Hi All, I just joined the other day and posted earlier today. I'll tell you about m e (i.e. what I've been doing besides buying, riding, and selling all sort s of bikes over the years) and hope it is not too long :
Born 1966, Sturgis, Michigan, USA. Bikes have been in my blood since an ear ly age. My brother had the whole loft of our garage filled with parts. W hen I was about 7 he made me a chopper bike bike sticking forks into the tops of other fork blades that had been cut off below the crowns. I still believe he was trying to kill me. Cobbling bikes together was a great pa ssion of ours from the beginning. Anyhow, we grew up with Schwinn Varsit y, Stingrays, and the like. While we had never heard of Eddy M or even th e TdF, we did understand quality and that the neighborhood kids on Huffy' s were stuck with crap. We felt sorry for them with the broken shifters, etc.
Bicycle motocross was my thing from age 8 until about 12 (i.e. until my dis covery of girls). I was sponsored by New World Bicycles in Kalamazoo/Por tage, Michigan, and had some success on the bmx track. My dad did by me a used Honda XR75 motorcycle when I as 8 too (not sure why - I tell ya', my 6yo boy and 9yo girl won't be getting a motorcycle!), which I rode whe n I visited him in the country.
I did start to watch and follow the tour when I wasn't thinking about girls however. But I went thru a cycling dry spell until age 15 when I bought , for $325, a powder blue metallic 1984 Motebecane Jubilee Sport. It had Columbus SL tubing and only OK components (Maillard, Nervar, etc.). A gr eat value due to a weak French currency at the time. I considered the tou ring model, but ended up with the lightweight. I rode it the 28 miles hom e from the shop. I still remember that ride. My dad road a nice Dawes - great lug work and head badge.
In 87' I coupled my bmx background and a few years of road cycling by buyin g and loving my first mtb. Soon got into mtb racing, then road racing - basically as training for mtb racing. Spent time with the Kalamazoo Bicyc le Club, Kalamazoo, Michigan, and raced around the area. My sponsor was V illage Cyclery, Schoolcraft, Mi - the shop that sold me the Motobecane.
Grad school took me to Madison in 89' where I continued to race road and mt b as often as I could (fairly often since I refused to work more than par t time). In 91' I joined the Brazen Dropouts Cycling Team. I was at the meeting in 92' when we decided to have the first Madison Bike Swap (35 fo lks the first year) and have not missed a single one (always as a vendor) since then. I was the person who took over the leadership on it for the first few years and built a lot of the momentum we have today - (note 200 0 people attended on 1/14/06). In 92' my sweet heart and I did a 5-week self-support tour thru Sweden and Norway. I resurrected and lead the Wico nsin Off-Road Bicycling Association WORBA (the statewide trail access gro up) for several years in the 90's. Since 1995 I have taught the Mountain Bicycling class in the PE Elective Program at UW-Madison. I have done so me freelance writing for Silent Sports magazine. My titles include an art icle on touring with kids <http://www.silentsports.net/features/bike_tour ing_with_toddlers.html>, and the Brazen Dropouts Cycling Team <http://www .silentsports.net/features/brazen_dropouts_keep_rolling_a.html> .
So, I enjoy classic bikes, and most all other bikes - I'm likely not as muc h of a purist as the typical CR list member. I currently have bikes by: Frejus (my fixed gear), Santana, Waterford, LeMond, Merlin, Croll, Giord ana, Schwinn, Raleigh, Serotta, Miyata, Nishiki, Trek, Univega, Bridgesto ne and others. I have owned a Stella and several other classic bikes ove r the years. I sold a 71' Legnano at the swap last weekend (to a guy that I know will ride it, not part it out...). My wife rides a clean (had 25 miles on it when found) 84' trek 600 on the road. Like all of you, I hau nt garage sales, police auctions, the curb, classified, and ebay for fun and interesting finds. My neighbor has a PX-10 in his garage I'd like to play with.
I have toured the San Juan Islands, Island of Gotland in Sweden, Oregon Coa st, Door County Wisconsin, and dream of many others. These days I do a b it of cyclocross racing and some cross country ski racing, but not much. I wish I lived closer to the Kenosha Velodrome, or that we had one in Ma dison.
My main reasons for joining the CR list are: learn more about classic bikes , get some questions answered by all you experts, and post for sale class ic items when I come across them. I'd love to ride my Frejus (or other c lassic I may come acquire) with other classic bikers in the Madison area on occasion.
Tailwinds, Andy Swartz, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best." Ernest Hemingway