get dead from the traffic on Hill St. but I had half of the gravel from the church on street parking area on our street embedded in my face, shoulders, back, arms, chest, and a few other choice areas.
Needless to say I was unimpressed. However my friends, and my uncle convinced me to give it another chance after most of the earth was removed from all the road rash areas I had acquired during my first event on it. I got used to it and that was all good for a while but then came "middle school" or "junior high", whichever you choose to call it. Depends on which side of the tracks you're from I guess but I just called it Hell. I wasn't prepared for, nor had any desire to participate in all this new social BS that I was having to figure out. However I did like some of the girls and, although mostly in other classes, my friends from tha hood were there. I also liked the nice bikes that the 8th graders had.
However things at home had taken some more turns for the worse so my uncle told me that if I wanted one of those expensive bikes I was going to have to come up with half the price on my own so I should get a paper route, which I immediately did and the following school year I had a very cool Schwinn Predator Free Form EX in all white fashion. And less than 2 months later it got stolen. By one of my supposed friends no less who's dad ground the serial number off so even though everyone in town, including the police knew who did it, it couldn't be proven. Even though we were told by the LBS owner where we bought the bike, the only bike shop in the area at the time that it was the only one that existed in the State.
After that I was reduced to buying used bikes from older brothers of school kids who were graduating to motor vehicles. I had a GT Performer, a couple of Dyno Compes, a Redline racing BMX, and a few others. But I never managed to get my hands on another Predator. I was most into flatland freestyle and that bike was the best fit for my style. I could get that bike to do things naturally that I struggled with on all the others. The Dyno Compe was the next best but it still didn't make things easy like the Predator did.
I'm too old for most of that stuff now but I've always had a BMX around and still hit the local ramp park on occasion to show the kids that use their bikes for a kidstand what the bike is actually for. My current ride is a Elite Stealth that I converted to a 3 piece crank. I got it for free from a guy that was clearing out his storage unit where I have mine. I was there picking up some tools for my job the next day and he was going to put it on the street with a free sign on it. He saw me on my mtb and asked me if I wanted it. It needed a chain and rear wheel but other than that it was in great condition so I grabbed it and put it in my unit and went home and ordered a new wheel set from Elite, a chain, and a new set of tires and I have an awesome little bike. I just do some basic easy stuff that I can pull off without pulling something because I still work very hard and can't afford to injure myself and miss work from doing something stupid. They get a kick out of it and so do I. Until one of the older ones challenges me to do something that, although I may be able to do, I have to put my tail between my legs and ride on.
I'm more into mountain bikes now. I just buy older ones and fix them up to my preferences and that's what brought me to find this site. I'm currently working on an 04' Marin Mount Vision. My current useable ride is an 08' Iron Horse Maverick 1.0 HT that I have a 500 watt, 48 volt, 13 aH e-bike kit installed on but prior to it, I had an Iron Horse Maverick 4.5 FS that I had converted to a 1x9 drive train. Someone offered me way more than I had into it so away it went but I miss having a FS for the trails and I recently happened upon this Marin for next to nothing. It needs a new rear shock which I have ordered and is on it's way but I'm having a hard time trying to pin down the mounting hardware which I had to destroy in order to get the old shock off. I'm also planning on converting it to a 1x drive train but I want a 10 or 11 on this one. Still trying to decide on parts for that part of the build.
