7 Year Itch

Great story and bikes!
Richard Hallet seems to be a very nice guy. ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvoUR-GQbDc

Just diving in to say that this rear rack is erotic, my word.

Can also confirm Mr Hallet is a very nice man. I bumped into him in Rhayader once and had a good chat. He worked in cycling media for a long time and all who crossed paths with him speak highly of his work.

Nice find on the vid, I'll watch that later thanks :-)

leggy_blonde in reply to @clubman

/end of thread

Amazing story.

Not quite the end.

I can't beat the Dragonfly story, but I think this bike is worth reporting here.

Pictures first, story will follow

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Red Training Bike

I acquired this frame in 1983 and it's been in more or less constant use since then although it now lives in semi retirement in France. I did ride it last week though. Apart from replacements of worn out parts, the only real changes have been the addition of the Mafac cantilevers (early on, just a whim) and I reduced the length of the handlebar stem from 4" to 3" about twenty years ago. Since it's been used for several different purposes, the wheels have not been constant, but generally it has remained much the same.

I had a road race crash early in '83. I was damaged enough to spend 48 hours in hospital, and I assumed, without really checking, that my bike must have been damaged at least as badly - so when I was offered this frame at a modest price I took it, just as a stand in until I could sort things out. As it turned out my other bike was almost completely unscathed, so this frame was unnecessary but for reasons I can't fully remember I've used this one for most jobs since then.

Although it came without any real history, I'm now fairly sure it's a Ron Cooper. It's a pretty standard frame, although the top tube slopes down towards the head tube.

I've used it for:

Training - chain gangs, early season training runs, weekends away.
Racing - both TT and road. The two up picture above was taken at the 2015 Redmon Gentlemen's GP. where there was a prize for the best ride on Eroica ready bikes. Thanks to my speedy pacer (Nic Stagg) we won this very minor prize, which is pleasing for me since it was almost certainly my last ever competitive ride.
Touring - Some YHA, including one French trip.
Also some hack work - it's hard to know how many miles I've done on it, but a rough guess would be 40,000.

So, if it looks a bit tired in the top picture, there's a reason.

Well perhaps you can give me a bit more of the story over lunch later today...

Not quite as special as a bike, but this Steamroller I've had since 2009 is something I'll keep.

It started as the basic fixie skidder, brakeless with dropbars and too narrow risers and a bullhorn for a while too. The original fork was bent in a crash while playing polo. It's seen many alleycats too. Then it's been used for touring and to collect stamps for stacks of brevet cards. It was my only bike for a good while, daily commuter as well as the bike I used for PBP and my first two Transcontinental races and the training that went into those, so it must have done about 100 000 kms. The last picture is the current form, though it's got narrower slicks now.

What is the thing you guys use to add a rear derailler to a track frame?

I’ve use one of these in the past, https://problemsolversbike.com/products/shifters-derailleurs/chain_tensioner , it worked just fine. DMR do one as well.

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Just seen this. What a story! Were you riding the Hallett not too long ago at fixed beers in Herne hill?

Mine was brazed on.

Thanks! The Hallett gets raced regularly at Herne Hill track league and open meetings but I'm too scared of trashing it to do a fixie crit.