Well now.. It certainly has been a minute hasn't it..?
Shall we catch up a bit..?
No? Well too bad beeotch!
Let the games begin..
As many of you know, while I decided to take a step back from all things cycling related, exactly A DECADE AGO from the date of this post (minus the previous one which should make sense considering tomorrows date LOL) I hadn't actually gone anywhere. I just felt something coming from a far that no one around me seemed to be able to detect. It's like those scenes in period pieces where they know something is afoot without seeing, hearing or feeling it. As if they were so in tune with the world around them that a mere perception was enough of a call to action..
I stumbled with it all a bit at first. Questioned myself and wrestled with my conscious until I came to the inevitable conclusion:
I had to.. Switch gears..
No pun intended but also fuck off that shit is ON POINT!
..and not long after, it happened. The inevitable..
Blatantly obvious, unadulterated corporate owned state sponsored:
SSSTTUUUUPPPIIIIIDDDIIITTTTYYYYY
Which was actually fine for me at that point as I'd spent the lead up to it selling most everything I had of value before the market crashed the fuck out which I knew would and absolutely did. Sell high. Buy low. Don't be mad at me for simply knowing better. I'm a history fag and I'm from the fucking balkans not to mention having worked in various NYC media offices for at the time, 20 years, now 30 if you can believe that shit. Gee, pardon me for being aware of shit everyone should really make it a point to be aware of..
Basically what it comes down to is a whole bunch of 'people' thought it would be a good idea to play identity politics with a Gemini from Balkans that grew up in Jersey and knows way too many media insider secrets and rumors to keep to himself, lol
So I spent the last DECADE wearing down the thin veil of their facade by simply, accurately and REPEATEDLY PREDICTING THE FUTURE AND SMASHING THEIR OBVIOUS BULLSHIT FOR PROFIT NARRATIVES TO BITS FOR KICKS. Know many people who have that skill or fortitude? Probably not but if your answer was- 'Why yes my good man! I look at that fuckably handsome bastard in the mirror every morning JUST LIKE YOU DO!' ..than kudos to you!
For those of you too bitch to have joined me on that journey, I know what you're thinking- 'Come on now man what are you even talking about?!'
Well lets put it this way:
Sorry ladies but I called bullshit on that obvious nonsense TWO WEEKS after it started and then had the pleasure of spending the next few years watching people act like unbridled tyrannical assholes superior to those they deemed 'beneath them' and was repeatedly censored and called a 'crazy conspiracy theorist', amongst other colorful insults for not being a total fucking coward and following the rest of the useful idiots off the cliff they'd been marched to like cattle. So fucking stupid. The pharmaceutical industry literally just got done with perpetrating the opioid crisis, destroying countless lives, killing 10's of thousands and were sued for BILLIONS in the largest settlement in history but hey yeah let me just go right back to trusting every word they say- fucking morons. I literally spent YEARS shitting on that whole fiasco for what it really was and most people just high-fived me on their way off the edge. AWESOME..
So between the diaper face retards and the unjabbed influencers abating what could only be called the LARGEST GENOCIDE EVER PERPETRATED ON A GLOBAL SCALE by mocking the injured/dead. I barely want to go out in public anymore but hey nevermind all that because it's the small genocide on a tiny strip of land going on for 70 years that you should really be focusing on!
Fucking duh..
Suffice it to say- this will be known as a JABFAG FREE SAFE SPACE AHAHAHAHA!!!
"gneeyyyea what does this have to do with bicycles? rarrrrr"
Nothing..
I'm just here to clear the air and SET A FUCKING TONE..
That tone being the same unwavering tone as the old days:
If you don't like it you can GO FUCK YOURSELF
I'm first gen in the US from the balkans, grew up in Jersey and worked in various NYC media offices for 30 years, what am I supposed to be like- Mister yessss I'm ssso very happy to sssssell my sssssoul for a place at the cock sssssucking candy trough sssssir! Please. I have way too much inside knowledge swimming around in my head and too much heart to just lay down and die for a bunch of 5 foot nothing overtly smug no talent click bait headline reading historically ignorant buffoons that went from PUNK ROCK TO PUNK BITCH at the first sign of trouble and ran to embrace their favorite establishment daddies because their corporate sponsor was having a blow out sale on veils of rebellion made from the same fine material as the emperor's new clothes which everyone could see through and tease with silly old prose of how the so called King was deceived..
But I digress, this is a cycling blog after all so I think we've caught up with the shit talking quite enough at this point. Lets move on to bigger and better things shall we? To be honest, I see this whole thing coming to a disastrous conclusion one way or another so I figure I may as well be the one playing the violin as the Titanic goes down, lol wtf..
