Hi all,
Thought I’d share this one: a Hotta carbon time trial bike that I bought from Keith Boardman, Chris’s dad, quite a few years back. Keith told me it was one of Chris Boardman’s training frames, which makes it a pretty special bit of British TT history.
I last raced it in 2002, and it’s been hanging up ever since (the chain hasn’t seen lube in over 23 years). I’m planning a light refresh soon with some NOS parts and new bar tape.
The forks are replacements, as the original 650c front fork steerer came loose during a session at the Manchester Velodrome. It’s running an almost full Mavic Mektronic groupset with Mavic Cosmic wheels, though I always regretted not finding a Mavic Comete rear disc to finish it off properly.
Not seen in the photo are a few nice original touches: the GAN team stickers that were on the frame and saddle, track end, and Chris’s cut-down seatpost that came with it. I also have his Giro TT helmet, which wasn’t available to the public back in the day. It even came in a Frédéric Moncassin (his teammate) helmet bag a real time capsule from that era.
I don’t have much of a collection these days, but this one’s definitely a keeper. The bike’s weathered the years far better than I have. I used to be able to hold that position for two hours, now it’s about twenty seconds before the 180 mm cranks start kicking the belly.
