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In 1982 I was about to turn 11 and shortly after to step up to secondary education. That meant travelling across The Fen Edge to school in another village over what seemed like a gargantuan 3 miles. In each direction at that.
As was normal (in my world, at any rate) this would mean the provision of my first 'proper' bike, which in turn meant a racer. Mountain bikes weren't even a thing in the UK, whilst BMX was just starting to explode. By explode, I mean owned by kids who didn't travel outside of their town or village, because who the hell could pedal one any further?
Of course, as a kid in the UK you only dreamed of Raleigh. The all conquering Team TI-Raleigh won the Tour de France in 1980 with Joop de Zoetemelk cementing the red, black and gold livery as one of the most iconic cycling team colours in history. I had posters on the wall, every brochure and flyer I could lay my hands on. Of course, small details like a fiscally challenged young family meant I ended up with a Sun GT10, but it was a sub-brand of Raleigh manufactured in the same factory (close enough) and it gave me freedom. It cost £130, which is what a good one still fetches today.
I never got that Team TI bike. Seven years later I got my first motorbike and I entered my cycling wilderness years.
Sure there were mountain bikes in the garage (Raleigh Red Rock (awful) and latterly a Kona Blast) but they were relegated to pub-bike duties. Roll on my forties and I got back into cycling, but this time I could afford it.
A Planet-X RT-58 Rival 22 alu famed road bike was my first proper dabble and carried my through my first London-Cambridge ride a mere six weeks later. Not bad after a twenty year lay-off for a 17st dad. 2x11spd and modern brakes made it a world away from the old Sun, but certainly nothing remarkable for it's time. This ended up being my new partners first road bike.
After a couple of years, a carbon KTM joined the stable (as did another MTB) plus a Charge Plug for pub duties. I mistakenly sold the Plug for no particular reason.
The KTM despite being a 2015 model (and therefore launched 2014) has bolt-thru axles, hydraulic discs, tubeless ready rims and Di2 shifting. The seatpost is clamped in the frame internally and super skinny brake-bridgeless seat-stays deliver a ride quality that almost says 'suspension'. The only minus point of this super early adopter is that the front axle followed the MTB norm of 15mm, now standardized as 12mm. This caused a kerfuffle when it came to new wheels, but was overcome with some sleeve-down adaptors.
A Cannondale CAAD-12 105 joined the stable and immediately reminded me how good good aluminium can be. Damn it's immediate. It was bought to leave at our house in France and now lives there with the Planet-X.
There are still some MTB things lying around for cycling drunk.
N+1 dictates that a mere six bikes between us is not enough. I suspect I will weaken on titanium, but only once the KTM dies. No, I decided that I should no longer lack a steel framed bike and a plan begin to hatch...
To postmodern a classic steel frame.
One metal frame wasn't enough. Money saved during the (first?) 2020 Covid-19 lockdown as a result of working from home an not being able to go out-out, allowed me to investigate scratching the titanium itch. As lockdown measures began to ease, a test ride was booked. It very swiftly turned out the KTM frame's (if not everything on it) days were numbered. Not so much of a build story and more a case of telling a story:
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