Search results for:

Jim,

sorry to hear you've taken a knock, wishing you a speedy recovery matey. For some reason, my head can only imagine you lying in the road in the nurses outfit you wore to hallowe'en a couple of years ago. Terrifying.

Chop

cool, keep in touch, looking forward to seeing the full build. I'm pretty much opposite the New Cross Gate station, give me a shout if you need to borrow any tools or whatnot. I don't always wear lycra by the way.

...and on the other end of the Cinelli scale, just this morning a mate texted me a pic of his Vigorelli built up. Pretty hoopy stuff all round chaps.

Hey jonhings,

Was that you I saw at the NX crossing yesterday evening, with the Cinelli frame-sized box...? I kind of gave you a knowing grin and acknowledged your glee - it probably came across coy and sheepish because I was only wearing bib 3/4's and a tight black jersey. shameless.

Good work, lovely bike of character.

Irrespective of your level of mechanical skill, one of the most important things is to be a good communicator (which, you evidently are) with the shop floor staff and customers. Any reasonably intelligent shop could take you on, put you on bike-building duties and work up from there.

...Don't get any great expectations about pay, but the perks are awesome and everyone is generally a good laugh.

HB is workshop manager of Kingston, he'll definitely be worth getting in touch with.

mike - ha ha, Spitz was where I spent 'the autumn' of my mechanicing days, good workshop and nice bunch of guys in there. Some of the staff bikes are off the scale.

Bill - cheers for the tip, not ridden Donkey Alley but will put that into a hilly rep route I'm working out, Jerningham/Pepys Road are good fun if you happen to be in that area.

Oh dear, sorry to hear about the mechanical. On a Hope? Weird thing to happen, they're built strong as. Hope are bang on it though, get spares out next day, and are a doddle to work with. Evans on the other hand...

Which store is your local? - for the record I was a roaming mechanic for Evans for 3 years, sometimes FT, sometime PT. Happy days.

Mike, the Road Rat you were on ...how come you had a front rotor but no brake?

Time to stop fannying around men. There's no real hills in town, nothing to really make your mum worry about you. It's useless pretending or telling her otherwise. And let's not get into one about hills inside the M25/SE/Britain/UK!

(nb. That was a joke about skids).

ha ha, because lurking is the new fixing. Takes time and skill to really hone things down to the purest elements of voyeurism, where every click gets no feedback or response. etc etc.

Now I'm here, can anyone help me learn to skid this weekend?!...

Cheers to all on the ride,

Really enjoyed yesterday evening, in spite of the weather, great to meet some of you - NorthLondonLight, MikeC, Greasy Slag - and everyone else fixed/geared/recumbented up. A great mix of people, and the route had plenty of character, loved the last lumpy section after Ally Pally, and yes, good choice of pub. I could have stayed all night had it not been for a trek back to New Cross and an early start...

Thanks to the CTC for planning and marshalling, and Therese at Rapha for organising, looking forward to the South/East/West, shame it won't be as hilly.

Chopsicle/Graeme - black Langster/red forks - lurking no more.

defo 48:16 on the 2006 black ones, they eased it up after that, and slackened the geometry - Pretty sure they didn't change gearing mid-year. I got mine super-cheap on trade at the end of the season (as everyone at work seemed to) and once you swapped the pig of a fork they're a nimble little ride.

Check the 'archive' on the Sp website for later specs.

ha ha, Langsters. I only wish Pista's weren't around, then they'd be the most hated. hee hee.

Hi all,

yep, Graeme here, (black '06 Langster w. red forks), lurking no more now I've reset my account,

Really glad I came along on Sunday, not least to ride to remember the great man, but to meet LFGSS and see some lovely steeds. Thanks for making me feel welcome, it was great to see a spectrum of riders, bikes and styles. I'll hopefully make more of the rides and events in future - I'll defo be down at the Paris-Roubaix this weekend and then the Roller Race the weekend after.

Cheers!

...I'll be meeting the lady who had my bike soon, so will get as much info as I can on where she picked it up.

Heard another scam that the lowlife run, where they post someone at the end of the street to intercept a buyer who's just forked out for a bike, and claim it's theirs and they came to Brick Lane to hunt it out.

I have a day-dream that we could mobilise an army to ride past on a Friday night - like a late night flashmob - all armed with a festered week-old pint of milk and bomb the entrance (assuming it's one of the permenant places) ensuring a horrendous milky stench for the next week or so.

