Well I’ll be a monkeys uncle.

[Brains]

All of us over a certain age will have used one of these -

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The switch was their Achille's heel, it operated a sprung contact across the batteries which was forever either refusing to do it's job or breaking off. A hard thump on the body was often enough to make it behave for a while.

This thread has made me think that in spite of all the wonderous mechanical advances on modern bikes it is the lights that have made the greatest leap in terms of quality and effectiveness.

New fangled modern stuff!
My first bike light was carbide powered !

(I think it came off my Dad's childhood bike, I was the only kid at school with one and even the teachers commented on it)

 

[EltonFrog]

My old man croaked last week, he basically drank himself to death, and he and I really hadn’t been in touch at all for 30 odd years.

However, his house needs clearing a bit, and this is where it got really interesting. There were various odds and sods in there ( including a BBC basic 32K computer ) and I haven’t seen one of those for a long long time. Then I got into the garage. Well I nearly fell over with shock and surprise.

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This isn’t just any old steel framed BSA Tour de France.

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Check those lights out

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Garmin, my backside this is how we used to roll

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A bit of lube and that rear mech will be good to go I reckon .

This is my actual first proper road bike, I haven’t seen it in 34 years, and I had no idea it was living in his garage, and even stranger, it’s about 10 minutes from where Ive been living for the last 10 years. It’s actually not in complete disastrous condition either. The headset is still free moving, the BB is going to need replacing, but actually still turns, even the hubs aren’t seized. It’s a project I think, but just for old time’s sake I’m considering fixing it up, and getting it back on the road.

Are you going to fix it up?