My new 21 year old Bianchi

1987 Bianchi Campione Del Mondo is not the prettiest bike around. It's built in the black and Red years at Bianchi, but to me the "celeste" green is the only true color for a Bianchi. Is that to conservative of me? Probably it is. So to attack my own twisted values I'll keep the color. In fact, I'll play with it and learn to love it. Blood and darkness. A bike for $50 deserves some coin thrown at it. What do you think? I think I'll go with a black and red theme for this one. If I had the cash I'd black out all the chrome on the bike, get some black drop bars, black stem, seat post, cranks etc. But for now, on my meager budget, I'll go with what I can "afford" (it's always relative isn't it?). Next step for this one is the front wheel of of my cracked frame Peugeot. The shifters etc. will come of that one as well. There is an old red "loaner wheel" at the shop which I can have for little money. Get a red tire for the back, and maybe some red cable housings. What I'll end up with as a short term result, should be a pretty cool 14 speed. But I think some day I'll do this bike up lthey way I want to. It's not every day that you com across a 63cm Bianchi frame, let alone one for 50 bucks. Might as well have some fun with it.

So long, old friend

I sold my Brodie on the Weekend. The purchase of this bike, marked the reintroduction of mountain biking in my life. However, in a few years I had outgrown the bike in the sense that I felt it was halting my progression as a rider. Therefore it was time to move on. When I bought this bike, it was a technological wonder in my mind, you see I have always been a bit low-fi when it comes to bikes. The bike before the Brodie was (and is, it's my SS commuter at the moment) a rigid Cannondale with cantilever brakes. So stepping up to a used hardtail with a Bomber up front and.... wait for it....V-Brakes! Was a quantum leap in my world. I felt I could launch of everything and stop on a dime. That feeling lasted for awhile, but a broken bottom bracket and some hairy moments on muddy downhill sections proved that those assumptions were not necessarily a hundred percent accurate. I later broke the fork as well, a rear hub, rear derailleur, cranks, etc. But those are just parts, and granted they weren't always of top quality. But the heart and soul of it all, the 2001 Brodie Spark frame, kept on ticking. After three years of abuse on two continents, it was finally time to give it up. I'd say about ninety percent of my time spent on that bike was alone in the woods. It brought me into a whole new world of mountain biking, calmed my restless mind, and made me forget about everything, for a few hours at a time. You have completed your mission, orange one. Time to fight somebody's else's battles. Thanks for fighting mine for awhile.