In any case, slowly but surely, the cycling gods decided it was time to accept the fate that was written for me and it all eventually crept back into my life. We'll just go with the insta timeline to catch up on teh cycling pron:
It first started when I was in the middle of organizing stuff and an old friend tipped his fedora at me from under the dust and rubble:
 |
More about the good ol' glossy black track here..
If you haven't already figured it out, I'm still rather bitter about the whole thing, lol fucking twats..
Which is of no consequence of course as the cycling gods will must not be refuted..
Not long after that, this OG Milwaukee Bruiser showed up for sale on my insta stories from an old follower that wasn't too puss to follow my insta for all of $200 bucks with a Chris King Headset to boot!:
Def a nostalgia purchase and yes if I come across another one in the same size I might just have to
get nasty with it π
It was pretty random for that jawn to pop up seeing as I have history with that particular model but I really didn't think much of it at the time, that is until the craziest shit ever happened next!
I'd been creepin' awn Facebook marketplace for a while since ebay has been UTTER TRASH for YEARS now once they started taxing everything and you even have to submit a W-2 income tax form which is FUCKING INSANE when you think about it. At least for me it is with my ye olden account from 99' back when we had to hand mail payments and wait for personal checks to clear before shipping. I used to make an extra 15-25k buying and selling on there every year TAX FREE and it was an AWESOME second source of income that I would KILL for now but then again, what would the CORPORATE SCUM do without that third yacht they've always dreamed of?? Like I said, scumbags.. Anyways, I'm only on there since its like the wild fuken west and amusing af to check out random people's odd niche and or cool vintage shizz. Just wish it was organized like ebay and not only pulling from a local 250 mile radius LAME..
Keep in mind I've never searched anything cycling related on there and don't post anything on facebook so I have no idea how the algorithm could've served up of all things, an OG Cuevas Track bike from a local rider that used to train at Mike Fraysee's NYS Cycling camp IN MY EXACT SIZE!!!
Do you have any fucking idea how long I've been looking for one of those fucking things? Since like 02'!! YEARS OF RELENTLESS SEARCHING TO NO AVAIL and this one just shows up out of nowhere thanks to the algorithm of all things almost a DECADE after I stopped looking. SO. FUCKING. RANDOM..
I've owned a few in the past but no where near as nice and original as this one. They're usually painted like shit with decals over the gloss but this one, while not the greatest paint job, is very decent and most importantly, the decals are underneath the gloss coat which is only the second one I've ever seen like that in person. Its got some nice chips here and there with a lighter slivery blue finish underneath, possibly from a respray but it's not that noticeable. But yeah, to find one in as nice condition as it is AND in my exact size is what gives this whip GRAIL STATUS..
If you're unfamiliar with the marque, it's this old school local frame building family that I've had this weird fascination with since I first found out about them. There's plenty of posts from back in the dizzay on here from previous finds. Just search 'Cuevas' in the finder window. Sadly, the owner wasn't around to give me the backstory aside from this blurry photo of him riding it at the camp in the 90's, so I don't know much about it:
Then a few months later, I was just sitting around minding my own business while on 'holiday' in Croatia. It's great there but it's just not much of a holiday considering I've been there a million times and have OODLES of hard work that needs to be done. Thing is it's been modernizing and catching up super fast there the last decade so things like facebook marketplace are now available along with the biggest thing- fast reliable shipping. Again, I'm not searching for bicycle stuff so I'm once again surprised when this little gem from Serbia pops up in my feed:
Now I'm thinking- oh kick ass! If the algorithm serves up some solid deals around Europe and I can have em shipped to my door nice and easy now. I'm from an island out there so finally having reliable standard mail service is amazing. Plus I can take stuffs back home to da statez to sell and or use for builds which is when a few days later, said solid euro score from Hungary showed up!:
It's funny cause at this point I'm still not really thinking about or searching for bike shit and have bigger fish to fry in other areas so I still hadn't been giving the algorithm any input but I was stoked to have found a set of DA cranks to match the same era DA post on the Cuevas..
I did give ebay a little go for old times sake just to see what's out there which is when I learned that you can get yourself some ultra sweet and ultra cheap but good quality CHINA CABRON in some ultra sick (and cringe) configurations like these bitchin' wheels:
I don't know exactly what it is about Carbon Fiber thats so TANTALIZING but looking at those wheels really got the cycling nerd juices flowing. I'd been wanting to get back into it for a while and I knew it would eventually happen but like most things with me- the art needs to pull me to it otherwise it just wouldn't be authentic. Forcing myself to do things I really don't want to is as impossible as it is for me as to not do something I can't stop constantly focusing on. Like it gets to the point where if I can't finish it and I know I have other marbles rolling around in my head that I need to get rid of, it starts to bother me in the same yet exact opposite way as getting roped into some buuuullllsshhheeyyttt KIND OF LIKE NOT BEING ALLOWED TO EAT INDOORS BUT SINCE ITS COLD OUTSIDE WE'LL LET YOU EAT IN THE OUTDOOR SEATING AREA THAT WE MADE INTO AN INDOOR HEATED AREA DUUUUUHHH π
In any case, fucking weirdo shit that can't be helped. Thankfully it usually provides for some decent entertainment..
