REtrouble
Cleland Fan
Not a particularly exciting bike but Happy Birthday (bought-day) to my old Bear Valley, I took these photos this evening on a short birthday ride, it's 20 years ago today that I wheeled it out of Scotby Cycles in Carlisle (probably listening to "Guru Josh" "Infinity" on the way home!), 419 quid lighter , doesn't sound much now, but it was a lot of money to me then, made a little easier by trading in my not very old & not very good Peugeot MTB (can't remember the model, white with red & blue "flecks" IIRC). I don't generally hang onto receipts but had this one. Spread out over 20 years it's cost around 50p per week including maintainance!
For it's birthday it's had probably the best clean, in those 20 years! Obviously it's not original having had bits & bobs changed over the years, I painted the forks, stem & bars metallic blue (basecoat & 2K lacquer) shortly after I bought it just to make it a bit different, removed the incredibly easy to peel off "Bear Valley" decals because I thought it was a crap name. Kelloggs reflector was added as a joke to offend my riding buddies at the time, it's been there ever since. I totaled the rear wheel within a year or so & got it re-built with a Wolber AT20 rim, the front is still the original Araya RX-7.
I recently put the Marin Rockstar tyres on that I'd had laying about that came off a Pine Mountain 18 years ago, I thought I may as well use them, they are in incredible shape for their age, no perishing. The seat I've just put on, can't remember if it came off the Bear Valley, I think more likely the Pine mountain, it's fabric covered, anyone? Everything else is original except the usual service stuff & the recent Ergon grips (sorry........it's my age you know......)
Though it's not in bad shape it's a wonder as it really did see a lot of action in the Lake District where I lived at the time, I did a lot of riding footpaths that you'd probably get arrested for now, I used to regularly ride down "Skiddaw" the fell behind Keswick, I remember one ride from Grange in Borrowdale to the top of Skiddaw then to the top of Helvellyn & back to Grange in one go, quite a slog, if anyone knows the area.
I haven't been totally faithful to it, I bought the above mentioned Pine Mountain a couple of years later, the Bear Valley was sold to my boss at the time, luckily for me he rode it once, found out it required effort so put it in the back of his garage, this turned out to be quite handy when the Pine Mountain & me were written off by an old Land Rover aimed by an even older cateracted farmer, when the full length cast was taken off my leg & replaced by a short cast from knee to ankle I realized I could probably ride a bike, so the Bear valley returned back into my life, riding it with a cast on my leg while waiting to heal & get back to work. Though I carried on cycling, the time recovering, followed by a few changes of work & eventually a move to Spain meant cycling took a bit of a back seat for a few years, the Bear Valley has been used but infrequently (spending quite a long spell looking sad hung on the wall), in the past four years or so I've been cycling more & more, even cycling from UK to Spain last year (Dawes "bitsa"), as well as other bikes it now getting ridden again, it may not be flash & it may be heavy but it still makes me smile.
Happy 20th Boughtday my Bear Valley, heres to 20+ more!
For it's birthday it's had probably the best clean, in those 20 years! Obviously it's not original having had bits & bobs changed over the years, I painted the forks, stem & bars metallic blue (basecoat & 2K lacquer) shortly after I bought it just to make it a bit different, removed the incredibly easy to peel off "Bear Valley" decals because I thought it was a crap name. Kelloggs reflector was added as a joke to offend my riding buddies at the time, it's been there ever since. I totaled the rear wheel within a year or so & got it re-built with a Wolber AT20 rim, the front is still the original Araya RX-7.
I recently put the Marin Rockstar tyres on that I'd had laying about that came off a Pine Mountain 18 years ago, I thought I may as well use them, they are in incredible shape for their age, no perishing. The seat I've just put on, can't remember if it came off the Bear Valley, I think more likely the Pine mountain, it's fabric covered, anyone? Everything else is original except the usual service stuff & the recent Ergon grips (sorry........it's my age you know......)
Though it's not in bad shape it's a wonder as it really did see a lot of action in the Lake District where I lived at the time, I did a lot of riding footpaths that you'd probably get arrested for now, I used to regularly ride down "Skiddaw" the fell behind Keswick, I remember one ride from Grange in Borrowdale to the top of Skiddaw then to the top of Helvellyn & back to Grange in one go, quite a slog, if anyone knows the area.
I haven't been totally faithful to it, I bought the above mentioned Pine Mountain a couple of years later, the Bear Valley was sold to my boss at the time, luckily for me he rode it once, found out it required effort so put it in the back of his garage, this turned out to be quite handy when the Pine Mountain & me were written off by an old Land Rover aimed by an even older cateracted farmer, when the full length cast was taken off my leg & replaced by a short cast from knee to ankle I realized I could probably ride a bike, so the Bear valley returned back into my life, riding it with a cast on my leg while waiting to heal & get back to work. Though I carried on cycling, the time recovering, followed by a few changes of work & eventually a move to Spain meant cycling took a bit of a back seat for a few years, the Bear Valley has been used but infrequently (spending quite a long spell looking sad hung on the wall), in the past four years or so I've been cycling more & more, even cycling from UK to Spain last year (Dawes "bitsa"), as well as other bikes it now getting ridden again, it may not be flash & it may be heavy but it still makes me smile.
Happy 20th Boughtday my Bear Valley, heres to 20+ more!
