You are reading a single comment by @lcf01 and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@lcf01
Need to post all the bikes before the forum dies thread:
VOODOO WANGA
The name appeared while endlessly scrolling Sheffield Facebook listings for a cheap Arkose. In my head, Voodoo was a Halfords brand, ridden by wheelie kids and synonymous with Carrera or Viking. Why did this bike look so damn good though, with its franken build and tan wall tyres. It was probably just the tanwalls.
Some further research revealed Voodoo as a fallen-from-grace golden age mtb brand, frames still designed by Joe Murry of Kona, Huffy and Marin fame. The Wanga has fancy sliding dropouts for SSMTB hooligans and was designed to be used with front suspension, but this didn't stop fans all over retrobike, reddit and Sheffield from slapping on rigid forks, Drop bars, racks and more.
I didn't really care what it was, I just wanted a new bike, specifically something with fat tyres, disc brakes and FUN. Steel is nice too. And the Surly fork is worth almost as much as the frame.
A few messages exchanged and I was riding up one of Sheffield's steepest hills to meet a Doctor and look at his red bike. I took my red bike along and left it in his garage while I whizzed up the road on his, instantly feeling what I'd wanted to feel in a new bike - fun. And Squishy tyres.
It only took about 300m to decide I was buying this bike, and I had only to figure out the logistics of taking one bike home while riding another - down the previously mentioned steep hill.
In the end, I met the seller a few days later in town and swapped cash for the bike - not sure what I paid in the end but it was probably less than he listed it for and also more than it's really worth. Taking the long route back to uni, I arrived to a lecture with blood splattered up my back, grinning and panting.
3 Attachments