Then my boy who posted the Bruiser frame a while back posted this jam on his stories for a measly $100 bucks:
Best part was hearing about how his buddies were begging him not to sell it to me for fear of my simply MAKING IT WAY BETTER AND MORE VALID THAN THE ORIGINAL BUILDERS COULD HAVE EVER POSSIBLY CONCEIVED and I just couldn't resist. That and I knew I'd be cruising through his hood on my way to entertain a lovely young lady with a fat ass so convenience won out in the end, lol..
At this point I've got ideas cooking and future plans formulating between the weed haze and borderline cliche seething contempt and rage for the world which is when I figured it would be in everyones best interest for me to calm the fuck down and order up a set of CHINA CABRONE wheels to test out on these them thar STREETZZZ:
I haven't done anything with them as of yet so y'all'll have to live with the teaser shot for a while longer. Just glad I got them before the tariffs they should've had in place from the beginning because I couldn't possibly have just ordered a standard ass set. Nope, I HAD to spend like a week going back and forth with someone who doesn't know what the fuck I'm talking about because google translate isn't 100% nuanced which made the whole exercise that much more enjoyable for both parties yes I am in fact a COLOSSAL pain in the balls with the details. Its what makes me so effective at what I do and according to 'friends', a big reason why people don't like me- apparently they think my work is too good and it makes them feel bad. I PROMISE I'm not trying to come off like I'm just patting myself on the back or anything, I'm laughing at them too- AAAAAHAHAHA!! I've literally had people close to me tell me this, like I'm supposed to feel bad about making someone else feel bad and stop trying to excel with my craft for their sake- WHAT ON THE WHAT NOW?!! Yeah, how about instead of wanting to pull me down for doing good work, y'all step the fuck up and get some shit done yourself INSTEAD OF ACTING LIKE A BUNCH OF WHINY CRYBABY SOCIALIST BOOT LICKING FANCY FUCKS FUCK YOU AND THE FUCKING CUNTRAG HORSE YOU RODE IN ON JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ALREADY how do people live with themselves while carrying on like such a BITCH?! I would rather fucking DIE than tell someone to turn it down for my sake- PUNCH THAT SHIT UP TO 11 MOTHERFUCKERS AND FUCK ALL THE REST!!!
How much did you cock sucking fucks miss me huh? Well, strap in you fucking pansies cause we've still gotsta wayz to gizzo..
At this point I'm searching around for a decent condition Dura Ace 7700 group set parts to match my NOS Serbian crank score but end up finding a complete group in really great used condition:
Not long after that score the algorithm 'suggested' this video edit which weirded me out yet again seeing as how those photos are from 2010. Why would it focus on old shit like that? Was it programmed by a woman or were they just cosplaying as juan..?
At this point it probably sounds like I don't know how the algorithm works but I do. It's just SUPER FUCKING WEIRD TO ME OKAY???
Until of course GRAIL FIND NUMBER 2 GOT SHOT ACROSS MY BOW and it became less of a weird coincidence and more of an act of PROVIDENCE.. ..if that makes any sense. It probably doesn't. But it will. Very soon. You will see. I wouldn't have come out of retirement if it wasn't as serious as how DESPERATE the industry NEEDS kooks like me to spice things up a bit I mean lets be honest, A LOT of you people grew up without a Yugoslavian- I mean Croatian Uncle and it shows..
While I was searching for badged quill stems I noticed that Nitto had come out with their Craft CT-1 badged stem at some point and a local dame had one for me for $150 in new condition which was great until I saw it on Amazon for $127 but hey it was worth it for a gander at said GAMZ π
If I was to compare it to an OG Cinelli badged stem, I would say that the first one is well built, overpriced and looks cool. While the Nitto is well built and very fairly priced, it doesn't look quite as cool but the latter would hurt less if you were to impale your loins on the part that faces you, lofl..
Once again I found myself on the receiving end of another facebook find, this time from one of the many vintage cycling gear for sale groups I joined, a BRAND NEW IN BOX ENTIRE GROUP SET of Shimano 600 Tri-color:
Das da good sheeeyyyyt! It just needs a matching seatpost and aero levers to complete the set and both are readily available on the bay..
