More Cycling

Brian's comment about his classic Bianchi bike reminded me that I had some more to write about the racing bike. I have an older racing bike, similar to Brian's, but a slightly earlier vintage. I saw a frame in my local bike shop in 1985, a Coventry Eagle in Reynolds 531 tubing (as most lightweight bikes were in those days).

It was a nice lightweight training frame, with braze-ons for the downtube levers, but no mudguard eyes. I was looking for an Audax bike so I really wanted to be able to fit mudguards. I spoke to the bike shop owner who said "I'll give Barry a call to see if he can do a special for you". Barry Hoban was a former pro cyclist who was manager of the Coventry Eagle factory in mid-Wales. A couple of days later he said "Barry can do you a frame with mudguard eyes, do you want it in red or blue?" I ordered the blue one as I already had a red bike.

When the frame came and I built the bike up it was great, the first time I had a really fast responsive bike, as opposed to a lightweight tourer. I took that bike on a few special trips over the years, riding out to watch the World Championships in Belgium, riding in the French Alps, but more recently it has just hung on the garage wall as a trophy.

This year as I got a bit fitter I decided that I should ride this bike on fine days, so I gave it a bit of an overhaul. One afternoon early in March Sue and I went for a ride so I wanted to ride the blue bike. We got about 400 yards before I had to stop to tighten the handlebars. Sue was a bit dismissive about the old bike, I think she was a bit concerned that it might not be safe. I assured her that it was perfectly safe, and promptly scared myself to death at the next junction.

I had forgotten that the side-pull brakes of the 1980s are a world apart from modern caliper brakes. I went out on the bike a couple more times, and Sue worried about me each time. I reassured her, but was always a bit nervous of having to stop in an emergency.

And so, dear reader, that is why when I saw the modern racing bike on sale at work, Sue had nothing but encouragement for me. I just wish I was devious enough to have planned it that way!