Retrobike - Hands Across the Water!

Due to meet 'erolorhun' in a hotel bar in Stockholm this Saturday - hopefully to exchange SEKs for retro jerseys (only doing it to spite JV on the Brooklyn cycling top )...

If I don't make it back for the Big Spring Ride - call Interpol!

Neil

make sure you're protected if you're exchanging SEKs

I don't know...

What did your mother tell you about meeting strange men with Lycra suits you meet online

especially offering SEKs

hmmm, not sure I would tell many people outside of bikeland I am going to meet some guy off internet dressed in lycra
:shock:

JV is now commonly referred to by others as my 'internet friend'

Surreal Transaction Completed!

Sunday pm - Somewhere in Stockholm

Met with Retrobike's resident Swede Erol last night in the hotel bar, to swap cash for 3 NOS vintage jerseys - the surrealness of the transaction was not lost on either of us, me buying a 20 year old unused Orange race team top from a Swede in downtown Stockholm!

A thoroughly decent chap with a bizarrely in-depth knowledge of the UK MTB scene, (how come he knows so much about Mint Sauce and Chipps Chippendale??) Erol was involved in the recent Singlespeed World Champs held here in Stockholm this year - apparently marshalling in the woods. He has a unique collection of original manufacturer catalogues that he's looking to sell, now that he is streamlining his archive - so make him a decent offer!

He has advised me to check out a bike shop called Dr. Spoke run by an ex-pat Scotsman - which I plan to do tomorrow after I have sourced some decent 12" vinyl...

More anon from your roving reporter...

Neil

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! That Brooklyn logo is the most famous brand of Italian Chewing Gum!! :shock:

Sometimes life gets more and more bizarre!

I met Mikedee in a hotel carpark today to exchange cash for various bike bits.

We really are obsessed!

Dr Spoke

On a tip from local Erol, I headed south of Sodermalm to find the legendary 'Dr Spoke' on Monday. The good Doctor turns out to be an ex-pat called Phil, who runs a hard-to-find workshop, now specialising in suspension rebuilds.

He was caught Retrobike red handed working on a nice Klein with RS1s (with an early Chris King WTB headset!) and had other gems littering the premises including a mint Orange C16; an nice Ibis road bike and another Attitude frame awaiting a respray.

Seems 'retrobiking' is a global phenomenon - although in some parts of the world it doesn't have a name yet!

Neil

Stockholm - Last Post

Odds and sods of tenuous retro nature from Stockholm city centre - Honda Element, perfect modern retro MTB uplift wheels; an abandoned Miyata frame for Melvin to salvage; an abandoned e-stay (one of two I spotted) labelled a 'Pacific'. I also stumbled upon an abandoned direct copy of my 89 Alien, badged as a 'CyclePro'. I hope Richard Cunningham got all his royalties...!

Neil