MAJs gay bikes [she’s in her fitness era]

Seems like it’s made up with the gear transplant

Early in the project is the time for naval gazing so I’ve been doing some, looking at my mood board its filled with bling and nice American bikes built for tech bros and and venture capitalists, and I have built or tried to build a couple similar now but they’re not sparking joy outside of a sheer sense of meme ability or absurdity.

It was nice in lockdown, you didn’t go anywhere or do anything, it was fun to have the sheer pinnacle of bike to ride when you did.

But now I find myself locking up, carrying shopping or not really riding anywhere inspirational, it’s really hit home how much more I like the “idea of these bikes” the photos of them, watching people build them, than I do owning or using them

I think it’s what makes a riv attraction so strong, really lovely frames, not cheap but a fair price, but parts which are cheap to replace and ones which don’t stick out, do not hold back the riding experience. And I think that’s what I’m liking about my pomp right now, it’s a lovely bike which looks excellent, rides even better, but in words of a friend .

“Yeah it looks the part but when you really get into it you’re just bummed about the levers if anything happened”

Now to buy a riv in the uk is either luck or a large import fee, same with a crust, but we do have a bunch of nice frames on eBay if you do enough browsing and several lovely builders who will build you a frame at a modest price

So I think that’s what I’m going to do with the new bike, and what I’ve slowly done with the homer since arriving, both out of mechanical incomparable and personal desire

It’s been fun to see the “Brexit bike ethos” change and develop over the multitude of bikes I’d say it’s now:

• Picking a frame with the right clearance
  
• Using Parts you can afford to jump off a kerb
  
• Putting time into finding nice touches for cheap
  
• Being present and not tripping on nostalgia
  
• Appreciating that modern bits will eventually be nostalgic bits
  
• Accepting it’s ultimately, not parts which make a bike desirable; it’s not the bike which makes the vibe