I was an avid cyclist as a small child -- recall an early family photo of myself and friend, age about 8, posing proudly with our cruisers -- interesting: his was a very ancient 28" wheel, but American wheels, cruiser; mine a 24" wheel JC Higgins -- but started self-consciously identifying with bicycles and cycling at age 14, 1969, Eddy's first annus mirabilis (2 "n's"), when I first sensed the world of pro cycling; that's about the time I began to read the local municipal (Nairobi, Kenya, some 6 years after the Brits left) library's small and forlorn collection of cycling literature, including all sorts of ancient and weird and long-since debunked pro lore by forgotten Brit riders counseling "ankling," frames "softening with age," and very thin silk socks under your tightly cinched Dettos for best foot-to-pedal interface.
After hot-rodding my metallic gold (with white accents) Raleigh Sports (which itself replaced, by a complex sale-for-purchase upgrade from an already hot-rodded rod braked, scarlet-painted, AW geared Hero just before the move from New Delhi to Nairobi), I built my first bike-from-scratch in mid-summer 1970 (December 1970, 90 miles So of the equator, halfway through Sophomore year*). 50X15 X 622 bsd.This was the bike about which I've regaled you: Indian rod-braked roadster frame for 28" Westwood wheels, 700C Czecho steel flip flop rear, 24" Westwood front stolen from my little brother's kiddie's bike. No brake would fit, so I rode on hilly roads** and downtown traffic, and braked by jamming my right Ked Hightop onto the front tire, wearing a diagonal groove across the sole. then a year or so later, refurbished an Alvit Varsity with half-stepped AW drivetrain. My last upgrade during high school years was to sell the 'rodded Varsity for KS 250/- and buy a departing American expat's roadie Raleigh Sprite. Now, there are Sprites and Sprites, but this was just one step below the Grand Prix, with 10-sp half step, swaged and cottered crank, Brooks B 15, rat trap pedal build. I was not able to take this to college halfway around the world, so there was a 10-year hiatus when I'd ride borrowed bikes but owned none, until I "got back into" cycling circa 1986 with the purchase of an LL Bean-branded, low-end equipped Cannondale sports tourer; and since then, I've not looked back. *My mother kept our Nairobi International School yearbooks for decades after publication, and my brother just a few days ago told me that the Sophomore edition, with photo of me and this first bike build, first quarter 1971, was tossed with much other family lore in the welter of cleaning out my mother's house after she died in Jan 2015. ** Kenya had, so we children were told, the world's highest auto accident rate in the world at that (late '60s early '70s) point in history. I saw buses racing each other side by side around blind corners on very hilly, winding, narrow roads with no shoulders -- we came across a priest of our acquaintance standing bewildered by the side of the road, his (original, 4" long) Fiat 500 overturned, after he had to bail when a bus came round the blind corner on the wrong side of the road); and I saw a small British sedan left destroyed on the road down the hill from our house after being decapitated (all sheared off above the doors) by a lorry racing along on the wrong side of the road after reaching ~60 mph at the bottom of a long, steep hill. I was told that the car carried a young family. On Fri, Sep 3, 2021 at 3:43 PM Jack Doran <[email protected]> wrote: > Being newly unemployed and poor, newly single and heartbroken during the > great recession. Set up a free cycled, cheap aluminum rear rack on my Surly > Cross Check, bungee corded a car camping sleeping bag, pad, and tent to it, > and rode up to a spot I knew in Tilden where I figured nobody would bother > me if I spent the night. > > Can we bring "bikie" back? I've read posts by Jobst Brandt where he uses > it, but I haven't heard it anywhere else. > > On Friday, September 3, 2021 at 2:29:48 PM UTC-7 Jon Richardson wrote: > >> After I had to stop coaching Soccer after my fifth knee surgery. I >> started with a Colnago C40 road bike, it was fast and light. I then had a >> Heart Attack out of nowhere...and used cycling as a means to recover and >> started to enjoy my old steel bike. I found a Rivendell Rambo and fitted >> with Jack Black 33s...it was a dream to ride. It has become my go to bike. >> >> Cycling has given me the physical outlet I need, so far delayed my knee >> replacement and has helped me mentally and physically in a number of >> possitive ways. >> >> On Fri, Sep 3, 2021, 4:54 PM Steven Sweedler <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> For me it was seeing road cyclists out training on Whitney Ave. in >>> Hamden and New Haven, Ct. Most or all were on the Yale cycling team, and >>> they would wave to me when I was riding my Humber Clipper Grand Prix that I >>> got in 1964. Steve >>> >>> On Fri, Sep 3, 2021 at 4:48 PM Joe Bernard <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Will has an interesting post in the the recent Riv Newsletter about how >>>> he and some friends first noticed bikes and got into them. After your >>>> initial foray as a kid with a bike, what was the thing that made you notice >>>> them later and turn you into an adult-person-cyclist? >>>> >>>> Mine is similar to Will's as a young man in Los Angeles, except it was >>>> the flashy riders in "tight clothes" I picked up on. I vividly recall being >>>> stopped on Pacific Coast Highway somewhere south of Long Beach (probably on >>>> a motorcycle) and watching all the roadies go by, this would be early '80s. >>>> This one guy went by on a green (actually celeste blue, but I didn't know >>>> that at the time) Bianchi with matching bar tape and riding gear. That was >>>> the moment I - a car and motorcycle nut - realized bicycles were a thing, >>>> too. A very cool thing, and you got a workout in the process! >>>> >>>> I was hooked, what hooked you? >>>> >>>> Joe Bernard >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/ba0d13a9-5d4d-456f-99a1-813bab06d4c2n%40googlegroups.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/ba0d13a9-5d4d-456f-99a1-813bab06d4c2n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> -- >>> Steven Sweedler >>> Plymouth, New Hampshire >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> >> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALimyfLnnwXkz0_G0LxY3XBpQV%2BVFxH-RQ3pqBWv2%2BUPR2E78Q%40mail.gmail.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALimyfLnnwXkz0_G0LxY3XBpQV%2BVFxH-RQ3pqBWv2%2BUPR2E78Q%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/959487b5-a54f-4b81-913c-320b73705c1cn%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/959487b5-a54f-4b81-913c-320b73705c1cn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgvXLjhAsKUdufd8ZYu5J2VxLv65K%3De_ezmcQS4ysgiNKw%40mail.gmail.com.
