Categories: Accessories and GearLa Vie VelominatusMusings from the V-BunkerNostalgia

Inflation

A ride for the people, the Sean Kelly Cyclosportive

My first bike was a Sears Moonlight Special. It was literally a piece of shit – figuratively. I mean, it would only “literally” be a piece of shit if shit was made of sand-filled steel tubes salvaged from the plumbing of the local sewage facility. Which it might have been, but I simply don’t have the peer-reviewed evidence to back that claim up.

I feel comfortable stating that this bike cost less than $50 USD back in the early 70’s, and it was yellow. It also had a saddle which, upon my personal dissection (Go Science!) was conclusively comprised of a shaped steel plate covered by a thin foam pad and a faux-leather shell. Made in America, fuck yeah. That’s one reason right there that the United States doesn’t have the same over-population problems China does.

After that, I was given my dad’s Raleigh, made of Reynolds 531 tubing which I loved deeply, apart from the exposed brake cables and Weinmann centerpull brakes. I installed some aero brake levers on it and quickly learned the value of owning some proper brake-adjustment tools like the Third Hand. (I’m not sure why a Third Hand is a bicycle-specific innovation; having one more hand feels like a genetically-viable mutation.)

Finally, after a summer of saving up, I bought my own proper racing bicycle, a Cannonwhale SR700 with Shimano 105. In hot pink, for $700. I loved the shit out of that bike, crowning it with every accessory (apart from an EPMS) that one can think of: I couldn’t afford Scott Drop-ins, so I happily accepted my brother’s bar-ends from his Bridgestone as substitutes. I saved up for ages and bought a Selle San Marco Regal and got one step closer to looking like Greg LeMan. Benotto bar tape was a no-brainer at only a few bucks a roll. So Pro, so cheap. And it never wore out and it didn’t matter how bad you were at wapping bars; if you needed four rolls to cover the real-estate (wrapping the brake levers cleanly is the crux), then you were still only out about $10.

It was such a great bike. I rode it in France, Belgium, The Netherlands, not to mention most of the northern United States. I rode with my family, my friends; I rode with my dad the most. In fact, the only time I dumped that beautiful Regal saddle was with him, five minutes into the first ride with that saddle when he decided to change the route and hang a louie when I was overlapping wheels with him. Scraped the leather clean off the right-side of the saddle. No worries, a little super-glue and the saddle lasted me another 10 years.

I lost and found my way back into Cycling two or three times during the lifetime of that $700 bike. If I was the man I am today, I’d have kept it, too. I still have many of the parts, but I dumped the frame because it’s too big for me, and I didn’t realize how much it would mean to me today. We all walk the path of La Vie Velominatus in steps; it is only natural to wander off the path from time to time.

My #1 is worth something like $10k, maybe more, maybe less. Which in any case is a stupid amount of money for a bicycle. My Nine Bike is the hand-me-down, worth a bit less but in practical terms, almost the same. An entry-level bike, like my ‘Wale SR700 would cost a few thousand dollars today, well out of reach of a young Velominatus hoping to get into the sport.

Cycling is supposed to be the accessible sport, the sport of The People. What happened?

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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MangoDave says:

Oct 7 2015 at 3:14 pm

@antihero

@MangoDave

I won’t go through my nostalgia and bike history here. I do have to agree that stuff seems to be getting really expensive. The cost of my #1 frame has doubled since I bought it a while back, for essentially the same model. Plus, it’s steel, so it’s hard to chalk it up to advances in technology. And don’t even get me started on the cost of carbon wheels… Last year I built up a set of tubulars with Record hubs, Sapim spokes and Ambrosio rims all for a few hundred dollars. They weigh about 1250g and roll fast as fuck. Except for doing a time trial on the flats, I doubt I’m giving much up to some of the $2000+ carbon sets.

That’s where the money goes a long way – you can never go wrong with that combination. I’ll take my Golden Tickets over a set of Zipps any day.

