They were my first shoes, and everyone thought I was some kind of rich kid…

Frank, you’re a detail maniac. But Big Ears White has got you there on the cranks… welcome to the fold!

– Guns flexing, face firing off a load of The V (seems that was all that was on offer in the late 80’s, early 90’s)
– Steel frame, chrome stays
– Box-rim tubs with 3-cross spoke patterns, front and back
– “Customized” groupo meaning in this case that the rider chose the lighter brakeset from the Chorus group over the heavier (and prettier) Delta set from the Record group
– Team-issue bibs with a leaders jersey
– No helmet (sorry, safety and sensibility, you’re not as cool as recklessness)
– Campy skewers/hubs (isn’t it a disgrace that Campy has fallen from the skewer market, given that is where they started?)
– Benoto handlebar tape
– Turbo saddle
– Dust-caps removed from cranksets
– Pouring-fucking-rain
– Taped-over sponsors because they were not cool in the country where the race was being held and thus you put a sticker in it’s place with a cooler sponsor

I think the defining moment in my life as a Velominatus must have been the moment that I discovered that three items which were standard-issue on a bike were not appropriate for employement on my bicycle:

1) Crankset dust caps
2) Valve stem caps
3) Useless valve washer things that I don’t regard in high enough esteem to name properly.

As for Time, I had to have some except as usual, I got it ever so slightly wrong. Coming straight from toe-clips and having to save my pocket-money for them, I got the pedals first. That meant twist-release pedals and shoes with sloppy mesh sides. On numerous occasions I fell off because the material collapsed instead of my foot releasing. However, that justified new shoes and getting my parents to drive me the hour or so to the only stockist in the area. So in late ’90 I proudly bought myself a pair of white Time shoes, only later to realise that I’d bought the mark 1 model and not the mark 2 as sported by Perico. I was already out-of-date and worse, I’d paid the same as for a pair of mark 2’s.

By ’92 the pedals were dying and the spring stuck, causing my foot to be held in an unnatural position, ultimately leading to damaged knee tendons. For a while my love for Time diminished and I moved over to Look and Sidi, but again worn pedals and dodgy knees led me back to Time Pedals in ’97. But there would not be a return to Time shoes. I’d briefly had a pair of the Equipe EQ shoes, the ones that added the blue but they weren’t the same, I didn’t have the same love for them. I’d missed the golden era of the Mark 3 Equipe.

Since then, other than a year on LOOK due to “sponsorship” I’ve run time pedals ever since, both road and mountain bike. On the road I always seem to be a generation late, to the extent that I missed the Impact’s entirely. I’m hoping that I might actually get onto the I-clics next year.

I could go off on a whole trip about the clipless pedal tribes…best save that

I do wonder about the saddles from the mid 1980s-early 1990s. All the Pros seemed to have them tilted up just a bit; now the style seems to have them totally level. Can anyone explain this? I tend to like mind tilted up just a bit, but wonder why this has gone out of use/fashion/style?

They invented the whole notion of getting the ball of the foot close to the axle.

I struggled with knee pain for the last four years until I moved the ball of my foot as far forward as the shoe/cleat combo will allow.

I have to say, I’ve been on the Time RSX pedals for a while, and I absolutely love them. Also have an Impact which is equally awesome. Time pretty much rules. The invented the whole notion of getting the ball of the foot close to the axle.

I think he’s in compliance based on the asterisk; his bars are matched to the decals, the tires and saddles match to black. Granted, but sub-note 3 indicates that the tenants of Rule #8 can be mixed and matched by an expert and that can only judged by aestheticism.

I think his machine looks mighty fine and I feel he is in compliance with the Rule.

And look at that seatpost! And those bars are perfectly level! And The V is definitely being laid down!

AND HIS WHEELS ARE POSITIONED IDENTICALLY. Someone positioned his labels in the same place before he took off! That’s what I’m talking about.

Of course Perico is in violation of Rule #8, which begs the question, what was around then for white saddles?