FRAME IN GOOD CON#

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:11:34 +0000

From http://www.anothercyclingforum.com/index.php?topic=51025.msg724875#msg724875 :

I was idly speculating on buying a cheap steel bike to fixedise, because turning stupid high gears is probably good skate cross-training for the thighs.

Of course, there is no such thing as a cheap steel bike on e-bay any more, because everyone else within two miles of here (I live in Hoxton) is also doing exactly that.

Looking for bargains in newsagents windows is probably the way forward, but in the meantime I thought I'd try gumtree. Every ad tells a story.

As a cyclist with even a vague grasp on what the different bits are called, you sometimes forget that this is not common knowledge: witness the "very solid" bike with six gears one side, 3 on the other (whu?  won't it overbalance?) - if I'd paid £230 for what looks uncommonly like a knobbly-tyred BSO with bouncy forks, I'd probably have lost enthusiasm for cycling too - or the steed with speed change(gear) in the pipe underneath (in fairness, I think this is a language issue and I'm sure his English is better than my Italian).

This one really caught my eye, though: great to know that it has "good thread on tyres", but looking at the shape of the forks  I wonder if it managed despite that[1] to make friends with a solid object some time in its life. It's either that or it's an antique from the "hetchins curly" period of frame design ...

[1] yeah yeah, I know that tread on a road-going bicycle tyre is essentially worthless anyway. /me hugs his pro2 races