A silver Rudi Altig Lazer Custom "racer". It was my venture back into cycling in 1978 at the age of 26. Advertised in the Sunday Mirror I think it was, by Tensor Marketing. It's hard to believe how many pages of advertising there were in newspapers in those days now we have the internet,
ebay etc. Realistically, I didn't have a clue about cycling though I thought I did, having done loads up to the age of 16 on basic single speed bikes and fixed any problems, punctures etc and always got home. I'd lived in Devon and then Wales, and didn't realise how fit I must have been at that time. Then I discovered motor bikes so bicycling, and my unacknowledged fitness, went away for a while.
My intention was to use it to go to the pub without risking my licence, and to try to get some exercise.
Anyway this thing came in a box with some instructions and I managed to assemble it. It looked OK, was reasonably well finished but had some pretty basic components. Cottered steel chainset, a curious inside-out continental BB, steel rims and bars, and the shortie mudguards that were popular at the time. With 10 gears it was 9 more than I'd been used to so I thought I was well set up to go cycling. Although I thought it cost quite a bit at the time it was incredibly cheap compared with a bike from a bike shop. Living in rural Wales, there weren't many bike shops to drop into for advice. I can't actually remember the price now.
My first ride showed how incredibly unfit I was. Ideally I should have ridden it somewhere flat first, but this was Wales and you had to go up and down quite a few hills before you found anywhere flat. I rode about 3 miles and at the end of that, having got to the top of a local hill (not what I'd call a hill nowadays) I thought I was about to die. Even bottom gear was quite high (as was common on bikes then). Once my heart rate was back to something near normal and I'd stopped hyperventilating, the ride back was actually quite pleasant.
I persevered with it, changed the freewheel for a Sun Tour with a more realistic bottom gear, and a rear derailleur to match, fitted proper mudguards and a rack, and used it for quite a few trips for getting around as well as the pub run. It was quite stable on poor surfaces, longish wheelbase, lazy frame angles I suppose and wasn't such a terrible bike. It was definitely a solid bike, lugs and all, and never let me down.
Perhaps it doesn't qualify as a BSO as it didn't put me off cycling. It made me want to go for something that I could travel further on, with less weight and better gearing.
The brakes were the main let down, as even with different pads it took a long time to stop in the wet. You just had to plan ahead.
After I bought a lightweight bike, the Lazer Custom lived on to be sold to a bloke who wanted a bike to train on for his rugby. It was Wales, after all. I don't regret buying it, though if I'd joined a cycling club at that time I would probably have been met with hoots of derision for turning up on it. I regret that I never got round to taking a photo of it though.
Even the tyres didn't inspire confidence - they were called Dai Yung - I kid you not.
