Bike bits you're puzzled you've got...

I was looking through my spares stash in the loft, the other day, when putting some parts away (that I don't have time to fit yet).

I've got some stuff from my first real MTB (92 Diamondback Apex) that I'm not sure why I've got - I think I've got the full set of Deore DX cantis from it, but I don't understand why, 'cos I can't remember buying any new cantis for it - must be the advancement of mad cow or something.

And I've also found the broken Deore DX rapidfire shifter that I stupidly broke - I stripped the thread on the bolt that bolts it to the brake lever mount. So I cycled to a LBS, with the shifter in my hand, with the intention of seeing if I could buy a new bolt. Along the way, I stupidly let the shifter fall out of my hand, it then hit the spokes, and was terminally damaged.

Now here's the second oddity - I've got the complete set of Deore XT rapidfire push-push shifters and brake lever STI set (totally brand new, never been used). I remember buying these (this would be '95, I know this, because this bike was stolen only a week or two later), because it was around the time I needed to get a new shifter for the one that broke, and these Deore XT STIs (non-servowave) were on sale in a LBS for either £30 or £35. They looked identical to the Deore DX STIs that I had, even down to the finish on them - they must have been a couple of years old, because my DX STIs were 92 vintage.

Thing is, I remember buying them thinking they were a good price and had the intention of putting them on my then Apex. I must have done something about the broken rear shifter, as I've still got it. Yet I can't remember what I did to sort it out - I would have thought that in 95 trying to get a single Deore DX rear shifter pod wouldn't have been the easiest, nor cheapest thing, yet I have no recollection of what I did about it.

I mean there's some parts I've got, I completely understand why, but others puzzle me.

So, what parts have you got stashed that you can't explain why (and I don't mean you can't explain to your wife / girlfriend / SO why ;-))?

Surely not 'senior moments' at your age?!

I thought I was bad enough not being able to remember why I'd come upstairs or where I'd put my specs.

I just find things that I can't remember even buying (and not just bike bits - clothes, shoes, CD's etc.), never mind the possible reasons for doing so.

In fairness, a lot of these bits have been stored in the loft for years.

But maybe it's the advancing of mad cow... ;-)

It just struck me as odd, having looked at them only the other day, and seeing so much of this type of kit for sale, recently.

The shifter I can sort of get, I must have bought one, 'cos the bike was usable before it got nicked. Maybe I blocked it out, because the price of one shifter was so traumatic at the time ;-)

I remember buying the set of XT STIs because it seemed like a good deal, and after all - it was XT kit (even if they looked suspiciously identical to my DX STIs ;-))

The cantis, though, really do puzzle me. It's not like I would have been finding kit on ebay in 95, so I wonder what happened to have obviously acquired another full set.

I'm glad, all the same, 'cos ideally I like to run cantis on my bike - and there's not much difference between these (from 92) and the 95 model year ones I'm currently using, and it's always good to have spares.

i bought a set of profile design bar ends the other week at the car boot. dont even need them..i think it is because they were 50p

I also got a set of spuds the other week or gaybay for £6...I dont even have any shoes or cleats :shock: coming from bmx I always run flatties anyway :roll:

Campy euclid U-brakes. I don't even have a frame w/ u brake mounts?