Out with the old, in with the new (bike stuff!)

Well, kids, It's that time of the year again...

Time to reflect on the past year and how you did compared to what you originally intended,

Time to write down all of your goals for the new year and align your training in order to achieve it,

but most importantly, time to sell all your old bike junk to make way for new bike junk!

Call it fall cleaning.

I think one of the coolest parts about this grand sport of ours is that there's so much cool shit to buy!

Conversely, one of the worse parts about our sport is that it's so damn expensive!

In order to mitigate the latter and facilitate the former, we sell our old stuff!

what wares am I peddling, you ask?

My old, trusty ultegra gruppo from my Fondriest Don Racer:

I spend two hours last night stripping the frame down and cleaning all these greasy bike parts. It was kind of amusing. There's something oddly therapeutic about cleaning and wrenching your bike. It's soothing even though its grimy and a pain in the ass. but oh, look how it shines!

Up next, my Gary Fisher Tassjara Disc MTB:

A trusty steed in deed; this was the first bike I bought when i wanted to start cycling on something other than a 40 lb walmart special. I love this bike, but i quickly realized that there's no mountains to ride around here! i rode it on the road so much that I finally got sick of it and succumbed to a road bike. This bike started it all, and I've got fond memories of riding on this, looking like a complete fred. Ah, the good old days...


and of course, my old Ksyriums:

My first real wheelset. These were fantastic wheels. Always solid, always fast. I'll miss em. I rode 4 centuries on them, and put alot of miles on them.

Funny story, I put these wheels up on craigslist last week. the person that got in touch with me about them and bought them the other day is one of my teammates! Of all lthe people in the city! Friggin small world, i tell ya. I hope you enjoy them Nate!

I also sold a spare Campy Chorus front derailleur i had lying around from when i built my new Fondriest up (wrong clamp size, derrrr), and a pair of oldschool Dura Ace Track pedals I rescued from Ebay


I bought those pedals for $26 bucks on ebay, and sold them for $50. not a bad return...


So what am i gonna buy with all this crap I just sold???

I'll tell you. First of all, I would like to blame the new team discount I'm getting at NYC Velo
I wasn't having any evil thoughts about buying new stuff up until hearing "team discount," I swear!


1) a pair of 2007 Mavic Ksyrium Elites- I wanted a pair of wheels that i could race with in cyclocross and train with on the road. I shouldn't be using my campy eurus's on rainy days- they're too pretty and Italian for that. the new 07's have been redesigned and look pretty swanky. On top of that, I'll be able to sign up for their 2 year crash repair/replacement program, which will come in SUPER handy for cyclocross, if and when i bust my ass and taco a wheel...

2) Campy veloce Gruppo- for the cross bike. my reasoning is this: I want to have the same stuff on my cross bike that I do on my road bike. why? so I'm used to the shifters, and so that I dont have any freehub compatibility headaches. With campy all around, i can throw wheels on any bike I choose, which will come in handy. Also, more Italian stuff=sweet.

3)New Team Kit- just joined the team, and now i need to be decked out in the kit, dammit! The kits are pretty sweet and I'm looking forward to rocking them at the races.

4) Continental Gatorskins- gotta have some winter tires to train on! These things are bulletproof but still roll really well.

One could call me Fred-like for throwing money at this stuff. I know its not going to make me win any races, but that's not why I'm getting it. I'm a bit of a gear junkie. I love how technology is a big part of cycling. I love how form and function meet seamlessly on a bicycle. and I love how that allows me to justify spending all this money on a sport that I'm bonkers about.




So, what're YOU buying for the new year??