PUBSTEED

Pubsteed - see also 'rat bike' or 'pub bike'* Ride to the pub, lock it and leave it. Hopefully it looks bad enough that no-one wants to steal it. NO FIXIES *Pubsteed does not condone drink cycling.

[pubsteed]

MKS CT Lite pedals. Pretty, but probably too pretty for a pubsteed. Should stick with the glow-in-the-dark BMX pedals, really. Damn.

[monsieurvelo]

Motobecane 1960´s personalizada para Giampiero.

Monsieur Vélo bike shop Barcelona

Photos by http://www.giampierobonifazi.info

[pubsteed]

So I’m not entirely sure what I hope to achieve with this blog. If nothing else perhaps it will get the term ‘pubsteed’ better known, although since I adopted the phrase (someone used it in reference to a bike I was looking at on Ebay) I confess that I have strayed from its core values. More of which another time. The trouble is that bicycles are something that it’s very easy to get obsessed with and, once you do, the concept of owning one that’s not actually very good is pretty hard to bear. The purist of pubsteeds, of course, is a pig of a thing - the kind of half-ton Halfords mountain bike that you see locked up (or sometimes not) against a fence or railing and which sits there rusting for months, or even years, on end. The kind of bike that no-one wants to steal or ride, other than in desperation. Maybe there’s a kind of halfway house - a ‘stealth bike’ of sorts, that looks grotty but which is in fact a joy to ride and has quality components. Achieving this is much harder than it seems, of course, although plenty of people aspire to it. A more likely outcome is that your bike is (or bikes are) something that you get attached to, treasure, improve, obsess over and wouldn’t leave unattended for more than a few hours, or maybe a day or two. We shall see. Let the debate over what constitutes a pubsteed begin…

[pubsteed]

Gotta love a Rolls saddle...

[pubsteed]

Too good for a pubsteed, really. It's my 'other bike'. 1993ish Ribble, 25-inch Reynolds 531c frame, Campagnolo Avanti groupset and brakes, Mavic open rims, San Marco Rolls saddle, Cinelli bars and tape. Vittoria Rubino Pro tyres and novelty glow-in-the-dark Wellgo pedals. Just to give it that Pubsteed sheen.

[pubsteed]

Rubbish 1990s Peugeot Pashley rip-off type thing. Pig-iron construction. Weighs a ton. 'Chrome' elements rust when in contact with air, let alone water.