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Hi All,
I'm relatively new here, and started riding when the bikes that we are discussing on this here forum were just bikes, without the need for the retro prefix. My first road bike was a Raleigh Olympic 5 speed which I cynically steered into the path of an overtaking vehicle in order to write off and get what was at that time, my hearts true desire - a Raleigh Pursuit 10 speed. Turned out to be not the best plan, as I nearly wrote my 13 year old self off in the process, but all's well that ends well, and after a brief recuperation dad was taking me to the bike shop to acquire the aforementioned Pursuit with mint green decals. Parents thought it best to get me the 23" frame to 'grow into', and as things stand, 32 years later I'm yet to grow into it. 5 years merrily riding that bike around the byways of Essex, and I was off to university. Cycling as a hobby was cast aside in favour of cultivating an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Fast forward another 20 years, and another brush with mortality brought me to the realisation that I'm not invincible, and at 38, I finally rediscovered fitness as a positive energy in my life. I'd love to say that what brought me to vintage bikes was the need to reconnect with the 13 year old on the Raleigh Pursuit, but even at the tender age of 13 it took me all of 3 months to realise that the Pursuit was a shit bike that didn't fit me, and was largely specc'd by accountants that had no love for cycling or passion for their product. What has brought me to this forum is that I have exchanged one unhealthy passion for another (albeit one that is not as physically harmful to the old internal organs). I love bikes, I love riding bikes, I love working on bikes, looking at bikes, talking about bikes and well.. you get the picture. I have 1 bike that does everything I need, and it could easily be the only bike I owned, but like, I suspect, most people reading this, 1 bike is not enough. So I got a carbon bike and it's amazing and so much more bike than I can justify, and now I'm in the process of restoring another bike which I will probably never EVER ride when it's wet outside, and which i will probably spend more time and money working on than any of the bikes that I do actually ride, and saddest of all, I actually have a spot on my office wall where I will hang it so that I can just, you know, look at it whenever I'm feeling wistful. One more thing, for reasons that I really can't put my finger on, I REALLY love Condor steel frames.
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