Pre Rule #26 photo
Words of advice for the lads: If your girlfriend is a very good cyclist and you two are going to get engaged, a nice racing bike is not a substitute for a ring. I tried it. In my cyclo-centric male brain, she needed a proper racing bike a lot more than she needed a ring. I made my case and lost. She did get the ring and the bike and me so I’m not sure it was total victory for her.
I mail-ordered the frame from Palo Alto Bike Shop. They were selling fine unbranded Italian steel frames. I built the wheels but denied her a gruppo. The unwritten subtext of Rule #12 is s’s (spouse’s) bike must be marginally nicer than your own. But I was unaware of that Rule back then so her bike was a functional Suntour groupsan. For the record, her next two #1 bikes are both nicer than mine. The Palo Alto bike was eventually repainted De Rosa pink, upgraded to Shimano, and ridden into the ground. Fast forward too many years and that bike is still hers. It is bike #3 and resides five thousand kilometers away, used each year when back visiting family. Now even the bike is losing its old home.
What am I going to do with my bike?
Ship it out here, obviously.
No, that’s too expensive. I’m going to sell it here.
WHAT? But it’s your pink bike, you can’t just sell it. It’s your pink bike…(muted sobbing deleted)
This is another debate I’m going to lose. She has all reasonable arguments on her side. Me, I leave no bike behind. I have two bikes back there and when my mother’s house sells, I’m shipping them both out here. Will they be ridden much? Hell no but that is not the point. These bikes have been my brothers-in-arms and I’m not leaving them behind. We have been together in the trenches for much too much time for me to abandon them. Is this a male thing? Do women have such emotional attachments for inanimate objects? Or is it a Velominati thing? Either way, my Bontrager hardtail mountain bike and my Bella steel road bike are going to join the rest of the stable out here. They may not see much action but I can still tune them up, keep them ready if and when the orders ever come down.
How does this all end? Obviously it ends up with me, as a failing eighty year old at my sunset years yard sale telling some puke he is not worthy to own any of my old bikes and he can fuck right off. Then, later, my widow will bring them all down to the police station to be sold at auction, for ten dollars each.
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@Teocalli
Thanks for posting that! A little Shirley Bassey and Morcambe & Wise to start the day - perfect!
Alas, I did leave bikes behind. When I moved to the States many moons ago, I had a mid 80s Stumpjumper, a Colnago Super road bike, a Brian Rourke winter bike, and a hot pink TT machine. Life moved on Stateside and I picked up a couple of Treks, one of which is now gone. The Scottish bikes all went to new homes - although the Rouke mysteriously disappeared somehow when my parents moved house.
Currently the stable numbers 6 - three road machines, a winter bike, a graveur and the old Trek mountain bike from 93. Willing to add more.
I've posted this before but at risk of a complete beating by mini-pump I so regret selling this before I saw the light. Though at the time I could not budget for my current #1 without making the sacrifice. This has to be the best paint job they've ever done.
I think it is a male thing, or at least more noticeably a male thing. Males tend to own more larger inanimate objects. Woman seem to become emotionally attached to things I term, to my wife's annoyance, trinkets.
I only currently have four bikes - a steel commuter/hack bike (which I nevertheless take very good care of), a mountain bike that rarely sees use nowadays, a single speed road bike for pure fun, and a racy road bike. The oldest is only 10 years old. Older bikes were either given away or scrapped for parts after a frame failure. I turn 40 next month but we had our first child only two and a bit years ago. Recently my wife has asked me to clear out some of my "junk" so that the boy can use a space as a dedicated play room. What does she mean by junk? Some of my guitars and other instruments! I haven't played a paid gig for more than a decade. Yet I haven't rid myself of any instruments for more than two. I have 8 electric guitars, 2 acoustic electric, 2 acoustic, a banjo, a mandolin, several amplifiers and dozens of effects pedals. Being in racks, they do take up quite a lot of space even when not in use. I don't have a number one guitar. I suppose about 5 of them are equivalent to a number one, and the others only come out on special occasions. Much more rarely now that I'm a Dad. Yet I feel a very strong emotional attachment to all of them. Choosing which to get rid of has been a difficult decision, and when the time comes it will be heartbreaking. There is a silver lining however. The final negotiation went something like: Wife: "just get rid of enough of them and some amps to make the required space". Me: "Okay, but with the proceeds I am going to buy a bike". Wife: "WHAT"?!? Yeah, a more relaxed geometry road bike that have become popular in recent years. I'm getting old. And, I want to see what the big deal is. I'll use it for..." Wife: "(silence... rolls eyes in defeat)".
I'm not sure I'll ever feel up on the deal. I've spent a lot of hours with those beauties and when I play them they feel like an extension of me. But instead of being a gloomy thing all round, a new bike will surely make me smile for a while.
Awesome timing, Gianni! Tomorrow in my 3rd wedding anniversary...oh, and someone's 70th! Not a bad day to pick for a wedding, eh lads?
As for the bikes. I picked up an old touring Takara for the VMH when we met a few years ago. It did her well and she loved it, but it was always a bit too big. It's now lent to visiting friends and occasionally used. I've since set her up with a nice SS with riser bars. Last year I gave her my rain bike, a lovely De Bernardi that I wasn't riding enough. Very nice that we're the same size. And, this is the first time she's ridden a bike with 10-s integrated shifters. We were coming home from a City Hall meeting last night (we helped get a very bad stretch of road redesigned with 2 fewer car lanes and 2 more bike lanes!!!) and she said, "I love my new bike!"
I have a slew of bikes with me, still three at the Olds, and one with a pal in his "bike shed" (it houses 15 on the nicest bikes you've ever seen, a Corvette, two Porsches, and three Ducatis). I like to spread 'em around. Should have my own bike shed built within a year and can house them all on-site. I dream.
@Teocalli
I'm sorry, I'm a bit confused?? Did you say that you SOLD that Bike in the photo? The one with the matching bar tape, pedals, and bidons?
I truly don't wish to rub salt in the wound but "What the fuck man!?!"
@DeKerr
Quite. I flog myself on a regular basis.
@Gianni
My riding pal is twenty years older. I constantly tell him I'd steal his bikes, if only they fit me. I ride 53s, he rides 56s. I do think he's going to send a few my way in his will, as he has no children. His bikes are the only thing in cycling that makes me wish I was taller.
His stock: C59, C60, 3 Vanillas, Litespeed, Pinarello, Moots, Roubaix with Di2, BMC Cross, Calfee, Fuji Altamira, I'm sure I'm missing a few.
I'm pretty thrilled being alive, but considering I'm constantly playing the math of "If that asshole runs that Stop Sign, and that other Asshole runs that light..." I'm not really scared of death. It'll either come in a smash up and I'll be gone quickly, or I'll be riding until I'm 95.
Which reminds me, I need to get better at surfing while I'm still young.
@Ron
Though shalt not covet thy neighbor's bike
@Teocalli
That's the wife's bike and the wife's footwear. But I think I purchased those shoes for her. Pearl Izumi's, silver, they matched the cranks. That has to count for something.
@Gianni
But surely she would prefer to enter like Shirley Bassey vs her exit?