When Retro just isn’t Cool
When a work colleague takes up cycling I’ve always found that offering them encouragement when they first start is the best approach.
When they come to you and ask about carbon bikes and advise on other components and accessories you start to feel like the old wise man sitting in the corner.
But if you work with me…. it’s not an option to leave you bike in the office while you are out at a client site for the day. Please be advised I may or may not have been involved in what you are about to see.
May I introduce the Sold By: Schafer’s Cycle Works, Grafton NSW 1990… no 1980… wait, oh look I’m tipping it a 60’s – 70’s model frame, when men where men and technology was a steel works with a brand new Blast Furnace and steel tubes had just started rolling out of the steel mill. They made a prototype.. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the “Schafer”, purchase price AUS$200 in 2009 (if you had held onto this from the original day of purchase it would have been considered a profitable investment)
The Schafer has a few core features I need to point out at this time, along with its supreme weight ratio and Shimano
component she has the following no longer… let’s just say utilised features
“Retro Gear Shifters”, not only set in a uniquely functional location for ease of use but cast in aluminium which was revolutionary for the time of this creation. I must admit the modern 105 brake calliper upgrade where a safety requirement as the old brake could not contain the sheer weight and braking power required to bring this stead to a halt.
So when you work colleague asks you to take a look at there bike for the first time, and you are like me presented the flag ship upgrade from the “Penny Fathing”
please be kind. Offer those words of encouragement I started this write up with, 
In my case I used something along the lines of “it’s a starting point!” when on the inside I was thinking, “My word.. what a boat anchor” or “its worth more as scrap metal based on its weight”
The additional lack of a feature was a gears, I was amazed to see a six…. yes you read that correctly.. a (6) speed cluster on the back. Now when I was a kid… oh going back 25 years, I’m pretty sure my Dad had this exact setup.
But to look at this form a positive perspective another cyclist may have been born, if he keeps training on this baby he will be one of the strongest climbers to ever take to the road. Now to the point of this write up. If you work in an environment that requires work mates to let off some steam every now and again, I’d suggest you keep your (in this case) pride and joy out of the office. I or maybe even another individual would have been seen riding the sled through the office, and at the end of the day when you return to the office some additional bling may have been added.
The carboard homemade front basket really did it for me, the amount of value add it brings is truely priceless.
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he needs a pink gerberia on the front basket !
I must admit I’ve seen adam ride this bike and have often wondered why he spent the money on the 105 brakes and didn’t simply invest in a bike weighing in at less than a tonne.