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@Mikenetic
Hey LFGSS, long time no see.
Since 2010 I've variously been a paid-up member of Touring Club, Cyclocross Club, Cargo Club, Mechanicing, and The Noble Fellowship of Frame Builders.
But for the last few years cycling has had to take a bit of a back seat for me. Because of cancer. That's not an easy thing to write. And this probably isn't going to be an easy read for a bit, but I hope you'll stick with me.
My wife, Emily, died of metastatic breast cancer in April 2020. A few of you might have met her, if you were part of the group who went up to Yorkshire for the Tour de France many moons ago, or on other random cycling occasions.
Emily loved riding bikes for the freedom they gave, and the opportunity to see or experience something new. The Milton Keynes round of the CX World Cup, riding the Coast to Coast, doing the IoW Randonnee. Chatting to people at the beach waiting to pick me and friends up at the end of the Dun Run. Or you know, just going for a pedal and a wander around London. Point the wheel, see where it takes you.
Over the next little while I'm going to sell some of the bikes that we collectively owned. I'm simplifying my life a bit, so I (only!) need a fast road bike, a cargo, and AllSeasonRoadGravelAdventure bike, or whatever you want to label the category that used to be called "Surly Cross Check".
The money from the sales will be donated to charity, spread across The Whittington Hospital charitable trust, Macmillan Cancer Support, Crisis, and London Cycling Campaign. They get money, you get a nice bicycle or frameset. Simple.
I started my journey in frame building with The Bicycle Academy, then spent many a happy hour sharing space with Saffron Frameworks. I'm a qualified mechanic too, and worked as the mechanic at Pretorius Cycles in Shoreditch before they closed up and emigrated.
I've built things that have survived the Paris Roubaix Sportive and the TCR, so I'm alright with joining bits of metal and turning an Allen key. All the bikes are used, so to be clear, there's no warranties but they've been looked after well.
What will be I selling?
Three bikes made by own hands:
A winter road bike, Ultegra, Ksyrium Elites, decent Ritchey finishing kit. Fillet brazed by me in Columbus Zona. 54cm equivalent
An all-round road bike. TIG welded by me (with some silver over the welds for a bit of a cleaner finish. I got that tip from Jason Rourke.) Zona, 105, mechanical disks, Hope & DT Swiss. 54 cm equivalent.
Another all-round road bike, fillet brazed in Zona, Ultegra, H Plus Son on Hope wheels, mechanical disks. 52cm equivalent.
And also:
A Surly Karate Monkey full-spectrum adventure bike. Hub gear, flat bar, hydro brakes, switchable to drop bar mechanical brakes, suspension and rigid fork, plus a pair of SS wheels. It's weird in a good way.
A canti-braked Cube CX bike, Alloy with Carbon fork, Fulcrum wheels, 105. Has been raced as I explored my Functional Vomit Threshold. Looked after, but at times ridden like I stole it. That's CX for you.
Finally, an unridden Rourke Cycles custom frame (there's a story there) in Reynolds 853 with stainless dropouts, an Enve 2.0 road fork and Chris King headset. 54cm equivalent, pretty standard road geometry.
I'll post them up over the next two or three weeks, with pictures. I'll do a post for each to keep it simple to follow.
For now that's enough typing. If you got this far thanks for sticking with me.
Mike
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