How far have you ran/cycled/swam today?

[Rupe]

But now its retired and I use this modern thing for triathlons.

 

This is last weekends race, came 6th in my age group, 40-50yrs (out of 48) so my best effort yet. With 6:45 for the 400m swim, so the swimming is paying off.

[Woodworks]

Oval chain rings and Flexstems. That takes me back to happy days when I used to ride a lot.

 

You have looked after those old machines very well there Rupe. My old GT Karakorum is still kicking about but does not look in as good nick as your bikes.

[Rupe]

Ah, well mine have all been restored back from the brink of going in a skip!

 

I have not had them for 20+ years, all mine from back then got stolen, so the green trekker above is one I found on ebay, and my arbtalker friend tony sorensen picked it up for me and posted it over, then a lot of work, full re-painting and rebuild went into making it look as good as it does now.

 

And the others pictured were bikes that I wanted to own back then but couldnt afford, so bought them as wrecks and rebuilt them. Some kind of mind life crisis I reckon, but I've ended up with 8 mountain bikes plus the road one!

 

The old GT's have a good fanbase, althought the karakorum is a bit low end IIRC. Mine are all Saracens from well before halfords bought/ruined the brand, plus the one Cannondale because those early fat tubed, sloping top tubed aluminium cannondales are iconic to the early nineties, and I could never have afforded one then.

[Woodworks]

I always wanted a Canondale but as you say so expensive back then. My memory of Canondales was they started of with relatively large diameter tubing and then went bigger and bigger and also thinner to the point that if flicked the down tube they sounded like a coke can. I think they then got nicknamed crack and fail but then went smaller again. I did get to ride a friends a few years back but I found it as hard as nails but I was used to a bit of suspension by then.

 

I have gone down the full suss rout for the time being but quite fancy getting something a bit more old school again. The new full suss machines may work well but IMHO are not as much fun to ride unless you only goal is balls out downhill speed. A Merlin titanium hardtail would be great but still out of my price range to this day.

[Rupe]

Yes, mine is built with relatively thick aluminium when they were still working out what they could get away with, they pushed the limits for a while after and didnt do their reputation any good. Mine is a '92 which I believe to be cannondales best era, after that they also started messing around with front full suss, the first full suss production bike was a cannondale in about '94 but they never really got it right IMO. and the company has gone bust so many times that now its just a brand name printed on bike made in other factories.

 

 

I've ridden the cannondale on a fairly full on mountain bike course and my arms nearly blew up!! Very stiff indeed and hard to ride but at least you can feel everything! It will out climb any other bike (that I own) though!!

 

I also have a modern front suspension bike. I do like it, its great to ride the same mountain bike trail at a much higher speed, and still have arms left.

 

I rode the same course on a full suss, and broke my speed record on every single section! So my friend declared that her full suss that I was riding must be "better". I am not convinced! I felt like I was riding on a cloud, I couldnt feel the world under me, so in my opinion that is not better. A few seconds faster on the ride means a few seconds less enjoyment of the experience!

 

I really hope I dont cave in and buy one!

 

This is my "new" mtb, its about 7 yrs old I think, but has new forks on last year.

[Woodworks]

Don't cave in. I wish I had not but it's hard to go back as you get soft riding full suss. I meet guys riding our local trails on 6" travel machines and they say it's all needed. I don't but should point out to them that we used to ride the same trails with no suspension and live to tell the tale well more or less

[Matthew Corran]

Did the mud runner eastoner castle today, absolutely loved it 10k 1 hr 13 mins

[Chunkymunky]

Did the mud runner eastoner castle today, absolutely loved it 10k 1 hr 13 mins

 

Jesus mate. You are going to be first 100 with that time i reckon.

 

I usually do that but been on a charity bike ride from worcester to forest of dean and back. 100 miles in 2 days. Some epic hills near ross-on-wye.

[Matthew Corran]

Jesus mate. You are going to be first 100 with that time i reckon.

 

I usually do that but been on a charity bike ride from worcester to forest of dean and back. 100 miles in 2 days. Some epic hills near ross-on-wye.

 

It will be interesting to see where we were, we ran it as a 3 man team and helped each other through! I would definitely run it again. It was great fun!

 

Well done on the charity ride!

[Mick Stockbridge]

Rupe that bike position is all over the place.