Greg Softley from Cyclomondo is the man when it comes to retro bicycle frame decals and I just received some COLUMBUS frame decals for my Paino frame. At the bottom of Greg’s instruction sheet is a big plug for Peter Fleming from Star Enamellers. I figured that these guys worked together!
My old Columbus decal.
My new ones (and Greg chucked in a couple of free Campagnolo decals in too!) which will go onto the frame once Peter gets it back to me with fresh paint!
What a trip. I was just at the mall doing errands (sending out JDMST posters, stickers, T’s… as usual) and I ran into an old Uni friend Anthony which I hadn’t seen since 1996, strange thing was the guy next to him was a mate of mine from High School who I hadn’t seen since 1992!!! Turns out both Anthony and James are long time friends that grew up together on the same street, and hadn’t seen each other in over 20 years, and had a chance running into with each other today. We sat down for a coffee, took us a while to get over how small the world is, and had a great catch-up. Anthony lives in Maroubra beach also, literally a cross street of my own street and James is moving back to Sydney from London and he’s staying at his brothers house which is 2 streets away from my street!!!
I’m not a religious person but it’s moments like these where you know you’re not in control of your own life!
Had a super active weekend this weekend. Definitely a far cry from this time last year’s drinking, smoking and general laziness.
On Saturday Suga and I spent about $1k on stuff for the house. Bed linen, bathroom towels, kitchen glassware, food shopping… it’s scary how it all adds up and it hurts so bad (yeah I was thinking fuck… I could get a nice bike for that kinda money!) but it’s a good thing… I think?!
Suga on the Reign.
On Sunday we headed over to Lady Carrington for a ride. Christina made it up the hill at the end this time and had a case of exercise induced nausea (ie: she really pushed herself!). She also had a good go on my Reign and loves how comfortable the dual suspension is, especially on the bumpier downhill bits (not that you’d technically call any of it bumpy, or dh at Lady).
I have to admit, despite wanting to hold on to the romance of the old school, I’ve truly become a fan of moedrn dual suspension bikes. It’s black and white, apples and oranges, between hardtails and dual suspension bikes. Riding her Talon hardtail was definitely bumpier, but also more fun in some ways as it’s more challenging than the Reign over rougher terrain (the Reign mows over anything where the Talon has trouble tracking over rougher stuff).
In the end of the day a dual suspension bike is a far better bike for beginners than a hardtail. Full stop. I can’t see how anyone could possibly argue that.
We also managed to sneak in a session at St. Michael’s driving range. I was in shit form but by the end of her bucket of balls Christina got the hang of it!
This weekend’s physical exertion has given sporty spice a sore ass and shoulders.
Jamie and Richie synchronised golf.
The MC Cyclery web site is now live! I’ve been adding content to it, and also setting up the forum (which will help to organise future group rides!). Exciting times!
Zi’s been hardcore this week riding with myself, Jing (in the dark!) and again last night with Andy and I.
We met up at 5.30PM at Loftus and finished up just before it got dark. Was a great ride, cool air and since there’s nothing difficult at Loftus we just pushed ourselves to go faster through the bits we already know, as well as stopping at a certain area and just going over the same part again and again trying to clear a harder line (which we saw an XC guy try to clear on his Yeti but failed, fell and hit his head on the ground!). Zi’s already starting to get cocky. He’s flying down the downhill parts, so much so that he’s almost crashing into me (makes for some funny moments). Andy’s pushing too, he did the log for the 1st time, that’s a great thing as I’m sure he’ll do it every time from now on.
Andy lah.
Reign supreme – I fucking love this bike.
Rolling down, still have yet to huck it at speed, will do next time.
Going up. This was once a but tricky for us (4 months ago), but now I can do it without even trying.
Zi got up this time too.
Zi thought the orange line around was too easy so we tried the green line. Once you’re up the 1st step you lose a lot of momentum so you really have to hammer to get up the next step. I got up to the top but failed to turn left and keep going. A few more tries didn’t get me as far as the 1st attempt. Will get it next time I’m sure.
Andy’s loving it.
Some super sketchy ghetto jump someone built next to the train tracks.
If I’ve ever wondered where I got my car addiction from, old photo albums at Mum’s house reveal all.
