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hippy
@shroppy
Thought it would be good to have somewhere to document the happenings in the bike area of my life;
I've always had a thing for steel, I used to work in a bike shop as a mechanic before I went into engineering and, I'd always sing the praises of steel to customers, especially when they'd cracked another alu/caron frame. For quite some years now I've done a fair bit of fabrication/repairs in my spare time too. Mainly MIG but some TIG too, I've learned lots but it continues to fascinate me, I mean sticking metal together is just cool. And don't get me started on my plasma cutter.....
Anyway, back to bike specific steel, I've had plenty of bikes, mostly steel over the years but have always come back to Reynolds 853. It's just lovely. I thought I was happy with my stable of bikes, a lovely Robin Mather and a Genesis Fugio, both 853 and both ace.
But, I had one of those 'oh shit' moments towards the end of last year when my consultant very calmly told me that the tumour in my femur was growing and, it needed to come out. There was already a risk
(small) that it could have metastasised and leaving it would only increase that chance. So, fast forward to today, I'm 6 months ish post op with a cool af scar from where they cut through my quads, drilled into my femur and scooped out the BENIGN tumour. Since then, my outlook on life has changed, for the better, but changed none the less, I value things more. I'm also conscious that life really is too short, I wasn't really at risk of kicking the bucket thanks to the superb NHS but, a new knee was on the cards. And that really shits you up as a 23 year old.
2 Weeks(?) post op;
Today;
The operation and following months of limited movement inevitably screwed up my flexibility and I lost a ruck of muscle, no biggy but it made riding my already too small Fugio uncomfortable. I almost exclusively rode the Fugio, the Mather was too nice to get dirty. So something had to give;
I sold the Mather frame to @SimonC who I've no doubt will make it look lavely, most of the components have gone to other people on the forum.
I snapped up a S/H Cotic SolarisMax frame, I really miss mountain biking, love Cotic's and hey it's 853. More on this later.
But what to do about a road/gravel bike? Some of you may have seen my threads on here regarding a custom frameset, for those that haven't, I ordered a Fairlight Secan.
The Fairlight is due imminently and parts are flooding in, stand by for some updates.
EDIT
Photos added.