No it's not the Aberdonian remake of a Danish crime drama, but my slow steady clear out has hit crunch time.
Most of my interests I've had for years and as such I've amassed quite a back catalogue of old kit. I've been through my snowboard stuff and am now down to one board, funnily enough an old 97 model thats graphics are now quite cool and retro. Upgrading to yet another "next gen" games console has put another one up into a cupboard along with all the associated games and controllers designed not to work with anything else (sounds like shimano stuff). Thing is, I now have all my old consoles going back 20 years. They'd sell on ebay and part of me wants to clear out, but then for all I'd get I sometimes think I'll just keep them (in the loft for another 20 years!) Anyone into retro gaming looking for anything at the moment?
And then there's the bike stuff. Before I moved, nearly 10 years ago I cleared out some old (bike!) mags but kept my MBUKs. So thats pretty much every issue since 1990. I think these need to go. I'm going to start with the most recent and work back. The ones up to 1997 were the heyday so I may stop the clearout there. Need to cut out all the Mint Sauce's first though so it could take a while. Also got a complete back catalogue of Singletrack mags, but with their digital back issue vault, thats kind of redundant now too. Going to have a final flick through them, but if anyone wants them let me know before they hit the recycling. Also got an archive box full of mtb videos on vhs. Did list them in the classifieds but had no interest, so if anyone still has a video player you are welcome to them, can bring them along to Baltic Bawbags.
Then the bikes...
There was a time where I accumulated bikes by just keeping the older ones when I bought a new bike. Then I started looking for particular bikes or types of bikes. In the last year and a half I've bought three others, and thats not including parts for the restorations and spares. Ok, I've also sold one, most of my tyre collection and lots of spares that didn't fit my current fleet but that's still a lot. A few discussions on here and other sites have prompted me to look again at what I've actually been using, with a view to thinning out, so here's my current thoughts in no particular order.
CX bike - Keep. Ironically it's the one where the bike itself I don't actually have any particular love for, but it's so versatile it get the highest mileage.
Mojo HD - Keep (definitely) Best suspension bike I've ever had.
Fat bike - Keep. We'll move quickly on, you either get them or you don't.
1985 Colnago - Keep (for now) One of last years buys and I did a mild resto on it. Not been used much, but hoping to get out more this year. Would love to do L'Eroica or Retro Ronde. Maybe after that itch is scratched I might move it on, but timing for those might take a few years.
1992 Cannondale Delta V - Keep. Bought as frame with missing bits and a knackered headshok. Nicely built of with restored shock and some original bits. Used this a lot this year. Great for local hacking and also quarry riding at Velotrails!
Cannondale Flash 29er. - Keep for now. A great bike for covering mixed ground and used a lot. My highest mileage mtb. BUT I've always had a hankering for a Ti frame and have a few other plans at the moment, which would fill the same purpose. One possibility is to use the Flash as a donor bike then sell the frame and forks, but I do like the Lefty.
Original early noughties 853 Inbred singlespeed. Sell. A great bike, did a load of races on it including the 04 singlespeed worlds in Berlin. Good memories, but currently sitting in my Mum's holiday house as I've no space. Moved it there to use when visiting but it's been 2 years and has never been out. Thing that bugs me is I'll hardly get anything for it but then I'd only be keeping it for the sake of it.
And now the hard one.
1997 GT STS. This is the bike that brought me to the site. To sell it. Then things didn't go to plan and I ended up doing a restoration on it and it's lovely. Problem is I've only ridden it in anger three times since. It just sits in the shed, gets pulled out now and again and looks pretty. But then again I've had it from new, have all the manuals. But I don't ride it..... It's not that I've gone off retrobikes, I love and ride the delta V, but the STS just doesn't fit my current needs. I do worry that if I sold it I'd regret it, but it is only a bike and the happy memories of rides and races will remain.
Sorry for the self indulgence but I needed to put my thoughts out there. I can't be the only one that has gone through this, especially after seeing Gaz put up about the Fat Chance last week.
