The oldest kit you own...

ohara227

6 or 7 year old Endura HumVee shorts and Trousers, use them on and off and still as good. Thing is I can remember wanting to loose weight back then, and they still fit me...

rob_spedding

Thanks everyone - there are some top bits of kit on here. I may be DM'ing a few of you soon!

Rob

Wooliferkins

1994 Brooks Professional.

I have been outdone by one of my customers. He rode over to the shop on his Hetchins bought as a 20th birthday present. He's 81

gareth273

I have a 'Barry Bond' 501SL which had built when I left school at 16 - I am not 40, so 24 years old. I built it up for touring with Shimano Biopace triple, XT rear mech, 105 shifters (6 speed SIS) and brake levers and XT cantilever brakes . Wheels are made with double butted stainless spokes laced onto campag hubs with mavic (cant remember which ones) light grey rims.
I dont ride it much now i've got my new Bianchi

Bordersroadie

McBain_v1 wrote:

My 1983 Raleigh 531c Competition bike, with Shimano 600 running gear. It is my winter steed and very lovely.

Snap! My only road bike is my 1984 Raleigh 531c bike, originally all Shimano 600, now just the front mech, hubs headset and brake levers are 600, all the rest has been replaced. And the old Turbo saddle from 1990 is original.

Been in regular use by me for nearly 28 years. Winter trainer, commuter, summer trainer. . .Soon to be blasted/sprayed and ready for the next 28 years!

Good thread.

Oh, and yes, steel bikes do get better with age, like their riders!

Cleat Eastwood

I've used the same brush (to clean my bike) for 20 years, had 12 different handles and 8 different heads but the same brush

mingmong

Raliegh Special Products 150 mtb. Circa 1995 one of the last made in Notts. My winter hack. Had more guises and come backs than Madonna.

Aerozine50

The oldest kit I own and use is a 1962 Ephgrave designed Rory Obrien Lightweight, which gets an airing when I go back home up T' north to Cheshire to see mum and dad.

A lovelly old lightweight, but however these days proving a little hard to get spare bits for.

Regards

Paul

andyrr

Still wearing a few old tops - Cafe de Colombia (Luis Herrera era), Kwantum and long sleeve Panasonic Sportlife (Robert Millar / Alan Peiper era). Ancient pairof Assos bibs too, a bit thin (read obscene !) for outdoor wear but fine for turboing.

secretsam

531 frame bought from Bike Tech on Park St in Bristol in around 1986 - am planning its first respray to get rid of the rust and then I'll treat it to some new bits to bring it into the 21st Century eg STIs

stigofthedump

1985 Holdsworth fixie retrieved from the dump about 2 years ago. I also carry a 13mm/15mm open ended spanner for the wheels that came from the toolkit of a wartime Haflinger (german jeep style viehicle). Pedals are first generation DX SPDs from around 1993, which were originally on my 1992 Stumpjumper.

I also wear a Pathetic Sharks' T shirt as a base layer. Bourght from Viz magazine around 1981.

No one throws bikes away do they?

canamdad

1976 Silca track pump. Just put on a new gauge (now made in Taiwan!) as I broke the glass on the original. Not as fast as the new big diameter pumps but then neither am I!

DrLex

I still have my two 'adult' bicycles prior to my current one; Saracen Blizzard from the late Eighties (with Shimano Biopace Chain rings), now a winter hack, plus Trek 930 hardtail MTB from the late Nineties (USA build) for off-road use. Both almost original spec. (tyres & pads notwithstanding)- broken thumb shifter on the Saracen replaced.

attica

In 1991 I bought a Shogun Team issue with full Campag Chorus groupset and Mavic MA40 rims. This year I transferred the lot onto a shiny new Colnago Master frame, it is my pride and joy. I've never changed the brake blocks and there's still plenty of life left in them.

As for clothing, I have an 18 year old pair of Endura Bib tights, keep trying to find a replacement but nothing comes close, I especially like the neoprene area on the shins. I also have a Nike running vest that my parents bought me when I was in the Cub Scouts, it came down to my knees then, it's just right now and I still use it as a base layer (long since stopped running). Must be about 30 years old.

cajun_cyclist

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

an old BSA Tour de France steel framer....from 1972. Still has original chain crankset (cottered cranks) and pedals and bartape and wheels and aluminium bike pump under the top tube (remember them). The BB has a slight squeak but then again so do I.

Now we're talking....lots of other keen recommendations here too. The old Raleigh Super Tourer, stronglight, 531 and for backup I have another vintage ride, Motobecane, put a steel triple crank on it and though that adds some weight vs. alu, it goes up steep hills rather easily.

AndyD2574

My oakleys!
I'm nearly 38 and I got them when I was 18!! Still going strong and totally bombproof!