I have no idea what to put that shit on outside of a townie I'll never ride so in all likelihood I'll just bring it back to the states and toss it out there for someone else's 80's/90's roadie build..
Then it happened AGAIN. GRAIL NUMBER THREE turned up like a fucking APPARITION. It took a 6 hour drive to Virginia and $1050 but it was MINE. I'm looking over at it now and I STILL CAN'T FUCKING BELIVE THAT IT'S REAL MUCH LESS IN MY POSSESSION. It's fucking mental to the point where it's slightly disturbing. Guys. You don't understand how UNBELIEVABLE it is for me, a long time cycling fucking nut that has legit spent 10'S OF THOUSANDS OF HOURS searching hight and low for 20+ years for shit to no avail only to have ALL THREE that had always escaped me suddenly turn up out of nowhere ON THEIR OWN AS IF THEY WERE HANDED TO ME ON A SILVER PLATTER A DECADE LATER AND IN MY SIZE TO BOOT!!!
Something was happening and it wasn't normal, average or a coincidence..
It could only be divine intervention..
I was given a mission the cycling gods knew only I could undertake..
Plans within plans..
Call bullshit all you like but you will come to know that which is most GLORIOUS AND HOLY!!!
Speaking of holy.. The gods had one last gift to accompany me on my journey. While each grail has its own purpose to serve, this one.. This one would be my shield:
Dude was cool af and sent me a couple snaps of him riding back in the day:
I almost had a fucking stroke when I saw the unbroken original Shimano tape still intact on two of the NOS chains:
Bitchin'!
Also bitchin' are these photos of my DA10 addiction from back in the dizzay:
Bummed I sold all of that stuff but I also made fuckin' BANK on that shiiiiii so it all gewd..
Somewhere mixed in with all that jazz, Facebook told me that the illustrious Don Walker of NAHBS fame was having a moving sale and he just happen to have the last piece of the Cuevas puzzle- a set of BRAND SPANKIN' NEW never ridden or glued Dura Ace high flange track hubs laced to Araya Gold tubular rims off one of his show bikes. They set me back a pretty penny but it was worth it since he had the spokes tied and soldered old school style which just helped set off the trainer track bike vibes the frame came with and is just WAY TRICK. I had come across a couple of crusty old wheels in the past that had also been tied but were too well worn to use. Getting to actually roll on a BRAND NEW SET is the gloss..
All I had left was to pick up a some Nitto and MKS gear to finish the build off and there ya have it-
GRAIL FIND NUMBER ONE IN ALL IT'S GLORY!!!:
Can you say KWAHVAAAAHHHSSSSSSZZZZZ???
I admit that last one was to show off my garlic and onions more than anything because another thing I like to do is remind people of how lazy and foolish it is to not grow your own food. My parents were peasant island farmers so take it easy with the trendy prepper/gardening type clichΓ©s, I've been doing this shit my whole life and so should everyone else. It would solve almost all of these IDIOTIC luxury concerns people WASTE their time engaging with emotionally instead of doing something of value that ACTUALLY HELPS instead of just constantly whining into a propaganda pushing pocketable idiot box made with third world child slavery..
ANYWAYS can I just tell you how impressed I am with all the goodies I tossed on that bad boy because it does not make a single solitary sound when I'm rolling down the street with nachos or the like in tow, lol never ridden those DA hubs before which is kinda crazy but AHM FEEEEEELLLIIINNN EM GOOD TIMES GREAT OLDIES!!!
DA FULL BUILD LIZT:
Nitto B123AA bars
Nitto Pearl quill stem
Fizik bar wrap and gel pads
Turbo repro saddle
Dura Ace headset
Dura Ace seatpost
Dura Ace cranks, 48T ring and BB
Izumi Super Toughness KAI chain
EAI Superstar 17T cog
Dura Ace HF hubs laced to Araya Gold Tubular rims tied and soldered with Continental Gatorskin tubulars
MKS RX-1 Pedals, clips and straps
MKS chain tensioners
The big thing with all these builds is that I really wanted to try out parts I'd never ridden before along with some new funky stuff that I'm sure people have been wondering about but are weary of pulling the trigger on. Fear not friends as thats my job! Sometimes you just need your every day average neighborhood PURE BLOOD cycling blogger to take the plunge for ya..
As for what the future holds, fear not friends for the chapters have already written themselves and will come to you in ernest by the divine will of the cycling gods through my hands..
In closing, I'd like to wish you all a very merry KILLDOZER day tomorrow and you can rest easy with the knowledge that:
More soon.. but not too soon..