Milk over crowbars folks.

Thanks for the tip straightedgeandy!

Not yet slaam, but will do asap, and post details as and when I find out.... And go down fill their locks with glue.

Cheers Elvis,

In different circumstances I would just get on with things, but I've been given an opportunity to change a (formerly ignorant) person's attitude towards buying a 'Brick Lane bargain'.

It's only a tiny gesture, but if I can stop one person returning, then it's a start; Maybe she'll tell her friends not to shop there, maybe she won't, but I'll feel better for it.

I'll also teach her to pump up her f@cking tyres beyond 30psi.

Cheers guys,

I guess I had a lot of people looking and was lucky,

I'll do my best to turn the guilt on, but unfortunately the only tangible way some people understand loss it through talking £££, which I'm sure her mate will have made pretty clear to her. In a ghoulish way, of course I'm curious as to how much was paid for it, and exactly where from.

....but one of the reason's I went soft was it was the first time she'd been back on a bike for a year, following what sounded like a horrendous smash, so bad that she had to have a leg broken (again) a few months later to re-set! @X!!$* She sounded pretty distressed when I spoke to her because she was walking across town to get to work, and her bad leg was getting painful... She even said it was her birthday. Not so sure about that bit.

Ha ha, I know what this looks like; either she's created the best sob-story ever and I'm a daft c@nt, or she's been unlucky and stupid in equal measures.

Thoughts please before I ask to see the scars??!

A ray of sunlight out of the darkness; I recovered my Red Baron Langster today, thanks to putting word out through various networks...

..and found it half a mile from Brick Lane and half a mile from my work. Seen by the manager of the bike shop I work in (I'm a part-time mechanic) he slapped on a lock, a message saying it was stolen property and a phone number. By the time I'd turned up, they'd resolved it and regained possession (no mistaking it was mine) by suggesting to phone the police and that would be a waste of everyone's time to do so.

The girl who had it handed it over fair and square - but has left when I got there - and they got her phone number. Apparently it was lent to her by a male friend who had picked it up in Brick Lane last weekend, so I gave her a call this evening to say I was the owner, how much I loved the bike and to say thanks for handing it back graciously and without fuss. I was inclined to believe her that she'd had the bike lent to her, it's definitely a blokes choice of bike, not to mention the 61cm frame.

I pointed out that it makes no sense to buy bikes from Brick Lane, everyone has lost out here (even though I've got my bike back, I'm two locks down, and her mate is out of pocket) and I'd do my best to help her source an honest bike, possibly even see if we can help her out at the shop. Call me soft, but I see this as an opportunity to educate her and her friends on the f'ing stupidity of it all.

Things I've learned?
To record all my frame numbers - I've got my good ones documented, but not my runarounds.
Despite it being customised, I was wondering how I was going to prove ownership beyond doubt? Will now be sticking laminated cards w. contact details somewhere inside (ie headtube/bb/seat tube) all my frames, and photographing (with me in the pic as someone suggested above) my bikes.
Having a distincitve bike definitely helped out.
Be nice. These people are ignorant to the fundamental problems of bike culture, so flying off the handle wouldn't have helped anyone.

It's not really a 'success story', but thanks for reading. I'll keep looking on here for stolen rigs to keep my eyes open for.

Cheers for your comment mashton, much appreciated - it was more a case of the love being wrung out of me on the North Downs.

Re sting ops; (Not that this is by any means the answer) but did anyone see the tar-and-feathering that recently happened in Northern Ireland? I thought that only happened in the movies....

Hi all,

I lost my '06 Langster on Saturday afternoon - well, my brother did whilst watching the football in Covent Garden - and would be grateful if you can keep your eyes open 'cause it's fairly distinctive;

Black, Specialized frame with red carbon Sp forks (from my Tarmac comp) and overlaid red Sp sticker on the headtube ...like a red-baron paint job. Biggish frame, (59cm I think) Black DMR V8 pedals and ITM Wingshape Lite Luxe handlebars. Also the word 'human' laid over the top tube in black vinyl-cut lettering.

...I know that there are far better bikes out there, but I loved it dearly and it looked pretty awesome - I'll happilly pay a reward if anyone can help recover it. To top things off, I've just this afternoon found a crack in the down-tube of my hack bike :_(

Many thanks,

mr_rablah@hotmail.com