Recent content by Old Ned

Les West turned down an offer top ride for Bic pro team BITD because he was told that a percentage of his pay would be taken to provide for 'preparation' - and we all know what that meant.........................:cool::rolleyes:

Looking fast isn't the same as being fast sadly :rolleyes: It's one of Bernard Thompson's photos, he always took a good one.

I rode with them low in '68. No idea why looking back but I suppose I thought it looked cool back then. National Championship 50 on the Bath Road course turning into Pangbourne Lane with a mile or so to go. Still my fastest 50 I'm sorry to say.

Great trophy Mark. Lots of TT'ing history there. I know a lot of the riders listed having 'raced' against them in years gone by. I'm sure I rode the Nunbrook event a few times in the 70's and 80's - but you won't find my name on the trophy 😇

At the Het Volk (Het Niuesblad these days) race in Belgium in 1993 (or 94? memory not what it was!) we picked up 2 riders who had packed because of the cold. One was Thiery Marie the TT specialist and the other was Mauro. At the time we were happy to do this and got along fine with the pro's...

Sorry but it went YEARS ago!

Sorry, no idea at all these days.

I think that the Simplex barend levers from the 60's may have been slightly shaped. I preferred them to Campag as the body was shaped/rounded compared to Campag and they worked just as well. Regarding catching your knee on them, I'm sure some sprinter roadies changed gear out of the saddle...

According to Henry Cole (of motorbike fame) Mk3's are not as collectable or pricy as Mk 2' and much more so than Mk1's. On one of his shows a few days ago there were Choppers with derailleur gears (looked like low end Shimano) and stem lever. Were these an actual Raleigh option?

72' parallel were the go to angles for RR'ing in the 50's and early 60's and then 73' parallel became the norm. I remember Holdsworth using 75' on team bikes in the 70's (or was it 80's?) but they soon stopped that! Most of my more recent frames have been 74' parallel but I did have a TT bike...

A mate of mine had that happen to him some years ago going down a steep hill on an MTB with nobbly tyres. He lost his ear when he hit the deck so I started to fit a long bolt and a couple of nuts through the hole in the crown - just in case!

A friend of mine - who is Ronnie Corbett size - offered me his 1952 track bike that he rode at Fallowfield Stadium BITD. As I am rather taller (quite a bit actually!) I asked the size and he replied 23". What! I replied. Yes, he said, I rode it with the saddle on the top tube. It fits me...

I don't think there is any actual connection these days with the original 'small family run business with a great history'.

Yep, all a bit weird eh!

My 105's always seemed to jam over winter in the shed. WD40 always worked!