Most of my interests I've had for years and as such I've amassed quite a back catalogue of old kit. I've been through my snowboard stuff and am now down to one board, funnily enough an old 97 model thats graphics are now quite cool and retro. Upgrading to yet another "next gen" games console has put another one up into a cupboard along with all the associated games and controllers designed not to work with anything else (sounds like shimano stuff). Thing is, I now have all my old consoles going back 20 years. They'd sell on ebay and part of me wants to clear out, but then for all I'd get I sometimes think I'll just keep them (in the loft for another 20 years!) Anyone into retro gaming looking for anything at the moment?
And then there's the bike stuff. Before I moved, nearly 10 years ago I cleared out some old (bike!) mags but kept my MBUKs. So thats pretty much every issue since 1990. I think these need to go. I'm going to start with the most recent and work back. The ones up to 1997 were the heyday so I may stop the clearout there. Need to cut out all the Mint Sauce's first though so it could take a while. Also got a complete back catalogue of Singletrack mags, but with their digital back issue vault, thats kind of redundant now too. Going to have a final flick through them, but if anyone wants them let me know before they hit the recycling. Also got an archive box full of mtb videos on vhs. Did list them in the classifieds but had no interest, so if anyone still has a video player you are welcome to them, can bring them along to Baltic Bawbags.
Then the bikes...
There was a time where I accumulated bikes by just keeping the older ones when I bought a new bike. Then I started looking for particular bikes or types of bikes. In the last year and a half I've bought three others, and thats not including parts for the restorations and spares. Ok, I've also sold one, most of my tyre collection and lots of spares that didn't fit my current fleet but that's still a lot. A few discussions on here and other sites have prompted me to look again at what I've actually been using, with a view to thinning out, so here's my current thoughts in no particular order.
CX bike - Keep. Ironically it's the one where the bike itself I don't actually have any particular love for, but it's so versatile it get the highest mileage.
Mojo HD - Keep (definitely) Best suspension bike I've ever had.
Fat bike - Keep. We'll move quickly on, you either get them or you don't.
1985 Colnago - Keep (for now) One of last years buys and I did a mild resto on it. Not been used much, but hoping to get out more this year. Would love to do L'Eroica or Retro Ronde. Maybe after that itch is scratched I might move it on, but timing for those might take a few years.
1992 Cannondale Delta V - Keep. Bought as frame with missing bits and a knackered headshok. Nicely built of with restored shock and some original bits. Used this a lot this year. Great for local hacking and also quarry riding at Velotrails!
Cannondale Flash 29er. - Keep for now. A great bike for covering mixed ground and used a lot. My highest mileage mtb. BUT I've always had a hankering for a Ti frame and have a few other plans at the moment, which would fill the same purpose. One possibility is to use the Flash as a donor bike then sell the frame and forks, but I do like the Lefty.
Original early noughties 853 Inbred singlespeed. Sell. A great bike, did a load of races on it including the 04 singlespeed worlds in Berlin. Good memories, but currently sitting in my Mum's holiday house as I've no space. Moved it there to use when visiting but it's been 2 years and has never been out. Thing that bugs me is I'll hardly get anything for it but then I'd only be keeping it for the sake of it.
And now the hard one.
1997 GT STS. This is the bike that brought me to the site. To sell it. Then things didn't go to plan and I ended up doing a restoration on it and it's lovely. Problem is I've only ridden it in anger three times since. It just sits in the shed, gets pulled out now and again and looks pretty. But then again I've had it from new, have all the manuals. But I don't ride it..... It's not that I've gone off retrobikes, I love and ride the delta V, but the STS just doesn't fit my current needs. I do worry that if I sold it I'd regret it, but it is only a bike and the happy memories of rides and races will remain.
Sorry for the self indulgence but I needed to put my thoughts out there. I can't be the only one that has gone through this, especially after seeing Gaz put up about the Fat Chance last week.
