A ride for the people, the Sean Kelly Cyclosportive
My first bike was a Sears Moonlight Special. It was literally a piece of shit – figuratively. I mean, it would only “literally” be a piece of shit if shit was made of sand-filled steel tubes salvaged from the plumbing of the local sewage facility. Which it might have been, but I simply don’t have the peer-reviewed evidence to back that claim up.
I feel comfortable stating that this bike cost less than $50 USD back in the early 70’s, and it was yellow. It also had a saddle which, upon my personal dissection (Go Science!) was conclusively comprised of a shaped steel plate covered by a thin foam pad and a faux-leather shell. Made in America, fuck yeah. That’s one reason right there that the United States doesn’t have the same over-population problems China does.
After that, I was given my dad’s Raleigh, made of Reynolds 531 tubing which I loved deeply, apart from the exposed brake cables and Weinmann centerpull brakes. I installed some aero brake levers on it and quickly learned the value of owning some proper brake-adjustment tools like the Third Hand. (I’m not sure why a Third Hand is a bicycle-specific innovation; having one more hand feels like a genetically-viable mutation.)
Finally, after a summer of saving up, I bought my own proper racing bicycle, a Cannonwhale SR700 with Shimano 105. In hot pink, for $700. I loved the shit out of that bike, crowning it with every accessory (apart from an EPMS) that one can think of: I couldn’t afford Scott Drop-ins, so I happily accepted my brother’s bar-ends from his Bridgestone as substitutes. I saved up for ages and bought a Selle San Marco Regal and got one step closer to looking like Greg LeMan. Benotto bar tape was a no-brainer at only a few bucks a roll. So Pro, so cheap. And it never wore out and it didn’t matter how bad you were at wapping bars; if you needed four rolls to cover the real-estate (wrapping the brake levers cleanly is the crux), then you were still only out about $10.
It was such a great bike. I rode it in France, Belgium, The Netherlands, not to mention most of the northern United States. I rode with my family, my friends; I rode with my dad the most. In fact, the only time I dumped that beautiful Regal saddle was with him, five minutes into the first ride with that saddle when he decided to change the route and hang a louie when I was overlapping wheels with him. Scraped the leather clean off the right-side of the saddle. No worries, a little super-glue and the saddle lasted me another 10 years.
I lost and found my way back into Cycling two or three times during the lifetime of that $700 bike. If I was the man I am today, I’d have kept it, too. I still have many of the parts, but I dumped the frame because it’s too big for me, and I didn’t realize how much it would mean to me today. We all walk the path of La Vie Velominatus in steps; it is only natural to wander off the path from time to time.
My #1 is worth something like $10k, maybe more, maybe less. Which in any case is a stupid amount of money for a bicycle. My Nine Bike is the hand-me-down, worth a bit less but in practical terms, almost the same. An entry-level bike, like my ‘Wale SR700 would cost a few thousand dollars today, well out of reach of a young Velominatus hoping to get into the sport.
Cycling is supposed to be the accessible sport, the sport of The People. What happened?
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I thought Frank was going to discuss proper tire pressures.
Nostalgia. My first proper racer was a Viking with a crap groupset but all I could afford. I re sprayed it with a red white fade ( it was '87) and cut a 531 label out of a Reynolds tubing brochure and faked it on the frame. Red suede Turbo saddle, added an Ultegra group over time and added Mavic Open 4CD's on Ultegra hubs. Cinelli quill stem, the one with a range of coloured plastic inserts, and aero brakes. I would love to see that bike again.
For me the first proper road bike I had was a second hand 10 speed Peugeot Premier, steel in white, I've no idea what the tubing was, I sold it for £50 to help buy a brand new Marin Bear valley SE hardtail mtb and it was off road all the way for a few years. In an attempt to get really serious about xc racing I bought a third or fourth hand Ciocc road bike, 105 groupset & Columbus tubed that I got professionally resprayed in burnt orange. I've told the sad tale of it and me being somewhat squashed by a pick up truck on here previously but by then I'd moved onto a Giant Cadex with it's carbon tubes bonded into aluminium lugs. I wish I still had both those bikes though.
