Two really different types of photo, Joint winners and both deserve their place on the Front page..

Here we have one of p20’s Mates taking a tumble, below Ameybrooks arty shot of a Porc Trail !!

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 benefiting and looking uncharacteristically high-quality from sharing space with its higher-end neighbors. There were also a few ultra-high-end hand-built bicycles from notable American builders which made the pocketbook ache just looking at them, but were a pleasure to behold just the same. The shop is accented by display cases full of vintage road components as well as the presence of a number of classic Paramount and other track bikes. The place is truly a shrine to the steel bicycle.

Across the street is American Cyclery Too, where American Cyclery moved the mountain bike part of its operation about 8 years ago. In addition to its excellent stock of mountain and commuter bikes the shop has on display many significant retro mountain bikes from the formative days of the sport. I’ve stumbled across a fair share of Ritchey Commandos and Mountain Goats in my time, but I must admit I was quite surprised and delighted to be up close and personal with an early Breezer, Cook Bros. and Cunningham. The shop staff was quite friendly and happy to take time out to chat about all manner of bicycle related topics – the vintage bikes in the shop, the early years of mountain biking and the merits of steel versus frame materials among others.

American Cyclery is located at 510 Frederick Street just 3 blocks south of Haight Street and adjacent to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. If you’re planning a trip to San Francisco and have part of a day to burn I highly recommend dropping by. It’s a great way for a bike junkie to blow an afternoon.

If you’re curious to see more of what I saw you can take a look at additional photos on the photo gallery page of American Cyclery’s website: http://www.americancyclery.com/gallery/

Article © Jason Peraza 2007

if you happen to be one of pioneers of the sport ??

Well, MTB forfather Charlie Kelly shows us his Ritchey P21 in Readers Bikes…

What do you do if you look longingly at your favourite bike every day wishing it were a size bigger….. I guess you pray there’s someone out there wishing they had a smaller version of the same bike….

What happens when these people meet ……read more on the Readers Bikes forum

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 ??

Big Welcome to EdEdwards who joins the Mod team. This guy takes no prisoners, you better be nice !!

Look out for a full run down of the RetroBike.co.uk Mod crew, coming soon to the FAQ forum…

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

A joint win for Mad Cow Kev’s Roberts D.O.G.S.B.O.L.X and 24pouces Cannondale.

Look out for the Bike of the Year vote coming soon…

Time for some Muc-Off ??