Iwasgoodonce
Old School Grand Master
Many moons ago when the rocks were soft and the air was misty there was a young lad with lots of hair and a 30" waist. He had a couple of mountain bikes, an overweight Saracen which he loved and a Kona Cindercone which he never got on with. The frame was too small for me (moving to first person!) and I never really got the straight forks thing. The Kona was stolen which still really annoyed me but with the money from the insurance I decided on something different...A road bike.
I got the Alan (not a make I had heard of) second hand in my local shop (Hot Pursuit in Totnes). It had Ofmega hubs, a very long cage Campagnolo rear mech and Olympic Montreal tub rims. The shop rebuilt the wheels with MA2 clincher rims although I still have the Montreals.
I did countless miles on it including some minor stage races in Wales with the University team and some epic miles in the mountains of S Wales and the hills of Devon. Various bits got changed. The rear Ofmega snapped and was replaced with a Mavic hub. The rear mech went on to the Saracen and was also replaced with a Mavic. Dual Pivot Shimano brakes and aero levers took care (very well as usual) of stopping.
The bike was retired as I no longer trusted the bonding. An 853 custom built Mike Kowal (pics to follow) replaced it and it festered in the loft for years. Fast forward to now and it is down and rebuilt. Well nearly, this is a progress report more than anything. The original brakes and levers are back on. Cranks and front mech are originals and martinb has supplied an old Shimano 600 rear mech which has polished up rather well.
Old Ned assures me that the tubes screw into the lugs as well as being glued so this might be used on the more gentle Midlands roads when I fancy a quiet bimble. Here's how it came out of the loft: (Saddle is original, it actually used to make me bleed so who knows why I kept it?)
I got the Alan (not a make I had heard of) second hand in my local shop (Hot Pursuit in Totnes). It had Ofmega hubs, a very long cage Campagnolo rear mech and Olympic Montreal tub rims. The shop rebuilt the wheels with MA2 clincher rims although I still have the Montreals.
I did countless miles on it including some minor stage races in Wales with the University team and some epic miles in the mountains of S Wales and the hills of Devon. Various bits got changed. The rear Ofmega snapped and was replaced with a Mavic hub. The rear mech went on to the Saracen and was also replaced with a Mavic. Dual Pivot Shimano brakes and aero levers took care (very well as usual) of stopping.
The bike was retired as I no longer trusted the bonding. An 853 custom built Mike Kowal (pics to follow) replaced it and it festered in the loft for years. Fast forward to now and it is down and rebuilt. Well nearly, this is a progress report more than anything. The original brakes and levers are back on. Cranks and front mech are originals and martinb has supplied an old Shimano 600 rear mech which has polished up rather well.
Old Ned assures me that the tubes screw into the lugs as well as being glued so this might be used on the more gentle Midlands roads when I fancy a quiet bimble. Here's how it came out of the loft: (Saddle is original, it actually used to make me bleed so who knows why I kept it?)