I agonized in these forums last year about which rims to choose. The Golden Tickets were right up there, but I went with the Cronos. I decided I'm not that hard on equipment and don't ride cobbles so I went with the weight advantage. I expected them to feel lively on the climbs - which they are - but I never expected to roll so fast down hills. I'm not that heavy, so I usually get dropped or struggle to keep up with the big guys, but now I end up catching and passing them. My "regular" wheels are Campa Neutrons, so they weren't' exactly junk to compare with. I assume some of difference is from the tires.
antihero says:

Oct 7 2015 at 9:48 pm

@MangoDave

@antihero

@MangoDave

I won’t go through my nostalgia and bike history here. I do have to agree that stuff seems to be getting really expensive. The cost of my #1 frame has doubled since I bought it a while back, for essentially the same model. Plus, it’s steel, so it’s hard to chalk it up to advances in technology. And don’t even get me started on the cost of carbon wheels… Last year I built up a set of tubulars with Record hubs, Sapim spokes and Ambrosio rims all for a few hundred dollars. They weigh about 1250g and roll fast as fuck. Except for doing a time trial on the flats, I doubt I’m giving much up to some of the $2000+ carbon sets.

That’s where the money goes a long way – you can never go wrong with that combination. I’ll take my Golden Tickets over a set of Zipps any day.

I agonized in these forums last year about which rims to choose. The Golden Tickets were right up there, but I went with the Cronos. I decided I’m not that hard on equipment and don’t ride cobbles so I went with the weight advantage. I expected them to feel lively on the climbs – which they are – but I never expected to roll so fast down hills. I’m not that heavy, so I usually get dropped or struggle to keep up with the big guys, but now I end up catching and passing them. My “regular” wheels are Campa Neutrons, so they weren’t’ exactly junk to compare with. I assume some of difference is from the tires.

Cronos are solid if you aren't too heavy. I have a set of 36-spoke Cronos that do fine, but they're a bit flexy under my weight (about 83 kilos), so I relegate them to commuter duty.
LawnCzar says:

Oct 8 2015 at 3:17 am

My first first bike was a Murray BMX that I got for Christmas when I was seven... I was completely underwhelmed. It was too big, I tipped on the training wheels, etc. It wasn't until maybe a year later that I got myself going on a friend's bike and felt this weird sensation, like flying. I rode up and down our street for hours that evening. I remember being in school and fantasizing about opening the garage to get my bike as soon as I got home.

Years later, my uncle took me to see a stage of the Tour Du Pont (Steve Bauer pipped Davis Phinney at the line) and I immediately sold my Nintendo and started saving my allowance (and lunch money, shhh) to buy a bike. I got a 200 pound Raleigh made of pig iron for $100, took off the "safety" brakes, pie plate, and reflectors, added clips and straps, and got riding.

A year or so later, I saved up some more, sold that bike to a friend, and got myself a used Nishiki Prestige. That was my first "proper" bike. I still have the frame, which I'm in the process of stripping and repainting. At some point I need to get it back on the road, six-speed cassette and all.

As others have mentioned, affording a bike -- and gear -- was difficult. My family had very little money. The funny thing is that, not knowing anything about cycling initially, it was fairly easy to just get a bike and get riding. It's once you know what you're on about, and once you start getting social pressure to have a better bike, have nicer kit, that things get harder. I recall getting some attitude on rides and at races because my Nishiki was old, not nice enough. That's an aspect where I don't think our sport does itself any favors, at least not in the States.
Oli says:

Oct 8 2015 at 4:07 am

I think that poor attitude is the same world wide, unfortunately. But as my Uncle Anatole used to say, "There's no bike finer than the one you're riding." If you love your bike, fuck the snobs.
ErikdR says:

Oct 8 2015 at 6:14 am

@tmgrasso

Very nice write-up - chapeau! And quite similar to my own 'history', in fact (if you replace 'Schwinn' with 'Peugeot'), right up to the fact that I somehow managed to crash my five year old, bright orange UO8 with half-chromed fork into a vehicle, bent the front fork beyond repair and had it replaced with a full-chromed specimen. Looked great.

