• Just before lockdown Mrs RVL and I had our grubby noses against a local mamilemporium admiring a Moots
    By no means verbatum, the conversation ran something like:
    Mrs RVL: Could you be tempted....?
    Moi: I wouldn't buy OTP for custom money.
    Mrs RVL: Why don't you go custom, get a bike you really like and stop filling your life with ratty crap?
    Moi: I'm not serious, old or confident enough for custom, I wouldn't know what to choose
    Mrs RVL: you're a bike-obsessed engineering director in your mid-forties - what exactly are you waiting for...?

    As a woman of wisdom and clarity Mrs RVL makes a good point and I mused on it over January....

    For most of my life I've been doing 100+ utility miles a week , locking in the street etc so rat bikes meant liberty. Nowadays, my round commute is 30 miles with a secure lock-up.
    Through lockdown my commuting milage dropped significantly and I've discovered the joy of early mornings in the Chilterns or Surrey hills...
    This has changed what I look for in a bike - when you're grinding up staple lane, a shitty old tarck bike starts to feel more like the shackle than the liberation... as a result, I'm riding on my old race bike a lot more which is rather enjoyable too and got me back into the idea of gears...

    Lockdown has also left me craving adventure so whereas a gravel bike might previously have elicited snort of derision, when I look at one now, I'm seeing it in the context of a bivvy night on the downs.....

    Lastly, My current job does not include a workshop in which to squirrel/conceal projects so I'm limited to home workshop (space for 5 bikes + 2 for fam). Right now there are 10 full builds (+4 frames) in there so something's got to give...

    I'm thinking that I might be able to combine my Winter/Roughstuff/Vintage MTB/Gravel Fixed bikes into one. This will get me down to the magic number 5+2, liberate some workshop space and conquer my fears of custom-build

  • Just before lockdown Mrs RVL and I had our grubby noses against a local mamilemporium admiring a...

    Hahaha, I already knew where you were talking about before clicking the link! Run out of time on the loo now, coming back later to read the rest of the thread.

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