Art that celebrates cycling.
Bought from Pearson's Cycles in Sutton, London in 2000.
Aluminium frame, carbon fork and rear stays, very crap carbon seatpost, Campag groupset and I splurged on Campag Nucleon wheels, which were beautiful and so light.
Loved this bike so much. Started road racing on it around the rolling roads of Surrey, weekly time trials, trips to NYC and Spain and the odd 12-hour tt for good measure. I think in all the miles it did it only ever suffered a slight ding in the top tube after it fell against a door post, even when I was thrown over the hood of a car, the forks snapped in two but the frame seemed unscathed. The only problem I had with the wheels was in Spain, our training ride had set out to tackle ‘The Chimney’ so called as it’s described as riding up the side of a house. No sooner had we hit the steep bit (the mantlepiece) than my rear wheel locked up and I came to a stand still. As I was already out the back, I waited a very long time (an hour) for the others to finish the climb then return. A spoke had snapped under the tremendous strain I was delivering (lol!) and due to the nature of the Nucleons it through the wheel well out of true and against the frame. I hitched a ride in the back of a plumber’s van to get back to our accommodations.
The eagle eyed techies out there may have realized that I am short, that this bike has a very long stem and a 52cm top tube. All correct. And I rode it happily like that for 2 years. When I had a bikefit at Cyclefit they laughed when they saw it but discovered that I had only been able to ride it so easily because I was and still am very supple. Saying that we replaced the 12cm stem with a 6cm, moved the saddle and put Le Wedges under my shoes.
Then there was New York. Prospect Park to be exact. It survived the first flight to and from NYC and the race in the city. Then I moved there in 2004 and not long after rode to a pre-sunrise start at Prospect Park. On the descent to the start I was tightening my shoes when I also hit a pothole, my rear tire blew, I lost control and bounced down the tarmac. Replaced the tire, started the race as the blood flowed down my calf (believe me I skinned my left shin – completely) and quit at half way due to the discomfort. A week or so later I am in the park on another descent, the rear wheel locks up and I am amazed that I control the skid that could have won a courier competition and don’t fall. The rear derailleur hanger had snapped off, the chain pulled the derailleur into the wheel and it snapped the rear stays. Local bike stores and Pearson’s told me that it was un-repairable – end of lovely bike. Now I wonder if Calfee or Parlee would be able to do something with it, but oh well. I am guessing that the derailleur hanger had cracked in the crash and waited a week to fall off.
Having recently moved from the UK I informed my insurance company I was on an extended holiday and so they paid for the replacement. An unnamed LBS in NYC dealt with the insurance company and quotes etc and came up with a deal on a Cannondale. This involved swapping over all salvageable parts from the beloved Pearson. My recent discoveries regarding Cannondale’s frame pricing makes me think I was totally ripped off. Which doesn’t help the fact that I never liked the bike. Which in turn meant I wasn’t too heart broken when it did snap into three pieces.