One minor point: you mention that you don't remember what it was that distracted you at the time. That's easy: Being a Velominatus, you were most probably passing a large, plate-glass shop window and admiring your own reflection. There was almost certainly at least one gorgeous girl standing on the opposite sidewalk - but you never noticed her. (Tongue firmly in cheek here, needless to say - at least I hope so)
KW says:

Oct 8 2015 at 6:27 am

@LawnCzar

It’s once you know what you’re on about, and once you start getting social pressure to have a better bike, have nicer kit, that things get harder. I recall getting some attitude on rides and at races because my Nishiki was old, not nice enough. That’s an aspect where I don’t think our sport does itself any favors, at least not in the States.

There is only one solution to that kind of thing. Crush souls.

Two years ago, I got my one and only bike, a Jamis Satellite Comp. Truly an entry level machine that I picked up for $650 on an end of year clearance. Steel frame (does have carbon forks though) and 9sp Sora. Weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 10+kg. I've put over 10,000km on that bike doing just about everything. Except for the strongest and fastest of guys in my club, it's a rare day that I get passed or can't keep up with the "nice" bikes ridden by some others. I'm a much better, stronger, and faster rider than I was two years ago. I'll continue to ride the shit out of that thing until the budget committee finally OKs the n+1 purchase. (I'm still holding out hope that she's got something planned during the secret 40th birthday trip we're taking this weekend.)
Teocalli says:

Oct 8 2015 at 7:01 am

@KW

Best wishes for the weekend!
chuckp says:

Oct 8 2015 at 7:03 am

@wiscot

@chuckp

You can still get bikes for cheap. You just can’t get the bikes most of us ride for cheap. At least as long as I’ve been riding, that’s always been the case. I guess the difference is that “not cheap” has become a lot more expensive. Probably harder to find a “quality” road bike with “good” components for less than $1000. But a 105-level equipped bike can be had for ~$1500 retail for aluminum w/carbon fork and ~$2000 for an entry level carbon frame. But that’s still not cheap IMHO.

I hear ya. But take another outdoor activity popular with males in the age ranges that I expect are represented on this site: golf. Even the most cursory search says a full set will run about $500. Add in shoes and some gear such as balls ($40-50 a box), shoes ($100-200) and your up to high three figures. A round at a pretty standard local course here is $25 a shot. Want to play a Kohler course and you’re looking at $190 to $350 a time. Play once a week from say May to October is 24 rounds, that’s $600 at the local, $6000 at an average of $250 at the high end. All of a sudden a bike and gear that can last for years and be ridden hundreds of times a year becomes much more affordable.

I had a former colleague whose husband was a keen golfer. He had to scale WAY back when the true cost of his hobby became known. $ thousands a year.

Also, I don’t like being told when and where I can ride!

I'm a golfer too. And my daughter is an up-and-coming junior golfer. The killer cost for golf is the cost to both practice and play. And golf balls ... unless you're like my daughter who doesn't seem to lose any (I hate her). I used to play 30-40 rounds a year. Would hunt around for bargain rates. But also splurge a couple of times a year to play on "premium" courses. This year, I've played maybe a half dozen times. Any money I have for golf gets invested in my daughter.
antihero says:

Oct 8 2015 at 7:04 am

@Oli

I think that poor attitude is the same world wide, unfortunately. But as my Uncle Anatole used to say, “There’s no bike finer than the one you’re riding.” If you love your bike, fuck the snobs.

@KW

@LawnCzar

It’s once you know what you’re on about, and once you start getting social pressure to have a better bike, have nicer kit, that things get harder. I recall getting some attitude on rides and at races because my Nishiki was old, not nice enough. That’s an aspect where I don’t think our sport does itself any favors, at least not in the States.

There is only one solution to that kind of thing. Crush souls.

Yes. And yes. If someone looks askance at your machine, there is no other solution but to crush their spirit under your heel.
chuckp says:

Oct 8 2015 at 7:06 am

@LawnCzar

As others have mentioned, affording a bike — and gear — was difficult. My family had very little money. The funny thing is that, not knowing anything about cycling initially, it was fairly easy to just get a bike and get riding. It’s once you know what you’re on about, and once you start getting social pressure to have a better bike, have nicer kit, that things get harder. I recall getting some attitude on rides and at races because my Nishiki was old, not nice enough. That’s an aspect where I don’t think our sport does itself any favors, at least not in the States.

Yup. But there's also the inverse. People who spend loads of money on bikes and then basically don't ride them or ride very well.