Should I or shouldn't I??

Last week, for some unknown reason, I was reminded of an ad I saw many months ago in a reputable mtb magazine for Vicious Cycles. It was the leopard skin singlespeed photo that really took my fancy. I knew nothing about who these guys were (or guy as it turned out) or what they were about. Anyway, I googled it and came up with their web site and then I googled "vicious cycles buy" and came up with this.........
on ebay. Hmmmmm I thought to myself. How bad to you want a fairly light, hand made, steel singlespeed? From America? When the exchange rate is crap? And you don't really have any money? And you kind of promised your wife "no more bikes until we buy a house with a garage"? Hmmmmm?
Immediately I thought "quite badly". So I signed up to ebay and watched the auction. With only three days to go until the end date I found myself getting nervously excited and spending an absurd amount of time staring at the screen ogling the photos like it was REAL porn not just bike porn.
Then the day arrived. By my figuring, we were 16 hours ahead. I was wrong. I think? In fact, I still can't work it out, but then I now start work at 6:30am so I am usually to tired to sort this kind of shit out. But I still managed to get up at 2am for the final 20 minutes of the auction and place a bid.
According to the description of the bike, a frame alone can go for $1800 U.S. and he was asking about half that for a whole bike. So there I was, my bid of $870 was the highest and it still hadn't reached reserve. What do I do?
I wait.
The auction ends.
I go to bed.
What the f**k? Now What? I had no idea what had just gone on. I wound myself up into a frenzy and then bailed on it at the last minute (just like me attempting to ride something I should be able to clean). Which one of the four very sensible reasons for not buying the bike had won out?
No money? That's always a good one. But that's never stopped me before.
The exchange rate? Naaaa. Who cares.
Freight from America? No, Ashley said she would bring it back with her when she goes over in a few weeks.
I promised I wouldn't? Maybe. Although I did say I would sell my road bike to cover the cost of the ss.
God knows. But I checked ebay today and the bike has been re listed.
It's gonna be a long week.


Mike

Off Track

The Great Track Experiment (presented by Josh) went exactly as predicted back in... shit, when the hell did we last post here, the 20th Century? Almost feels like it. If anyone actually still visits this blog, and bothers to give a shit about what we get up to, then you may recall that my esteemed colleague garnered himself an Avanti Pista (no, not a Bianchi, but the NZ non-hipster version) and had planned to alleviate some of his built-up angst by riding in circles, only turning left. As there is a bottomless pit of said anger to quell, I was understandably sceptical that pushing a huge gear around a poorly sealed, cracked surface banked track would have a calming effect on one's psyche. It would drive me fucking insane. I can't even watch the pros do it without wanting to yell at them that it's ok to turn right, hoping at least some of them would try to break free and run themselves headlong into the fencing. Long story short, the Pista got to make a few left turns, albeit in one sitting, before being relegated to a commuter bike. A damn cool looking commuter bike, mind you. Yep, that's a brake up there on the bar, and what else do I see? Could it be, WHITE bar tape! I'm quite impressed by this little machine, with a swap to a carbon road fork, Josh has made it a rideable street machine, and with another one sitting in the shop in my size, could I have a companion, or indeed a replacement, for the poor Tricross which sits dormant in the back of the shop? Should I? Hmmmmm....

You fuckin what?

September eh? Wow, this blog seems to have stalled. That's what happens when no-one is riding singlesppeds. They are sitting there, the TriCross is just sitting there, the KHS/SSSS is sitting there (back in Aus mind you) and this blog is just... sitting here. Josh sold his CrossCheck, and sometimes cruises the streets on his Pista (which saw the grand total of ONE track session) and Mikey sometimes commutes on his Langster, and Owen is back from the UK and is probably on his old beaten beast. There are a few fixie douchebags around town, but who wants to talk about them? No Wellycats, no nothin... Will we come back?

Re-crossed

The Tricross has had a transformation back to how it should be. Peeved after attempting to copy MASH, where I aborted after previewing what is essentially a wanky scene designed for poseurs who are more into the image than the ride, I dragged out the 'cross tyres and mounted those babies. Josh caught wind of the impending mods, and being the tinkerer that he is, was soon digging out a set of cantis from his box of mystery, citing "ya gotta keep it authentic" as a reason to sacrifice the braking power of V-brakes for a more traditional set-up.
Of course he's right, and the knobbies don't roll fast enough on my commute to warrant needing any brakes anyway! Now, to get it off-road again...

The new Anger Management tool

Someone once commented to me that trackies all have anger issues. Really? Brett often tells me that I have deep-seated hate issues, so this could be quite an appropriate venture (although he's usually half joking, there is some truth in that statement, since I do find everything about him utterly repulsive and am not usually shy about sharing this sentiment with him in public). Anyway, last week my new Avanti Pista track bike turned up. I've swapped out the more boring stock parts for some nicer bits that I had lying around. The finished bike looks like this:

I'm looking forward to getting it into the Hataitai Velodrome and racing on it once track season starts in a month or so. I've only ever ridden track a couple of times. I turned up on my Surly Cross Check with a bigger gear and gave it a go last year; good fun, but the Surly is definitely more of a street cruiser. The Pista couldn't be more different; it's plenty stiff and way tighter and steeper (uh, like a track bike, I guess...). Anyway, once the track dries out (it's outdoors and it's raining a lot today) I'll be out there for a trial run. To exorcise some of the hate.

New Season Single Speed Steeds Steal Show.

As reported over at bikes, beer, beats we got up to Auckland for the Avanti/Specialized 2009 release. Both makes had several SS's on display, with the big S only bringing in one of the Langster range again this year. This time it's the hideous Las Vegas model, which replaces last year's equally uninspiring London. I didn't get a picture, I must've been more disgusted than I thought at the time. Here's some of the other machines sans shifters.
Josh checks out the Avanti Pista Pro and gets the ridiculous idea that he might do some track racing this year (I hope I don't suffer the same delusions). No doubt he was inspired by the huge success of the NZ track team at the Olympics, where it was a Bronze-rush! Ok, and a silver too.
Pista Solo, basically a entry-level Pista with some brakes and a dodgy 'cityscape' paint job. Still looked better than the Las Vegas Langster though.
Avanti K.I.S.S. (Kylie Is So Slutty) 29er. Actually looks pretty good, a way better colour than last year. Cheap but not too nasty (unlike Kylie).
And the 26" version. I think this one stands for Kevin Is Slightly Stoned. Just like any good singlespeeder (well, fixie rider anyway.)
Tricross Singlecross... I'm not gonna say anything bad about this one, because I wish mine had this paintjob. One of the best looking bikes there in my opinion (which counts for nothing really).

NZ SS Video

Check out this vid from the NZ SS titles earlier this year... if you blink you'll miss the cameos by Chris The Courier and yours truly.