GETTING ON MY BIKE, AN OLD FOOL RUSHES IN

There are some amazing bikes, and bike designers out there; I just wish I’d taken the time to find them before I bought mine!

Classic fixie bike with Brooks sadle and toe clips

There I was chatting away to a group of fashion students today on the merits of blogging and as you do had found myself moving off on a tangent. Before I knew it we were discussing the pros and cons of quality and classic styling vie cost, how it is always better to purchase timeless style rather than rush in to follow the latest fad, how quality will always stand the test of time. And this made me think of bicycles, or rather the bicycle I had languishing in the garage at home, which I used to illustrate another point, that high cost was no guarantee of style. Lost? – Yes so were the students, I’ll endeavor to try and explain.

I have a classic Mont Blanc pen that was bought for me by my Grandmother years ago, a 100 years from now it will still be stylish, and in perfect working order and I drive a 1957 MGA, now over 50 years old and still turning heads. The pen I use everyday and the MGA I drive every week, why, because both make me in some way feel great just using them, and yet I have a perfectly good racing bike sat in the garage never being used. It’s not down to laziness, I run every other day, it’s more down to the fact that I just don’t like the bike, no you see it was a rushed purchase.

Brooks sadle, sadle bag and classic Brooks toe clips, great against a cream frame

In 2010 I came back from Afghanistan with Achilles tendonitis, on being demobed back into civilian life I was given a full medical and after examining me the quack was adamant, no running for six months, so how was I going to keep up the fitness? “Get on your bike, great for your health and doesn’t stress the joints or tendons.” OK, cool, so off I go bike shopping, but where do you start, I mean I hadn’t ridden a bike since my ‘yuppie youth’ . First stop Halfords, I mean they’re always harping on about their great prices and in store experts aren’t they, oh god how wrong could I be. They’re just full of young spotty sorts who simply read off the tags hanging on the bikes when ever you ask them a question, and they are most defiantly not cheap, no I was going to have to try a ‘real’ bicycle shop, off I troop to Sidmouth Cycles in Exeter. After explaining to them the whole ‘Achilles’ thing, and that I normally ran between 6 and 9 miles every other day they pointed me in the direction of a rather nice looking racing bike, one quick ride around the block and I left with said bike and £500 quid lighter in the bank balance.

Classic retero bike brake leavers and light brown shrouds

All went well at first, but then things started to go ever so slightly wrong, nothing I could put my finger on, just nagging doubts. I was enjoying the cycling, but there was something wrong with the bike. I’d find myself looking at all these other cyclists in all their impossibly bright Lycra, all the gear and no idea, and without knowing it I to had walked into the latest must do sporting trend without a ticket or a clue. I’d seen it all before of course, in the 80’s mountain bikes were the craze, followed by snowboards and a hundred others, people jumping on the latest fad and emptying their wallets in the process, and then I stopped sniggering, oh god I’ve gone and joined them, I’d even bought a pair of those stupid padded Lycra shorts.

Bullhorn handlebars and racing bike brake leavers

Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against the whole touring bike thing, I mean a week doesn’t go by without seeing another group of them at the local village pub, all in their 50’s and 60’s, wearing colours a Zulu warrior would be proud of and sporting bodies that even Lycra was finding impossible to control. No anything to keep the old fitness up is good by me, I just hate trends and being suckered into buying ‘all the gear’ when I blatantly have no idea what I really need; which brings me nicely to my real issue, take your time, do your research and you’ll always make a better decision. I’d jumped in feet first without a thought to researching the whole thing, without a thought as to what I really wanted, yes fools rush in, and old ones regret at their leisure.

The London 'Tweed Run', a anual bike meets tweed event!

And so I decided to have a rethink, after all I’m no spring chicken and at 47 I know I’ll not be able to keep up the running for much longer, 5 or 6 years at most. I started to really have a good look at all the biking trends out there, spidering my way through blog after blog, here and there picking up the odd gem, or idea. It wasn’t long before I came up with the solution, or rather came up with pin-pointing my problem, I’m a sucker for classic styles , modern doesn’t pull my cord, knowing me pretty obvious really. I think it was the first time I came across the whole ‘Tweed Run’ thing in London, masses of old bikes yes, but also masses of new bikes in classic styles, I was hooked, Oh and on a couple of tweed bits as well, and I just had to get a new pair of ‘brogues’. I of course looked at the whole ‘Pashley’ thing, but although I love what they’re doing I’m looking more at the sort of bike to do 2 or 3 hours on, not a quick peddle to the local with the dog in the basket.

Pashley website, a company still building classic English bicycles

One of the really big trends at the moment is the whole ‘fixie’ thing, a really minimalistic approach to bicycles that comes from the ‘bicycle couriers’ flying around our cities, no brakes and a fixed gear, which means you can’t free wheel. What appealed to me are the old frame designs and simple handlebars, I’d already decided that the drop bars on a racing bike were not for me; I just don’t find the position comfortable. The main problem is the lack of gears though; living in Devon means you can’t go more than a couple of miles without finding a bloody great hill in the way.

Classic black fixie bike with wooden wheel rims and Brook's leather sadle, bar tape and toe clips

Then I found the CycleEXIF, here I started to get the idea that there are 1000’s of people and 100’s of builders out there that are into the same sort of classic styling I love, it’s just a case of ‘mix & match’, you decide on what key parts you want and build your own bike up from scratch. A ‘Brooks’ saddle here, bar tape there, old style toe clips and you’re away.

CycleEXIF website, a great website for bike insperation

And so this summer I’ve decided that the old bike will go on to Ebay and then use the cash to buy the parts needed to put a truly unique and classic bike together. I may well pick up an old frame from Ebay to cement the classic looks and then use modern running gear to complete the project. I won’t be using drop bars, but I think I’m likely to cut down a set to get the ‘bull horn’ look, still using racing bike brake leavers. Although the plan is to end up with a really minimal design as I say I will be using gears. Colour wise? Not sure, what really appeals to me is a cream frame complimented by Brooks brown leather seat, handlebar tape and toe clips, but mad as it may sound I want to be able to add a bike rack to ‘Monty’ my RED 1957 MGA (LINK), well cream and red don’t really go, so I may change my mind and go with a red frame, we’ll have to see. Roll on May when I can get started.  

Posted by Brent Meheux - 8/2/12 - Tags - fixie, classic bike, tweed run

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