Box Brownie Nostalgia Corner

[RIP]

Been rootling about amongst old snaps, as you do, and thought it might be entertaining to see what everyone else has stashed away in their vaults. It's always tedious when people flash vast numbers of holidays pics etc at you, so will try to only do a couple. The more embarrassing the better obviously. Don't like rules but to make it more interesting maybe they should be only ones taken last century? No laughing at the back please.. here we go...

Dawes Cougar, still in my shed right now, but these pics sometime 1986-88. In fact I guess this year is Reg's MTB "Pearl Anniversary" year!
Snailbeach (no helmet, no gloves, old jeans and shirt):



Croesor Tramway, crappy plastic rucsac with Lyons blackberry and apple pie, can of Cresta (strawberry), Pink Panther choc bar, and some Golden Wonder crisps. We specialised in old steelworks, quarries, industrial wastelands in those days, scenery was boring!



Somewhere near Minehead after "doing" Exmoor. Nice practical hat eh? Normal street shoes. Fatbikes for sand? Nah, V-Claw 2.1's did the job fine.



First MTBs up Helvellyn?



Ladybower, er refining my cornering "technique".... old jeans, lumberjack shirt, gardening gloves....



Solo circumnavigation of Iceland. Note spare tyre, towel drying on the back, and ludicrous amount of kit. Would probably blow the scales up at a WRT weigh-in:



Right that's more than enough. Nostalgia eh? "It ain't what it used to be".

"Reg"

[voodoo_simon]

Brilliant stuff!

I was still in nappies for some of the pictures

[RIP]

Thanks Vood. "nappies" - I reckon some of those could have come in useful for me on some of the rides, I was cacking myself on some of the downhills with my cantilever brakes blowing up in flames....

Still, I think I can genuinely say that was the best 500 quid I've ever spent in my life (*).

"Reg"

(*) although admittedly that time with Fifi Lamour comes a close second

[Pickers]

Solo circumnavigation of Iceland

We will definitely need to talk at length about this when we meet up next - I have a hankering to do this

although admittedly that time with Fifi comes a close second

Didn't know you were that keen on dogs.....

[RIP]

Yeah Iceland was corking. And cos I like doing things the hard way I went there and back by boat. Er, via the Shetlands (*) which took 2 days, and back via the Faroes which took 5 days cos the boat went off somewhere else (Denmark?) and came back again before returning to Aberdeen.

Anyway, no more pics folks? C'mon, don't be shy, no need to be embarrassed about all those flared trousers, kipper ties, mullet hairdos and whatnot. Well, OK, there IS but why deprive the rest of us of a good laff eh! Let's see all those lovely antique Saracens, Marins, Peugeots, Ritcheys as well.

"Reg"

(*) oops sorry I mean "via Shetland". Don't want to upset our Scotian friends!

[fatbikephil]

Summit of Helvelyn June 1989. This was my first proper bikepacking trip (round the Lakes) I suppose although I was staying and eating in YHA's and did a couple of days like this one sans kit. This was the trip where I learned techy rock riding - after having spent hours dragging my bike up a massive steep rocky pass, and faced with carrying it down the other side I got so angry I started trying to ride anything. Being 18 helped....

Bike was a 'Denton' custom frame actually made by Paul Donaghue of Pauls Cycles in Bishop Auckland. 531 ATB tubing, sloped top tube (a novelty back then) and huge head tube. Mavix Oxygen M6 rims, Spesh grundies and deore bits. Also note 'Cosmic trail' top tube pad and 'radiator head' Nolan lid

[rando nomad]

image.jpeg

Tassie 1990

(1.86 MiB) Downloaded 205 times

Rocky Mtn Cirrus all set up for touring. Put lots of CDN flags to avoid being mistaken for a yank.

[RIP]

What a cracking pic there, thank you HT. I do love a nice cold hard piece of steel between my legs. Those days it was carbon in pencils and aluminium in saucepans where they both belong. Am I the only one finding those ultra-slim seat-tubes oooohhhh so sexy and strokeable? Oh. I am. Ah well. Loving the paintjob too.

Just one more then. This one's even in black and white so it must have been sometime in the 1930s. Rosedale Railway, Ingleby Incline, when you were actually allowed to ride it. Well, more accurately when nobody cared because they couldn't believe nutters on bikes would be up there at all.



"Reg"

[voodoo_simon]

Thanks Vood. "nappies" - I reckon some of those could have come in useful for me on some of the rides, I was cacking myself on some of the downhills with my cantilever brakes blowing up in flames....

Still, I think I can genuinely say that was the best 500 quid I've ever spent in my life (*).

"Reg"

(*) although admittedly that time with Fifi Lamour comes a close second

I remember riding my dads cantilever brakes and then going on v type brakes, light and day (and almost too powerful!). Disc brakes blew me away a few years later!

Ride rigid now, quite enjoy it but wouldn't go away from discs now. Got to keep things sensible! Will have to dig out my 'retro' pictures at some point

[Richard G]

I'm trying to get the old negatives moved over to digital. Will have to get some up of 80s me when I finally get that project finished.

80s me is a little younger than some of the pics in here though.

[fatbikephil]

What a cracking pic there, thank you HT. I do love a nice cold hard piece of steel between my legs. Those days it was carbon in pencils and aluminium in saucepans where they both belong. Am I the only one finding those ultra-slim seat-tubes oooohhhh so sexy and strokeable? Oh. I am. Ah well. Loving the paintjob too.

Funny really, I read a copy of 'Bicycle Action' mag which had a feature on a Paris - Dakar MTB race and all the bikes had these mad fluro pink, orange and yellow paint jobs. So when I was speccing my frame I said - make it fluro pink and yellow. I even had the kit to match (fortunately all pics and negs destroyed!) Gotta love the '80s

[Zippy]

Baby Me! by Chris Reeves, on Flickr


Tinkering! by Chris Reeves, on Flickr