Bicycles
I’ve had numerous bikes since I was a kid, but these are just the ones I’ve bothered to keep track of.
2011 Colony Endeavour
Bought in January, 2014, this is probably the nicest bike I’ve ever owned. Despite only having 36-hole rims and weighing probably a quarter of what the Hoffman does it’s still far stronger and more stable in the air.
2003 Hoffman Bikes 900
This bike was a piece of shit when I bought it off a friend of a friend. I’ve always adored Hoffman bikes, and at the time I was really into “strength at all cost” bikes and it was built thick. It needed a bottom bracket, the wheels were folded and the seat was all tore up. I got a sweetheart deal on a wheelset and an Odyssey 99er seat, which is made out of kevlar so I was pretty sure it wouldn’t tear.
After a bit the brake performance was starting to piss me off, so I ended up doing a London mod with new levers, cables, etc. I rode the shit out of this bike for ages and I still have it in the USA.
~2003 Free Agent Trail Duster
As mentioned below, I bought the Free Agent after the Dyno was stolen. I loved this frame when I first got it, with the arse-end being shorter than anything I’d ever ridden it felt amazing on the dirt jumps which I was really into at the time. I didn’t really do anything to it except paint it.
I sold it and the Dyno to Trevor, as mentioned below.
~1999 Dyno Zone
After I got to California I got bitten by the bug again, and a friend who worked at a bike shop hooked me up with what was a very similar bike to my other Dyno. It was substantially heavier, but the geometry was pretty close to spot on. Gold with the green stickers, the same Powerlite bars 4-piece bars I had and everything.
It ended up getting stolen from outside the place we were staying, so after a week of saving I bought the Free Agent. On the way home from picking up the Free Agent I saw my bike parked outside a grocery store. I had thought about knocking it off again, but the kid riding it may have bought it fair and square so I called the cops. The operator gave me the usual “ahh we have no one available to take that call”, so I snapped “don’t worry, I’ll just fuck him up and take it.” Surprisingly, a patrol car showed up in about 15 minutes, after which I’d tailed the rider to a house a couple streets over, where I directed the cop car.
The officer asked how I planned on proving it was mine, so I gave him the serial number and the police report number. He went inside and checked everything out, and it turned out it was mine. I could either take it now, or file charges but they’d have to take it as evidence and I decided I simply wanted it back.
I ended up selling it and the Free Agent to Trevor so I could buy the Hoffman.
2000 Mongoose Brawler
This was an impulse buy, 100%. I was sick of putting new axles into the Dyno from trying grinds on the 10mm axles with the razor-thin dropouts, I’d not long left school and had a pretty great job. I went into my local bike shop and bought the first stout bike that had 14mm axles. I’m pretty sure it had a chromoly frame too, or at least the front triangle was.
I didn’t keep it long, as I barely had time to ride it due to work and I ended up emmigrating to the USA. I sold it in basically brand-new condition.
~1988 Dyno Compe
The details of this bike are mainly guesses as it was a long time ago. It was definitely a Dyno, but I’m not sure if it was a Compe, a Zone, or what. I’m pretty certain it’s earlier than 1990, because I distinctly recall the behind-the-seat supports were two seperate plates which I’m led to believe changed in the 90s.
I bought it off my cousin, or possibly traded him for a PC I put together - I’m not sure which. It was a chrome frame/fork, with Araya 48-hole rims. It came with some 6 or 8 piece bars that I ended up folding jumping it, so I put some Powerlite bars on it that were chopped down. It came with Odyssey Pitbull brakes on the back and a no-name Gyro, I ended up putting the SST Oryg on it.
It should have been in my parents’ storage while I was in the USA, they’re pretty sure they never sold it, but it’s nowhere to be found.