Would love to see the Soulcraft. I too own one of these. Beautiful bikes
Salsa a la Carte Jellybean
- Thread starter Tomianson
- Start date
M-Power
Old School Grand Master
Or John Tomac riding a Mongoose frame made by FAT in the late 80s As an IBIS owner you should know there is a fun pranking history with them and FAT.
Prodigal Son
Senior Retro Guru
Don Myrah.
Prodigal Son
Senior Retro Guru
Tomac later rode a Merlin painted as Raleigh and a Control Tech painted as a Giant. That was common then.
suburbanreuben
Old School Grand Master
Is that an Option 3?
suburbanreuben
Old School Grand Master
It is. I bought it on ebay a few years back from the wife of a bloke who bought it while in california on business. He never came to terms with the fact that a 21" frame was way too big for him. There is a thread in readers bikes about it somewhere...
Thats beautiful. ill not post mine up as its not fair on Tom and his awesome A La Carte
suburbanreuben
Old School Grand Master
That good eh? Stick a pic on my option 3 thread if you like or email me...
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
@ Pw_pw_la Think you nailed it first para. I have owned and ridden most of the iconic retro bikes having worked in the trade and when riding with a big regular possy around Epping Forest bitd. There was seemingly plenty of money ( a 15yr old on new circa £4k 93 Manitou FS ) and rare US import bikes getting a regular hammering around there. Lazy lunchs, tea and cake breaks meant bike swops and proper test comparisons were made - loved this. I remember a Yoof trials jumping my T Max up all over a burned out Maxi and not being worried about it snapping.
Being OCD by nature I was always looking for the ultimate ride. If I have learned one thing on RB over the years, its that the power of marketing and nostalgia far outweighs looks or a frame/bikes performance. Nobody really cares about ride reports but unsurprisingly a good showing in BOTM is highly coveted. As an aside, I have noticed a big increase in groups of guys out riding not only in London but in Herts these days. Its all modern but its just nice to see people out actually riding in this glorious weather. Its all cycling at the end of the day.
I've always been a pretty solitary rider (I like to be out in the wilderness, ideally, just me and the bike and the view) but more and more recently I've been going on group rides here in LA, and those offer a lot of excactly this.
Bike chat; bike swaps; getting to talk about how people like riding the bikes they ride; educating each other on the things we know and others maybe don't; swapping stories, feedback; seeing how other people build and ride what they do. All of this tends to feel more like practical education and inspiration, rather than just looking at pictures of nice bikes online!
Don't get me wrong; I love the pictures and the online chatter, the nerding out on all the little details. But getting to really talk, and laugh, and look over builds and bikes in person (the way certain bikes ride and components function), while actually riding them, really is something else.
The Total Trash rides here in LA (old 26" bikes, predominantly) is especially good for this.
There's another one of those tomorrow, and I'm already really looking forward to it!
