I’ve often wanted a carbon-framed mountain bike. They were odd and cool, but always way (way, way!) out of my tax bracket; and would carbon be a sustainable, long-term material for a mountain bike, or was it going to melt in the hot sun? And (by 1998) I already had the AMP Research B4, which
I was never averse or resistant to a modern, carbon fibre bike. In fact, I’ve secretly wanted one ever since I saw a Kestrel 200 SCi back in the 1990s, even with all the horror stories of their fragility or even “melting in the sun”. Of course there will be problems if you knock it
Finding really pretty vintage bike frames on the internet is one thing; winning one cheap because no one else entered a bid on its online auction is something else. What a great feeling! That’s what happened with this OLMO frame from the 1980s, located in France. The pink paint that fades to silver, at first
Since I’ve been in-between builder-ing jobs and find myself with a bit of time in the evenings, I had a look at my old “ridelikeaturtle” logo and thought it was time for a refresh. The old one, even after a previous cleanup, still looked a bit like a 10-year-old kid drew it freehand, and I
Having realized I had the bulk of a 9 speed Campagnolo Mirage groupset, AND an old set of Mavic Cosmic Elite wheels, neither of which were doing me any good sitting in the shed, I began searching for a new project build. Using “columbus steel” as my search term on a popular worldwide auction site,
Collecting, owning, and riding your bikes isn’t a static process, like collecting, owning, and wearing watches (which also isn’t exactly static, but to a much lesser degree). Parts break and need replaced, you get bored or feel limited by the performance of other things, or maybe you simply want to try a new colour bar
FAUGERES, FRANCE — What a long, wonderful marriage this has been, between me and my Bianchi. It looks like a lot of time has gone by since I last updated this blog with the changes the Ti Megatube has undergone. In the past couple of seasons, since the bottom-bracket overhaul, I’ve made wholesale changes to it,
Now I have finally got around to riding road bikes of different materials – aluminium, steel, and titanium; no carbon bike yet for me! – I’ve come to realize how spoiled I have been with the Bianchi Ti Megatube. As that was only my second road bike (the first being a very respectable steel Wheeler Desenzano with
UPDATE 25 FEB 2021: SOLD. After acquiring the carbon Planet-X EC-130E in August, this bike wasn’t being ridden at all, so I put it up locally for sale and, unsurprisingly (as it is so pretty), it was bought and is currently being enjoyed as it should be. Who says you’re not supposed to have a
When you’re not looking for one, sometimes a great bike just finds you. I must’ve been aimlessly browsing through the new posts in the “bikes” section on the local seller’s website, and saw this beauty. After figuring out that 1) I liked the Bianchi Sprint 76 too much to use it as a city commuter,