Bikes

As a kid I must have driven my parents nuts. Groups of 10 year olds would go off into the Cotswold countryside on their bikes for hours (whole days sometimes) with barely any indication of where we were going.  Most times we came home safely but on one occasion I came off on wet leaves and limped home with a damaged bike and shredded knees.  The freedom of getting out into the open never left me and when Mountain Bikes started to arrive in the UK in the mid 80's I knew this was going to be for me.

1st Mountain Bike

After reading umpteen mountain bike magazines and trawling around almost every shop in town, I finally went for a Muddy Fox Courier, bought from Bike (off Queens Road, Clifton).  At the time I remember it being a choice between Saracen, Ridgeback and Specialized as well as the MF for my hard earned dosh.

It got a fair amount of use / abuse around the woods of Ashton Court, the Mendips around Black Down and in Wales.  Working in Llanwrtyd Wells (the self proclaimed home of Mountain Biking), it was easy to get out onto the trails.  In 1987, I took the bike up to the Brecon Beacons and cycled up Corn Du and Pen y Fan.  I'm sure today this is quite a common site today but back then, for the walkers to see a luridly clad (it was the 1980's after all) cyclist coming towards them out of the mist, must have been quite a surprise.

A couple of photos from the trip up the Beacons - click the image for a larger view.

 

Apologies for the image quality but they have been scanned from some very poor originals.

I can't get over how wide those handlebars are and the fact that I've not taken the reflectors off of it!   Clearly very law abiding in those days!   As a first mountain bike it was fine (though with hindsight a little too large for me); a bit on the heavy side and with very relaxed geometry that didn't encourage you to really get up some speed - it felt more like a relaxed cruiser.

After a couple of years, I needed (wanted) something smaller, more agile and better equipped - step aside Courier for the new kid in town - Overbury's Pioneer.

2nd Mountain Bike

The Pioneer was bought from Overbury's in Bristol in late 1988. I was able to spec the groupset and have it painted in my own choice of colours - i.e. loud!   It was all the bike I had ever wished for and it was well and truly thrashed around Llanwrtyd (including the Man vs Horse vs Bike), the peak district and around the midlands with the chain gang from one of the bike shops in Coventry.

An enforced career change gave me the opportunity of moving to Aberdeen and getting into even more serious biking. Trips out with the Alpine Bike crowd in the back of their van were a great introduction to the area and very nearly to ARI A & E dept. Several of the Alpine Bike regulars were certifiable and following them down slopes at speeds that verged on the suicidal added extra spice. Living in Stoney, the forests at Fetteresso were all mine and I could ride these all day and not see another soul (let alone another biker).   epic trips into the Cairngorms were the norm and as a tool to reduce the tedium of long walk in when climbing, the bike was often to be found buried in a pile of heather whilst another classic route was being ticked off.   Sadly as I mostly rode alone (or without the space to take a SLR camera - which was all I had at the time)I don't have many pictures of the bike in use.

Here it is, sadly very faded about to carry me around the 2008 Methlick Duathlon cycle route. It still has the original BioPace rings and a short cage XT rear mech. The rims and tyres were new additions to try and make it a little faster on the road compared to the wider rims and thick knobbly tyres. It must have worked as I managed to overtake a few folk on quite decent looking road bikes.

3rd Mountain Bike

After 20 years of riding the Pioneer and enjoying every minute, it was time to pay the bike back with a little TLC.   The paint had faded badly and some surface rust was showing up around the head tube / top tube area. Also as the bottom bracket and headset hadn't been changed since new, it was definitely time for a complete service. Further details of the Retro Restoration.

This left me without a bike, a situation that had to be sorted ASAP. Thanks to Bike Radar I had narrowed my search down to a couple of bikes. Alas, almost all of them were aluminium and not steel framed and all came with high tech treats such as disc brakes and front suspension.

The decision was made infinitely easier when Wiggle reduced the price on the bike I was after as it was last years model.   Cue the new steed - Focus Killer Bee.

First impressions are good; it is lighter than the Pioneer, the disc brakes are more capable and easier to modulate and the front shock means you can hurtle down rutted tracks at a speed that tries to shake your eye-balls out of their sockets!