Recent content by Canuk

I've got a penchant for Reynolds 753 forks. They have that 'just right' balance of lightweight and plush ride. Carbon 1 inch forks can be pretty 'wibbly wobbly' and twitchy if they've not got steel steerers, which kinda defeats the purpose of light weight.There's an nos set on eBay, looks like...

I'm 5'9" and a bit. So I'm always on the lookout for 55/56cm franes. Fortunately in France it's a very common sizing so the choice for road bikes or randonneurs is pretty extensive. Definitely spoiled for choice. Those Cilo bikes are the nuts. Colnago quality without the price tag. It's weird...

Just for fun couple o years back I bought an Old Focus Mares, the cyclo cross version with Cantis. It was a great bike and relatively lightweight, but I'd seen these cheap Chinese disc forks and thought why not. 435gr. Chunky. Six months later in December, I went gravel bike full 180. Not only...

I think when you compare it to a Rene Herse, which would likely cost double it's a sound place to put your cash for a solid French collectable. I bought two Aviac frames a few years back, barn finds. Both of them gone white with the oxidizing, one with a stuck seat post the other the stem, but...

Some more close ups of this magnificent Aviac camper. 100% correct, right down to the 'Touring club de France' aluminium pot. Liking the stopwatch for timing your Paris-Brest-Paris! 3500 euros though. Is the seller being too ambitious? The level of finish is superb.

Wtf happend to Sean?!

It was the Peugeot GB team, and some of the bikes looked really 'race proven ', ie fairly abused. I don't doubt the Tour bikes are pristine, but cycle racing in the UK at that time was probably an afterthought for European based teams.

Our local bike shop is incredibly posh, it's a Shimano Di2 service centre and they stock (in no particular order) Bianchi, Focus and Orbea. I'd say about 50% of the stock is electric, and very little under 2k. But folk here are buying electric bikes like they would a second car (though very few...

Kind of reminds me of watching a Kellogg's one night in Manchester city centre and chatting to Sean Yates at the finish, and lo and behold a 531 frame in amongst all the Reynolds 753. How or what you might have done to piss off the mechanic remains a mystery!

This just come up for sale, it's a guy I met at Anjou Velo last year, a very keen eye for restoration. It's an Aviac camping model. 3500 though... I'm restoring two of these Aviacs and a Mecadural, I doubt I'll get anywhere near this finish as it's extremely original. Nice bloke, with superior...

Have it on good report from a French pro who has only recently retired from the sport that drug use is as bad as ever, and increasingly powerful and harder to detect forms like EPO. Massive bust in Andorra last year at a well known pharmacy. I do not believe there is a single pro peloton rider...

And a big bag of EPO for afters. Cheap as chips in Andorra. Yep, taking loads of drugs is still a full time job in the off season for your contemporary peloton pro.

Campagnolo is still 'de facto' in Italy. We took the boat in lake Garda last year and as we were getting off the ferry an Italian cycling club were getting on, all shouty and laughing, and almost every single rider on a Colnago. There were a few De Rosa and a Cinelli but that was out of about 40...

That's nice that, I'm about to rescue a Reynolds 501 Raleigh Panasonic from a certain trip to the dump. Is it just me or did ask the Raleigh's from this era suffer from a particularly shitty paint finish?

This is my favourite era of Campagnolo, the group that gave us the beautiful Delta brakes, that and the silver 9 speed kit. After that, it all gets a bit undesirable... 🤢