Ben6899

Anyone any idea how old the frame is that forms the basis for my 2nd/winter bike? It's the carbon/aluminium lugged Giant 980c that the Cadex team used. That and the steel handlebars/quill stem, from my old Peugeot Prologue, that accompany the Cadex frame will be the oldest bits of kit I still use regularly.

Kit I no longer use (or hardly ever use): the Prologue frame/seatpost and RSX groupset, the Raleigh racing bike (white & red) which my nan bought me when I was a nipper and the lovely Al Carter mountain bike with full Deore LX groupset which my parents bought me for Christmas 1993.

esspeebee

My dad's 1963 (we think) Claud Butler European. I've not ridden it since he died this year, but used it frequently before I got my current good bike.

twistedmetal

Raleigh Mtrax road bike with Reynolds 501 tubing and Shimano Exage 300 gearing. It weighs about 10kg which for a 20 year old steelie that cost £450 I think is good. Put it this way where I lived near Blackburn at the time there weren't too many shops to go to and most of them sold mountain bikes or cheap bikes. Only two sold proper road bikes and of course Halfords. Out of all my options I had the choice between 501 reynolds tubing and the cheapest of Shimano gears or even non-branded gears or non-branded steel frame and the cheapest of Shimano gearing. This had 501 tubing and IIRC two levels of Shimano up from the bottom all for the same price as the other options. I can only think it was due to the poor reputation of Raleigh which they were trying to change with the Mtrax sub-brand for race ready bikes. This was their base model at the time too.

Anyway, it is my current bike with original parts too!! Mostly because I used it a lot for two years then hardly at all for most of the remaining years so it really hasn't had that hard a life. Even one of it's tyres is original!!! I'm even thinking of putting a rack on it for light touring and commuting duties. What do you think?? Would the old girl take it??

Frank the tank

Own is not the right word at all, but, it's the missus.

CiB

I've still got my old toolbox + tools (Allen Keys, needle files, set of spanners, wire strippers etc) from around 1979. It's never used nowadays but still exists in the garage next to the valve powered radiogram tuned to 198LW.

I still have and wear a Benesto cycling top from the early 90s, and a bike computer from around the late 80s sitting in a drawer somewhere.

Frank Tank - you can claim 'wife' as your oldest kit; I'll trump that with Old Pa CiB still rattling round on the farm as mine. Priceless, for everything from baby-calming to having unusual-sized spanners & stuff in the tractor box. Weight = gold, as we say.

Coach H

A pair of the Time Racing shoes with the two red straps. 1989 I think. Mine are the grey pair rather than the more popular white. Now worn sometimes in winter under overshoes. Not entirely sure the SIDI Genius 5.5's that replaced them, after 19 years use, are any better!! (and I rode for a while with a guy wearing the white version about 6 weeks back so its not just me).

I also sometimes wear my original Castelli TDF Combined jersey of the same vintage. The lage size roughly equates to a modern Castelli XXXL!

maxh5100

As I was reading this thread it dawned on me that I still wear a pair Cannondale Tights I got in about 1992.
They have not been used for all of that time as I did have about 10 where i didn't cycle, and they are in great nick.

Unfortunately the Look / La Vie Claire jersey I've got from about the same time is a bit too small for me now, otherwise that would get some use too!

velohutts

The oldest bike would have to be my late dad's Jim Soens , through the years of race bikes he owned this one always came back out as the favourite. resprayed in blue looks great , must be from the 60's as it was there from when I can remember , does anyone know any of the history of JIM SOENS bikes ?
reading this the tyres will get a check next year and then a few dry runs out to where we scattered the ashes for a ride by probably with a cake as they always went well when out on a ride with me dad!

Masonavickof

My oldest kit is my spare bike which I'm using at the moment.

It's a Holdsworth Road bike, I thought it was made in the seventies, but the guy in the local bike shop thinks it was made in the sixties. Great Bike

colinsmith123

I still have my Harry Quinn that I had built in 1979 when I was a junior. Just a frame and bits of Campag now. It was supposed to become my winter bike but that nver happened.

The one bit of kit I still use though, are my Decca wool/acrylic mix track bottoms. I use these when out on my MTB in cold dryish weather. In a moment of madness before I took up riding again I skipped my wool trade team jerseys - Molteni and and Sanson Doh!

roadietoo

My oldest kit is a Brooks Professional that fits me like a glove and has all the edges rounded - like me! It is 26 years old but I am a lot more than 26.

prawny

I was out in my Lusso bib tights I bought in 1994 or 1995 still lovely and warm if a bit bobbly in places

NervexProf

Three bikes, dating back to 1985; a Chas Roberts' a 'Harry Quinn', self built and a 'Whitfield'

All 'classics', to me anyway, and each a superb ride.

(unlikely to go beyond '10 speed' and 'hug a 'carbon wrap!')

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41489547@N04/

mikeharris666

my 1975 Wes Mason, built for me at the age of 17... still going ok - with its Campag hubs, tubed tyres, mavic rims and i dont even remember what else... its in the garage.