Afternoon all,
Thought I'd pop in and say hi - a quick intro, and (of course) a question or two...
As a teenager growing up in the Surrey Hills I was massively into biking - when I wasn't hacking around the woods I was poring through MBUK mag and building jumps in the garden. I never really had much money to throw at it but managed to build this old thing over a few years (apologies for the grainy photo, it's all I have of the bike!). Some time around 2002, I think:
This was a Viper B52 Bomber jump bike frame built up with (from memory) some Marzocchi Z1 Drop-Offs, single front ring, Sora rear derailleur (for the ground clearance, obvs), a Formula front disc and HS33 rear rim brake, and the fattest Tioga/Michelin tyre combo I could fit at the time. It looks like the 'Viper' brand was pretty short-lived and the above photo was from a few years after I sold it (hence the triple chainset and V-brakes fitted here). It was an awesome thing for me though and sure took some punishment. Teenagers bounce!
Naturally I turned 17 and discovered cars (not to mention various other things to occupy myself with) so you'll have to fast-forward a few years unless you want pics of a series of road and track cars ...
I was cajoled into joining the 'Palace-to-Palace' charity ride 4-5 years ago by some colleagues at work. Given I hadn't ridden for several years at that point I signed up with some trepidation, but was offered a loaner Specialized Allez a few months before and discovered that I actually quite liked being a roadie. I bought that very bike soon after and still have it now - Strava tells me I've covered about 1500 miles on it and (aside from tyres) it's still exactly as I bought it.
It's a bit new for these pages (2009 model) and pretty modest spec, but as a lone rider trying to avoid the temptations of upgrading stuff I'm very happy with it and have become quite attached. Besides, I have enough expensive hobbies and this way I know any improvements are made by me rather than the bike!
I also wanted a cheap bike I could just jump on and go for a quick hack around - particularly useful at the moment - and found my other bike on eBay for about 50 quid. It is - I believe, but happy to be corrected - a 90s Univega frame of some sort that has been powder-coated in grey, paired with some P2 forks, TruVativ cranks, Wellgo V8 pedals, EA30 bars, Deore levers and some unbranded V-brakes. There's some sort of singlespeed conversion on there which has been pretty reliable and I think it looks pretty smart overall.
This is how I bought it:
The original Schwalbe Cityjets perished so I threw on some 1.95" tyres I had kicking around, and swapped out the torturous Charge Bucket saddle for a colour-matching Specialized unit. Otherwise, aside from removing some crappy stickers, it remained as I bought it for the last few years. It's a charming old thing, really, and it's not had much love but (like many) I find myself with more time on my hands so I'm going to go through a bit of a recommissioning project.
First of all I'd like to identify a model and year if possible - a bit of googling suggests I have a Univega Alpina Pro from sometime in the 1990s?
After spending too much time on eBay I've ended up with two pairs of forks - some '96 Z2s (now fitted) and some '00 Z4s. Both coil sprung. I think I'll swap the Z2s for the Z4s for the time being and maybe see if the former can be serviced, as they're suffering from quite a bit more stiction than I remember being an issue....
I'd also like to start exploring a few more of the local trails (I'm in South Oxon now) so have started collecting bits to fit a rear cassette & derailleur. Whilst I've got it all in bits I'll clean up some of the manky bits and give it a general check over. Any other suggestions are welcome
Thought I'd pop in and say hi - a quick intro, and (of course) a question or two...
As a teenager growing up in the Surrey Hills I was massively into biking - when I wasn't hacking around the woods I was poring through MBUK mag and building jumps in the garden. I never really had much money to throw at it but managed to build this old thing over a few years (apologies for the grainy photo, it's all I have of the bike!). Some time around 2002, I think:
This was a Viper B52 Bomber jump bike frame built up with (from memory) some Marzocchi Z1 Drop-Offs, single front ring, Sora rear derailleur (for the ground clearance, obvs), a Formula front disc and HS33 rear rim brake, and the fattest Tioga/Michelin tyre combo I could fit at the time. It looks like the 'Viper' brand was pretty short-lived and the above photo was from a few years after I sold it (hence the triple chainset and V-brakes fitted here). It was an awesome thing for me though and sure took some punishment. Teenagers bounce!
Naturally I turned 17 and discovered cars (not to mention various other things to occupy myself with) so you'll have to fast-forward a few years unless you want pics of a series of road and track cars ...
I was cajoled into joining the 'Palace-to-Palace' charity ride 4-5 years ago by some colleagues at work. Given I hadn't ridden for several years at that point I signed up with some trepidation, but was offered a loaner Specialized Allez a few months before and discovered that I actually quite liked being a roadie. I bought that very bike soon after and still have it now - Strava tells me I've covered about 1500 miles on it and (aside from tyres) it's still exactly as I bought it.
It's a bit new for these pages (2009 model) and pretty modest spec, but as a lone rider trying to avoid the temptations of upgrading stuff I'm very happy with it and have become quite attached. Besides, I have enough expensive hobbies and this way I know any improvements are made by me rather than the bike!
I also wanted a cheap bike I could just jump on and go for a quick hack around - particularly useful at the moment - and found my other bike on eBay for about 50 quid. It is - I believe, but happy to be corrected - a 90s Univega frame of some sort that has been powder-coated in grey, paired with some P2 forks, TruVativ cranks, Wellgo V8 pedals, EA30 bars, Deore levers and some unbranded V-brakes. There's some sort of singlespeed conversion on there which has been pretty reliable and I think it looks pretty smart overall.
This is how I bought it:
The original Schwalbe Cityjets perished so I threw on some 1.95" tyres I had kicking around, and swapped out the torturous Charge Bucket saddle for a colour-matching Specialized unit. Otherwise, aside from removing some crappy stickers, it remained as I bought it for the last few years. It's a charming old thing, really, and it's not had much love but (like many) I find myself with more time on my hands so I'm going to go through a bit of a recommissioning project.
First of all I'd like to identify a model and year if possible - a bit of googling suggests I have a Univega Alpina Pro from sometime in the 1990s?
After spending too much time on eBay I've ended up with two pairs of forks - some '96 Z2s (now fitted) and some '00 Z4s. Both coil sprung. I think I'll swap the Z2s for the Z4s for the time being and maybe see if the former can be serviced, as they're suffering from quite a bit more stiction than I remember being an issue....
I'd also like to start exploring a few more of the local trails (I'm in South Oxon now) so have started collecting bits to fit a rear cassette & derailleur. Whilst I've got it all in bits I'll clean up some of the manky bits and give it a general check over. Any other suggestions are welcome
