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Independent minded. Original. A person with a sense of humor. Somebody who doesn't take himself too seriously. Thats is how Sheldon Brown described himself and all of you familiar with his site will attest to that fact, it's probably how most bike enthusiasts would like to be remembered. Over the years we have all come to rely on Sheldon and his encyclopedia of bike knowledge, the SeatPost chart has saved me much time and effort. So, now he's gone to a place where there are no cars and just miles of endless flowing singletrack weaving among the clouds, wonder if he'll show god how to roll a steel beed tire for tight packing !! Thanks for everything mr Brown...
While on holiday in San Francisco this past October I took the opportunity to visit American Cyclery, one of San Francisco's and America's oldest continuously operating bicycle shops. It was absolutely the bicycle shop I hoped it might be. American Cyclery has a fantastic selection of classically styled road bikes. Their new bike selection clearly represents a belief in the ride quality and durability of steel. Rather than stocking the full range of any given manufacturer they stock only the bikes that illustrate the shop's steel philosophy at the appropriate price points. At the time of my visit their selection began with Raleigh and Bianchi, moved on to Soma and Gunnar and on up to Waterford, with each of the lower-end models...
What a machine! So, what do you do if you come across a picture of Tomac flying around on his iconic Raleigh ?? Simple, you spend many years and a lot of $$$$ to make one of your own, down to the mismatch tyres.. It was given a run for it's money by Joe's Yo but the Raleigh is a worthy winner and BOTY will be going Stateside (along with a small prize yet to be decided) Eric, we at Retrobike.Co.UK salute you !! Next year you have to ride it over here at an event of our choosing, OK ??
Here's to 2008 ... The RetroBike crew have a feast of activity lined up for 2008, more competitions, rides, events and the all important socials.. So keep checking the forums and if you have any questions or suggestions PM the Mods !! A big thank you to all of you who have got involved in the site, whether as active riders, keyboard mechanics or just beer buddies with a shared love of 2 wheeled retro machines...this site relies on your enthusiasm and support, we have seen a huge growth in 2007 so lets hope 2008 brings more of the same.. Cheers the boys at RetroBike.co.uk
This article on a 'retro' 10 speed MTB cassette conversion has been written by Omar R. Esteves from Caracas Venezuela. PART ONE I am an old man who has been experimenting and tinkering with all kinds of bikes for a good part of my life, including mountain bikes in the last twenty five years or so. During all this time I have seen quite a lot of good ideas (not including terrible ones) on bikes and bike equipment fly away to obscurity only to come back some years later as the latest innovations. For a few years, I had been reading that now when we have mountain bikes with 9-speed cassettes in all imaginable ratio combinations and from various manufacturers, some people insist that these are not suitable for mountain bikes...
Alarm wakes me up. No not the alarm that I may have missed that Ti BB that someone posted on retrobike whilst I was asleep, but the alarm on my phone. Get dressed, with a slight twitch as I glance the laptop out of the corner of my eye (something may have been asked that I could answer, or a new tip added). Jump on the modern bike for the ride to the station, almost crash as I imagine I’m on the ’95 S-Works FSR; again! On the train now, with laptop bag, cursing Chiltern Railways for not having wireless on the train, drumming fingers, tapping feet, with the look of an addict who hasn’t had their fix (you know the look)….. Ok, onto the tube, I know there’s nothing I can do until I get in…walk...
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