These are photos of my Dad, and his cars from the 70’s alone (he also changed cars a lot in the 80’s-90’s).
Kharmann Ghia.
Torana.
Cortina.
BMW.
Toyota Crown?
Honda 1300 Coupe Deluxe.
Mazda 808 (yes that’s me!).
Datsun 200B SX.
After checking out Ray Dobbin’s amazing site, and his page on polishing I thought I had to at least give polishing the vintage Campagnolo parts on the Paino a good go.
I dropped into Bunnings and picked up a $59 grinder (damn power tools are cheap these days). I also bought the right cutting and polishing wheels and compounds, some masks and clear specs too (might also come in hand for raining/muddy rides in future lol).
Well in the span of just a few months I’ve managed to inspire quite a few people to run out and buy a bike (I count 6!). The latest enlistee is my sister Jamie who’s 29 and never ridden a bicycle before!!! She’s pretty nervous, and wanted to buy a Kmart bike but of-course friends (let alone family!) don’t let friends buy crap bikes. So with some help from the guys at MC Cyclery we picked up a little Giant Upland, lovely little bike, nothing fancy, very much like the simple and functional old school ladies bikes from the past.
Happy happy!
One of the staffers Nick putting together a brand new 09 TCR Advanced 1 (so hot).
Nick’s (highly disturbing) tan lines.
Richie and a TCR Advanced 2. So nice.
Hot staff bike up for grabs.
All that bike buying and hot weather prompted us to check out Clovelly for a spontaneous snorkel before lunch.
Gearing up for summer! I’ve had this mis-matched flipper set for over 5 years now lol.
Unfortunately the water was murky, but there’s something about the water, and swimming that makes me want to eat a cow every time I hop out so we had a feast at Clovelly pub. OK enough bludging, back to work!
MWG suggested Star Enamellers for painting frames ages ago. I called them in regards to the Reign but they spray, not powdercoat and I believe mountain bikes need a stronger finish that powdercoating gives. Since then I’ve had frames powdercoated on the cheap by Mr. Clean, and on the not so cheap by Grip Sports but the Paino is a roadie and doesn’t need to be powder coated, she’s getting the Royal Treatment (as Matt puts it).
The guys at MCC helped me take off the headset and bottom bracket (I didn’t have the tools). Grant at MCC also said that I had no say in the matter at all, and that powdercoating it would be sacrilegious! He said I had to take it to Peter of Star Enamellers if I wanted to do it right (Grant has his own paint guy but still suggested Peter from Star Enamellers do the job).
I drove out to see Peter in Blacktown and was greeted by perhaps the nicest guy I’ve ever met. He instantly recognised the Paino, and said he knew Frank Paino but hadn’t seen or heard of him in a long time. He also commented on how Frank Paino made amazing frames but the best bit of news after a bit of an inspection was that Peter thinks he was the guy who painted this very frame back in the 80’s as he did a lot of work for Frank Paino back then!
I couldn’t be happier, the frame is in great hands. It won’t be cheap, or quick but I’m happy to pay and wait.
Yesterday Zi and I hit Loftus and did a bit of discovering instead of doing the same old route. We got lost, we found a couple of dead ends, it was heaps of fun.
Zi’s sporting a new bling polished Thomson stem.
Me – what a view.
I also dropped in to see Grant and the boys at MC Cyclery. As of now I’ll be running their new web site (which was designed by my mate/fellow INfront member Damien Aistrope who did a cracking job on it!). I’m already filling it up with content, she’ll be live in the next few days!
MCC has this nice wall at the rear of their shop and it’s probably the wall we’re going to use for all the bike photos for the site. MCC are giving this Surly fixie away at the Sydney Bicycle Film Festival.
And in other news: SUGA has officially been reincarnated! The plates have come off the MX-5 and are now on the R32.
Zoom zoom?
I got a white bottle cage for the Paino, the white-out continues.
Off topic: I saw Jess (Chirstina’s little sister) doing her homework and the sight of it made me feel sick in the tummy. WTF is all this complicated for complications sake shit good for? I never did math in high school. I failed every single exam, never learnt my times tables and I completely ditched it in year 12 (I didn’t even do maths in space, or maths in the beer garden).
Peppa’s legs. The most artistic shot I’ve taken all year lol.