supergoose
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Who has owned their Retrobike from new?
- Thread starter kaiser
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Come to think of it, yes I have. In the early 90s I won a competition on a box of cereal or something, and the prize was a Townsend Aardvark.
Picture shamelessly stolen from... this very forum!
In the early 90s I was considerably too small to ride a full size bike. So my mother wrote to them and they sent a child's bike, and this one was put in the garage... until 2006 when I went to uni in York. It was my trusty steed on approximately one journey, and spent the rest of the year chained to a railing outside my accommodation. I would occasionally use it to play 'bike-tennis' and it ended up in the lake more than once. We always fished it out, though.
At some point I lent it to a friend-of-a-friend, but by the time of graduation he hadn't returned it, and I was convinced I'd never see it again. Well, actually, I'd forgotten about it.
Until one day I came home from work (I had changed courses and worked in a bike shop for 18 months or so to raise funds) and I saw it in the front garden! Apparently the friend-of-a-friend had given it to his friend with the instructions to return it to my house when he no longer needed it!
It was in a bad way. Both mechs were seized up and the rear wheel was pringled. I rebuilt the brakes, found a new wheel in a skip, and converted it into a singlespeed, and used it as a hack for about six months when the BB crumbled into nothing.
I tried to give it to a bike recycling charity but they weren't interested. Oh well, I left it in the city centre... two weeks later, and it was still there. Then, one day, it was gone. Finally!
Eventually I moved away from York (*sniff*). I hired a van to move my stuff but it was significantly cheaper to return the van to York and catch the train home than it was to do a one-way journey in the van... so, back up to York, locked up my house for the last time. I was walking to the station along the river and saw a bike lying in a wooded area... a closer look, and it was that bloody bike again! So, I rode it to the station (it really was unrideable by this point), left it unlocked, got the train and never saw it again... for now!
That's my story about the world's worst bike.
Picture shamelessly stolen from... this very forum!
In the early 90s I was considerably too small to ride a full size bike. So my mother wrote to them and they sent a child's bike, and this one was put in the garage... until 2006 when I went to uni in York. It was my trusty steed on approximately one journey, and spent the rest of the year chained to a railing outside my accommodation. I would occasionally use it to play 'bike-tennis' and it ended up in the lake more than once. We always fished it out, though.
At some point I lent it to a friend-of-a-friend, but by the time of graduation he hadn't returned it, and I was convinced I'd never see it again. Well, actually, I'd forgotten about it.
Until one day I came home from work (I had changed courses and worked in a bike shop for 18 months or so to raise funds) and I saw it in the front garden! Apparently the friend-of-a-friend had given it to his friend with the instructions to return it to my house when he no longer needed it!
It was in a bad way. Both mechs were seized up and the rear wheel was pringled. I rebuilt the brakes, found a new wheel in a skip, and converted it into a singlespeed, and used it as a hack for about six months when the BB crumbled into nothing.
I tried to give it to a bike recycling charity but they weren't interested. Oh well, I left it in the city centre... two weeks later, and it was still there. Then, one day, it was gone. Finally!
Eventually I moved away from York (*sniff*). I hired a van to move my stuff but it was significantly cheaper to return the van to York and catch the train home than it was to do a one-way journey in the van... so, back up to York, locked up my house for the last time. I was walking to the station along the river and saw a bike lying in a wooded area... a closer look, and it was that bloody bike again! So, I rode it to the station (it really was unrideable by this point), left it unlocked, got the train and never saw it again... for now!
That's my story about the world's worst bike.
GT LTS 3000 DS
Bought it from Leisure Lakes in 98 (from memory). Was £600 or thereabouts. First thing I did was cut the forks down. They were RST hi 5s (I know), but I was doing mainly trail riding and the like, and didn't need the extra weight. I got a Mozo crown (I think), and the stanchions fitted, so there we go.
I've not really ridden it that much the last ten years (kids and bike touring taking priority), but I've moved to the country now, and there are trails which it was born for.
It's funny, but much as I've tried a few more modern bikes (always looking to throw money at bike, new and old), but I've never been happy with the feel of them compared with my LTS. Maybe it's just because it was my first (and only ) full suspension, and it's all I've known, but nothing seems yet to work for me like it does.
I'm just concerned now that something's going to snap. I've heard bad things about the linkage, but I have to say, I've never had the slightest problem with mine. How that's how it stays.
I'm thinking about changing the forks now that I'm doing more riding. I've messed with them recently, and I actually think they work okay. But I'd be interested to see how she'd do with something decent.
Oh, and I want to put the original chain ring back on (LX) - it's on another bike I was using for off road touring. The one on a the moment, though it works, is just wrong. Only other change was a shorter stem. It's from the era, though, so I'm not worried about that. Oh and pedals. Changed them, as well. The originals were just too small.
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Bought it from Leisure Lakes in 98 (from memory). Was £600 or thereabouts. First thing I did was cut the forks down. They were RST hi 5s (I know), but I was doing mainly trail riding and the like, and didn't need the extra weight. I got a Mozo crown (I think), and the stanchions fitted, so there we go.
I've not really ridden it that much the last ten years (kids and bike touring taking priority), but I've moved to the country now, and there are trails which it was born for.
It's funny, but much as I've tried a few more modern bikes (always looking to throw money at bike, new and old), but I've never been happy with the feel of them compared with my LTS. Maybe it's just because it was my first (and only ) full suspension, and it's all I've known, but nothing seems yet to work for me like it does.
I'm just concerned now that something's going to snap. I've heard bad things about the linkage, but I have to say, I've never had the slightest problem with mine. How that's how it stays.
I'm thinking about changing the forks now that I'm doing more riding. I've messed with them recently, and I actually think they work okay. But I'd be interested to see how she'd do with something decent.
Oh, and I want to put the original chain ring back on (LX) - it's on another bike I was using for off road touring. The one on a the moment, though it works, is just wrong. Only other change was a shorter stem. It's from the era, though, so I'm not worried about that. Oh and pedals. Changed them, as well. The originals were just too small.
I've still got my 2nd MTB from kinda BITD - albeit a bit late on from BITD as it's a 95 Apex, that is almost entirely stock, and still in really nice condition.kaiser":2nr0nqwk said:
Trouble is, it's in the loft, in bits, as an on-going clean and polish job. The only pics I have aren't very good.
I've used bikes acquired here in favour of it in recent times, but in sort of homage, I've got every intention of building another like it as a hack bike.
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How did you manage to hang on to them? After numerous moves and marriages and financial ups and downs? Sadly I have very little 'original' stuff. Now in the process of re-buying similar items.
