Hey Tom et al,
Maybe Ray, like me, is just hanging out till the rest of you ol' farts is pushing up daisies so he can then be the custodian of many of the very, very finest bikes that are out there :). Having only 10 bikes means his capacity to add more prizes to his collection far outweighs any of us. Except me - Im pairing down to just 2 bikes .... but am having trouble. Pairing down to the essence to me is ... ummm ... essential. Life becomes too lopsided otherwise.
Maybe it's been a while since we've done this but it's always fun - you can have any bikes in the world, but only 3 of them - what do you choose.
moi:
Richard Sachs ( but black with some chrome !!!!!) all chrome Cinelli Pista - Thanks John :) my yet to be built Torpado city bike (and a basket containing de rigeur stuff like baguette, cheese, wine, sausage, camera, durex etc etc) rattlecan black?
Really, I don't need anything else. Sure I miss out on a lot of other great bikes but my focus is to use them and know them intimately like a lover or a lifelong friend. I wish I was one of those cats who still have their first bike - I could buy or recreate one similar to what I had but it wasn't the one I rode and travelled and grew with. That has some memories. That stuff is beautiful, more than just ephemera or "my dad's an astronaut" bragging rights for numbers in a collection. So, in defence of Ray I'll counter that it's better to have less and enjoy them more. Most people I know who have everything they want are sad and pretty boring, funny huh?
Our bikes are our pens, the roads we travel upon them are the stories of our lives. Who here could compare to Michael Allison and his Masi Special? He's had it since new, it's travelled a lot of miles and in my belief it's priceless. Put a price on memories. Im sure there are others here with similar tales = please share with us !!!!! That's poetry. That's what we should be heralding.
Just think, your $10 garage sale beater could have been someone's lifelong journey.
Doesn't matter if you got just one bike, ride it and love it.
ciao,
Ben Kamenjas Sydney, Oz
On 24/05/2006, at 12:12 AM, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org
wrote:
> Greg Brooks wrote "Dale,
>
>> I think some kind of disciplinary action against Ray is needed. "
>
>
>
> Well after some reflection a group of us has decided upon Ray's
> punishment.
>
> We'll put him up at Cirque with a frightening room mate who may well
> snore,
> and have the dreaded cabal of Hovey, Zatezalo, Rawls and Sanders dog
> his
> every step...we'll sentence him to eating Bar-B-Que at Stamey's, try
> to get
> him into Dale's private bike building, even though the Friday night
> party
> has been canceled there, show him many bikes that he can't have on
> Dale's
> shop walls, photograph him with a large group of avaricious, vengeful
> collectors Sunday afternoon, and cause him heart palpitations all day
> at the
> show Sunday . We may even take the most extreme step of exposing
> him to
> Mad Johnny P. and forcing on him some of the Bagels that the NYC guys
> usually bring...and then there's the scary and sinister Philadelphia
> crowd...
>
> When we're done with him, I guarantee you he'll lust after more than
> ten
> bikes and be unable to not think about coming to the next Cirque for
> very
> long at any time for at least a year. I can't wait to see the photos
> he'll
> take.
>
> We'll fix him good!
>
> Tom Sanders
>
> Lansing, Mi