The first brand new road bike I bought and built up from scratch was a Trek 5500 OCLV frame in full USPS colours of the day (2003). That bike I loved more than any other as it was just as I wanted, Ultegra (wifevand 2 kids to feed) the original Ksyriums, Deda finishing kit. It was raced but never ridden in the winter. That was the Giant's job. When a Merida Scultura Evo Team came my way as a hand me down from son #2 who had decided to 'retire' from cycling at 18 the Trek was sold on, still in A1 condition. Would I have that one back? Dunno. Unlikely.
Now I'm going back to steel for the #1 bike most likely a Shand Skinnymalinky, no Di2, no discs, something that can and will be ridden all over and all year round.
Funny how it's going full circle for me with no thought of buying into all this technology.
With the internet came the availability of a worldwide secondary market, so my entry-level bike two years ago was $500 (including shoes)- a Trek 1.1 with Speedplay pedals. My new #1 is still sub $2k and has a carbon frame/fork and a good group-san that serves me just fine.
I did the good parenting thing and got my 10-year old a real road bike (kid sized). $450 ain't cheap- that's the market that I think could use some work. If you're 12 and under, you're buy-in is high unless your awesome dad foregoes a new set of alloy wheels for his #1 just to get you riding.
We've been here before but what the heck. My first bike........
Yes, cycling is still ultimately very accessible to nearly all, something that functions half decently can be found on any 2nd hand site etc, then it is up to the individual to aim 'higher' if that is the correct term for expensive.
I still recall my first proper bike, as I thought of it anyway, a red and white CCM something from Crappy Tire, poo-poo if you must, but the thrill of drafting behind a city bus down Geneva Street in St Catharines will always bring a smile to my ugly mug.
Fast Fwd to the latest issue of 'Cyclist' now, and the three bikes reviewed are £3k, £7k and £17k, then wheel sets which cost more than my car.
Ah well, it is still fun and good to dream though.
First ever road bike was a hand me down from the old man, ca 1985 Peugeot with Campy throughout. Was two sizes too small but to my eternal shame I got rid of it after college. Pretty maroon color, too. Sigh.
I'm the sort of person who buys a new bike about once a decade (last new bike was a Scott Speedster with Sora gruppo-san I bought the first year of grad school), so I guess I don't mind spending a bit more to buy something that lasts.
I guess that my last new bike was the 16 kilo monster that I commute on. But that probably doesn't count. We don't need to revisit the "heavier bikes make you stronger at a given speed" debate ;)
This is something I've got feelings on. I've got a decent job, but it still took me a year to save up for my $1000 Felt. It took me another year to save up for my $1100 CAADx (which at the moment has less than 1 km on it). And that's just the bikes. Then there's the clothes - part of the reason it's so hard to save for n+1. I bought Giro Carbides to go on the cross bike. Scoured the internet for sales and got a pair in the neighborhood of $70 - quite a deal. But I can count on one hand the number of shoes I've bough in the past decade that cost more than $50 a pair (and half of them have been bike shoes). I buy most of my jeans at Target and will only do so when they're on sale for $25 or less, and yet when I see a pair of bibs for $75 I jump at that bargain. True, if I had things my way I'd spend more time in the bibs than the jeans, but being a cyclist takes some coin. The reality is you pay for quality, but I can't help but think I'm getting fleeced...
@wiscot
To my eternal regret, I missed meeting Kelly at a truck stop outside of Paris after the 85 tour. I saw the car and the bikes but was too focused on food to register the fact that it might be Kelly’s car. I mean, a truck stop outside of Paris, hardly where one might expect to bump into one of the all time greats.
"If you stop at one of the self-service places on the motorway you can see exactly what you are getting and have it eaten in half an hour. That means an extra hour's sleep somewhere further on in the journey." Sean Kelly to David Walsh in "Kelly", published 1986. Just happened to be reading it. Again.