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#16
02-28-2024, 02:52 PM
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Here's my custom 2014 Giant Propel, AKA Walt "Clyde" Frazier.
Obviously the most funkaliciously stylish player to ever play the game. This bike was smoothing and grooving, swishing and dishing, swooping and hooping, and the most dramatic, acrobatic, and charismatic bike I've ever owned. The bench? I just rode past it one day, did the most acute 180 of my life, and engaged in a serendipitous session of glamour portraits of my superlatively boundin' and astoundin' bike. [IMG]  Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]
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#17
02-28-2024, 02:54 PM
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#18
02-28-2024, 02:58 PM
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Next we have my Booomers bamboo gravel bike, aka Frederic Weis. Imported from overseas, I was really excited about it and so was everyone else in the shop. Then it self destructed, cracked just like Weis, and never saw a minute of big league action.
(Okay, this really could have been Len Bias, but A) that would be in bad taste, and B) this bike was never going to be anywhere near as good as Len Bias would have been --not even close.) [IMG]  Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]
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#19
02-29-2024, 07:47 AM
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Meet the 2014 Raleigh Revenio 3.0, my Bill Walton of bikes.
Like Walton, this bike and I spent a short time in Portland, OR. And like Walton, this bike was a total champ while it was there. The story: I spent a few weeks at UBI Portland back in 2013, 2014, I don't remember exactly. I was a Raleigh dealer at the time, and they shipped this bike to a local bike shop for me so that I would have something to ride while I was there. I paid the shop to assemble it and install the Topeak rack and panniers, then proceeded to disassemble,rebuild, break, and repair the bike at least a half dozen times over the next few weeks in various UBI classes. Kind of like Walton's history of injuries, I suppose! This was my 'performance road' bike for three weeks, and it was my mode of transportation, too. I remember riding it to grocery stores and loading those panniers so heavily with sweet potatoes, beets, onions, and oatmeal that the bike was almost unmaneuverable --one degree of lean off of perfect equilibrium, and down it would have gone! To this day, it is probably the smoothest riding aluminum bike I've ridden, and we got along so well for those few weeks! (Admittedly I don't have extensive experience on many aluminum bikes). If I saw one in a size 54 in good condition for a reasonable price, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. So what happened to this bike? Well, unlike Bill Walton, the bike actually stayed in Portland! A few days before my departure, I posted it on the local Craigslist, as I did not want the hassle of traveling back to NJ with it (where I already had an ample supply of bicycles). Appropriately, it sold to a fella named Bill, who still has it, and who I am still friends with to this very day! The bike in the story is actually a size 56, which is what I used to ride. If it were a 54, I'd just buy it back from Bill. As an aside: The early 2010's were an amazing time for Raleigh bikes. Their road and CX bikes went very underappreciated by the general public and media --just like Walton! All of the Raleighs from that era that our shop built went together beautifully and not only rode fuss-free, I think they rode a lot better than several of their more sought after and expensive contemporaries. Aside #2: I still have that black and red Pearl Izumi jacket. It's the most expensive piece of clothing I ever purchased, and also probably the most used and enjoyed! Aside#3: While in Portland, I stayed 3 blocks from where the Blazers play, and never missed a home game. This was peak Lillard/Aldrich time, the year of the first CurryWarriors championship—and I saw them play each other! [IMG]  Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG][IMG]  Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG][IMG]  Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]
Last edited by Baron Blubba; 02-29-2024 at 08:26 AM.
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#21
02-29-2024, 08:00 AM
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#22
02-29-2024, 08:14 AM
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Here is the 2010ish Specialized Sirrus Comp, aka George Mikan.
This is the first bike I ever bought for myself, and the first modern road-oriented bike I ever rode, albeit a flat bar one (my only road bike experience otherwise was my dad's old Lotus). At the time, this bike blew me away. It devoured miles and hills with an appetite that made all the bikes I'd ridden before it seem positively anorexic. It helped me accomplish things with a bike that I really had never thought possible. This picture, for example, is of my first out and back ride from Toms River, NJ to Princeton, NJ --yep, home of Einstein and the Princeton Record Exchange and the setting for William Goldman's very saucy and very good book, "Boys and Girls Together". That ride was 72 miles long. At the time, my family couldn't believe I'd done it. These days it's more like "Oh, you only rode 72 miles today? Let's talk about something interesting, then." I also rode my first century on this bike. It cost $1000 and I remember one of my brothers wanted to ride it, even though he was way too short for it, because he "Just wanted to see what a $1000 bike feels like." Funny how these days I say the same thing, coming from the completely opposite direction, but back then a $1000 bike was exotic to us. We couldn't believe how light it was! Eventually the bike was stolen, so I don't have it anymore. Like Mikan, who was the first superstar of the NBA, the 2010 Specialized Sirrus probably wouldn't hold up favorably (from a performance perspective) to any of the many all-star bikes that succeeded it. But in it's own time, it was dominant, and it raised the game to another level. [IMG]  Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]
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#23
02-29-2024, 08:18 AM
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#24
02-29-2024, 08:23 AM
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#25
03-04-2024, 08:30 AM
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[IMG]
 Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]Today we've got a special bike. This was my first drop bar road bike. Yeah, wanted to come into the league and make an immediate impact, I guess you could say. So, this bike is the 2012 Jamis Xenith SL, and it's my Dr J for so many reasons. Dr J was one of the major fulcrums upon which the lever of pro basketball tipped. He ushered in an era of flash and pizazz and style, and elevated the game. Now just look at this Jamis. White saddle, white bar tape, white decals, bare naked carbon, little deep red metallic highlights on the hardware --this bike was ballin'. And it definitely elevated my game. At the same time, like the good Doctor, it clearly existed on the threshold of history and modernity. Those Dura Ace C35 wheels? They came stock with the bike, and they are tubulars. The tires? Vittoria Corsa Evo something or the other, and they measure at 21mm's. Heck, even look at the position I was riding in back then --a size 56 (one size up from what I ride today), low seatpost, long reach. The whole bike weighed 13.25 lbs before pedals and stuff, and, like Dr J, it felt like it could fly. And while it would be a while from the end of Dr J's career until the 76'ers would adapt the black and red jerseys, this bike was adorned with the same hues as contemporary Sixers livery. Last but not least, Dr J came from NJ and then went to PA. Well, on this bike, almost every Saturday morning, I would ride a century from my apartment in Toms River, NJ to New Hope, PA, just a little bit north of Philly.
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