My time with 5 bridesmaids…

[Once A Hero]

Reflecting on a surprising runner-up spot in the April BOTM poll, got me checking exactly how many times I’d been a runner-up, as I was thinking it must be 3 or 4 by now. But no, as far as I can tell I’ve been a runner-up 5 times now!

That’s from about 15 or so entries since late 2019.

As it happens I still have all of those runner-ups, so I thought I’d drag them all out into the daylight together

 

[shepp]

How did the specialized and Merlin come second. Shame on the voters

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

We need a special month category - Pick of the Once a Hero Bridesmaid collection.

Ha, if your luck is anything like mine, you'd still come second!

My main criteria for selecting a bike is "go back to the year that bike was made, is it a bike that I would have wanted to own, and is it set up with parts that I would loved to have thrown on it". The Merlin is the top example of that. Looks fast, great parts spec, and something I desired at the time it came out - in other words, a bike that, in its day, I would be itching for the next ride.

For what it's worth, I recall voting for the Merlin, and I think I also gave the KHS my vote because they were a quality, underdog brand that I always respected.

Whether they have taken out the honours or not - that is an awesome collection of nicely specced and presented bikes. If those are the bridesmaids, then I wanna be at that wedding...