Bike talk...

God, I love eBay. Love it. Today my new old levers arrived, pic and pic.

They are a little more scarred than I would have preferred, but I have always been of a "ride it, don't just polish it" persuasion, so it doesn't matter too much. SLR600 is the precursor to Ultegra (the clubman's friend), so the levers are the right ones for my bike. Having said that, if a nice pair of Dura-Ace do come up, then I *will* be bidding.

Went out onto the roof and took some well-overdue snaps of the bike, too. There's a gallery online. This bike was originally equipped with 105 STI with Campagnolo Mexico deep-section ally rims. OK at the time, too old and heavy now. When I retired (ha!) from racing I took all the nice bits off my race bike (a Condor Columbus EL Oversize frame, yum).

The yellow frame is now a really lovely "day bike". It's supple and comfortable because of the long seatpost and steel frame. Any flex isn't problematic, but manifests itself as a pleasing spring, like a new pair of trainers. Obviously it's never going to be a featherweight with that frame (did you see the nice seatstay lug), but with full Ultegra with an American Classic ISIS b/b, a ControlTech carbon chainset, a full-carbon Vitus fork and the superlight seatpost and saddle, it's a healthy weight for a middle-aged bike.

The wheels are a little special. There are two sets and an extra rear. For rough roads or salty winter training I use Mavic Classics, with 32 straight-pull 3x spokes and really nice SUP rims. These were designed for Paris-Roubaix, so they're *strong*. Summer rides or longer distance mean that the Open Pros on 28h (NOS) Dura-Ace hubs come out. Lovely wheels. Then for hilly circuits or on windy days I have the non-UCI approved Spinergy. Fast wheel. And I love it inside the mudguard!

Enough! Back to work.