Last Friday was my birthday, one of the big ones. My wife and I took the day off for a road trip and somewhere along the way we stopped at Larry Black's Mt. Airy Cycles. Somewhere in the conversation I said I was on a quest for a '70's pair of narrow clincher rims that kinda looked like tubulars with the tire on and 32x40 spokes. Because it was my Birthday and because he needed something from the Secret Warehouse, he would allow me to check out the wares and see if I could find what I was looking for.
He unlocked the place, turned on the lights and gave me a torch and the quick tour. This room has lots of rims, feel free to use a ladder. This room has classics on both side walls, the smaller ones at this end and going up in size. Don't be afraid to move stuff around to get a better look. This room has mostly wheels. The racks have boxes full of parts. One day we're going to try to organize this stuff a little better. Larry pointed out an old head badged Cinelli. I spotted a full fendered Jack Taylor tandem. "There's one of the things I'm looking for" as he pulled out an intact Schwinn cruiser tandem from the late '60s. Lots of track bikes, road bikes, touring, recumbents. Lots of bikes still in boxes, some nice looking bikes still wrapped with wheels tied to the frame. Most of the bikes hanging had a tag with seat and TT sizes. The Cinelli, too small, the Frejus, too big, Oh yeah, I was looking for something.
I spent about an hour cruising the place trying to figure out spoke counts on rims, climbing on racks and ladders to get a better view and looking in general while Barb sat in the car outside reading a book. Didn't find what I was looking for today, but did find a rim I'd been looking for a few years ago. I'll probably get it when I get back to that project, but Larry knows where this one is now. What a stash. I feel honored to have had a chance to check out the eye candy.
See you at the Cirque,
Dan Artley
Parkton, Maryland
>>> Dennis Young <mail@woodworkingboy.com> 01/09/03 07:52PM >>>
How much does one need to have to constitute a 'stash'? When you can't
remember all that you have, then it's a stash? Shouldn't people over
sixty-five be penalized in this regard? Don't bike shops have a unfair
advantage in this? Could a stash handicap be implemented to make it more
fair? Is there a timeline for stashes as well? Didn't Larry say that he
had one OR! two of a certain bike model. You're talking unequivocal STASH
there! I need to be clear on this.
Dennis Young 'stash' envious in Hotaka, Japan
> "but it's all hidden away and taken out of the mainstream like
> dale, i too have stashes, and multiples of stashes...
> some are piled onto other stashes. there really is no shortage at all.