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@TM
Was built custom for someone else (possibly a giant) about 40 years ago. I've built it into a fixed.
2.If custom, what makes the bike special to you?
It's half built out of parts I had lying around and half out of parts I had to buy, despite this it still looks pretty sweet, above all though it is super agile and quick to ride.
How important are your bikes aesthetics to you and why?
I like all my bikes to look good, parts on mine are either metal finish or white, apart from the back wheel. It looks pretty smoothe but has a little splash of colour. I draw the line at spending vast ammounts of money on things that aren't really going to make a difference to how the bike rides - things that it could do with but haven't given into - respray (a few scratches, 40 years of use) , front wheel (looks poop but runs smooth and true), seat post (lighter/prettier) top quality chain (would be lighter but current chain was cheap and works fine)
Have you ever switched perfectly good parts for something else and for what reason?
Just waiting for some white track grips to replace the black mtb ones I stuck on when building the bike, these will match my saddle/tyres/chain. I like white!
If you could change anything about your bike what would it be?
like I said front wheel/seat post/chain and a posh respray.
Any other thoughts?
I do like having good looking things, especially when you've spent hours working on them and made numerous little tweaks. I fall in love with my bikes when i build them then fall head over heels when i ride them, so there's a certain sense of pride I feel, when you notice people checking your bike as you fly past. You definitely need to draw the line though when splashing cash on bikes as there are numerous other things to spend your money on.
My fixed projext cost me just under £200 to build, down to frame forks and other bits being given to me, and I doubt I'd swap it for something modern and fancy because it rides so well!