Back to the Old School

32 hole, Veloce hubs, DT stainless spokes, silver Open Pro rims. And, according to the rim tape, "personally approved by Monty Young".  It's a long time since Monty was a permanent presence at Condors in the Grays Inn Road -- sitting at his ancient jig and creating perfect wheels.  But his spirit is still there somewhere in the carbon and titanium high-money operation that his shop has become.

Monty made wheels for my father in 1949, and a set of track wheels for me that I raced for a season then rode into the ground over five years fixed-gear commuting on London roads.  

Never had to use a spoke key once.

Best of all, these new ones were on special offer and less than the cost of a second-hand pair I'd been eyeing up on e-Bay

They'll be on the bike tonight and on the road tomorrow.

 

 

A time for fixed

Richmond Park, Sunday morning. Traditional refuge of the London bikie.

Howling wind and dark, threatening skies but a break -- for an hour at least -- in the lashing rain that has afflicted the capital for the past five days.

The park is strangely quiet, even though I'm later than usual. Noticeably absent is the streaming peloton of city-boys, clad in Assos and Rapha, astride their Cervelos and Felts, who've become such a noticeable fixture of the park this year.

I don't really blame them for staying in their beds -- cycling is supposed to be fun, despite the hair-shirt nonsense of the old school clubman, which I sometimes find coming out of my own mouth.

In fact, I've previously been mystified by the way that some of the city cyclerati insist on taking their 5-grand carbon super-bikes on routine training runs in the pouring rain. You can almost hear the grit and muck grinding their delicate carbon and alloy into a paste.


In my day, your "best" bike was put away in September, not to reappear until March at the earliest. You rode through the off-season on your "winter"bike -- frequently with a 66 or 68-inch fixed gear and full mudguards.

For more than twenty years now, that's what I've done -- with a variety of old track and road frames and spare and salvaged bits. This year, thanks to the Government's excellent Ride to Work Scheme, I've been able to buy a beautiful fixed Condor Tempo to do the job. It's the perfect commuting bike, but also ideal for cold-month training. I may even try an audax or sportive on it -- although not Paris-Roubaix.

So go on, city boys -- stash the Cervelo 'till Spring, get yourself a winter hack and get out there.