First age: BMX
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| Raleigh Grifter 1978 |
Second age: MTB
Around the year 2000, I bought my first brand new bicycle for around 500€. It was a Decathlon mountain bike, which I used to cycle around Isola d'Elba, Italy. Very sturdy bike, my kids still use it.Third age: Racing bikes
Around 2004 a friend of mine had me try his racing bike. I enjoyed that gliding sensation so much while riding at high speed on smooth tarmac, that I decided I needed my own racing bike. I bought a cheap second hand bike (a refurbished Peugeot frame, with a mix of high-end Campa and Shimano components, and Bianchi stickers) which turned out to be very good.Fourth age: refurbishing old bicycles
A few years later I found some bicycles parts on the metal scrap heap in my village. And then some complete bikes. And lots of spare parts. Some bicycle where just old and dirty, but otherwise in working order. Others had a broken or bent frame, but valuable components. That got me started... I started to rebuild bikes using spare parts salvaged from the scrap, and some new parts (tires, cables).When I talked about my new hobby to my friends, some gave me their old bikes. I started exchanging them for other things.
Fifth age: classic rides and vintage bicycle collection
In 2012 my wife and I went on our first classic bicycle tour, in Saumur, France: the Anjou Velo Vintage. This turned out to be a very enjoyable experience, a great combination of sightseeing, socializing and sporting. So in 2013 we did more classic tours:- Retro Ronde in Oudenaarde, Belgium,
- Anjou Velo Vintage in Saumur, France,
- La Savoureuse in Ciney, Belgium,
- La Carareccia in Bolsena, Italy,
- L'Eroica in Gaiole in Chianti, Italy,
Now I regularly buy second hand bicycles, classic or modern, fix them up a bit and ride them. In this blog I want to share my bicycle collection, and other subjects related to cycling:
- custom frame makers
- technical tips
- classic racers and races
- fixies
- ...
