I am not very good at throwing out bikes.

In fact, I have a confession to make.

I can’t do it.

The first bike I truly called my my own (apart from a hand-me-down from my big brother) was a shiny, new, blue Malvern Star Skidstar. Here is a picture of it (with me on the left) taken in the back yard of our house in Colac, Victoria on Christmas Day circa 1972.

It was the entry-level Malvern Star – single gear, back pedal brakes (the top of the line model came with a 3 speed top-tube mounted T-bar sports shifter) but I didn’t care – I loved it. New freedom to explore the streets & surrounding countryside with my mates, a whole new world was opened up for me.  I was sure all the shiny chrome made it go faster.

The bike was used every day to get me to school. On weekends it was my transport to the tennis club, down the street and to friends places.

I couldn’t afford a car during my Uni days in Melbourne, so the bike clocked up hundreds more kilometres on the city streets (few bike paths in those days), taking me out to Monash, to the shops, to parties and across town for my part-time jobs. I added a state of the art dynamo light system to guide me home at night – equivalent to a candle compared to the LED spotlights available these days.

By the early 1980’s, however, the Malvern Star was looking a bit worse for wear. Attracted by the lure of a bike with gears, it was retired to the shed at Colac, to be replaced by a 2^nd hand English touring bike.

The Barnwell had a light, steel frame & 10 speed gearing (NB, 10 speed in those days meant 2 chain rings, 5 cogs on the back). This not only made my commuting faster and more fun, it opened up the world of cycle touring to me. The purchase of my 1^st car at the age of 24 did not diminish my enthusiasm for cycling, and for a 10 year year period most if not all my holidays were on my bike, mostly on the Barnwall, but also including a few fantastic trips on a Apollo mountain bike that arrived in 1984. The tourer went on multiple trips in Australia and overseas, including being my ‘home’ for most of 1987, when I embarked on a 7 month cycling odyssey that took me through the UK, Ireland, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, Greece, India, Malaysia and Australia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Barnwell, however, also started to show its age and, after a particularly hard beating on its last overseas flight in the mid 90’s it, too, went out to the back shed, to be replaced by another bike, an aluminium Cannondale tourer.

As each year passed, the cobwebs on the two bikes grew a bit thicker. The council clean up notice came each year – I would go out the back and look at the bikes – maybe this year I should put them out on the verge???

Maybe next year.

 

Maybe I could restore them??

I’m not particularly mechanically minded – the sight of anything more complicated than a bike pump brings me out in a cold sweat. So doing it myself didn’t seem to be an option. I asked around Perth if there was anyone interested in fixing up old bikes? No success. Years passed, then a friend showed me an article in a bike mag about a guy in Adelaide who has a passion for getting old bikes back on the road again. Mrs Fairweathers Bicycle Emporium mainly restores abandoned bikes but Nigel had also done a few custom jobs so, after many email exchanges, the two old bikes were trucked across the Nullarbor to Adelaide.

A few months later, they came back home! Nigel had done a fantastic job, stripping and repainting them, sourcing stickers off the internet, getting an upholsterer friend to restore the Malvern Star saddle.

 

 

Mechanically both needed a bit more tuning – thanks Yas & Ross for coming to the party.

Mrs Fairweather’s bikes like to have names, so the Malvern Star is now known as Kevin (named after Kevin Murray, Brownlow Medallist 1969, captain of the Fitzroy Football Club when the bike was new – my childhood hero, the shining star  during the long, lean, dark years that was the life as a Fitzroy supporter). The Barnwall has become Barney, and has been reincarnated as a fixie, now my son Brendan’s bike.

Barney has had a few long rides around Perth – Brendan really likes it & I think its heritage makes it a bit special for him.

Kevin rode to the Rouleur’s tent at the Giro de Perth and has had a couple of trips to the coffee shop. I think he is pretty happy with that.

 

Notice came last week saying the council cleanup is on soon.

Might be time to go out the shed and see what I can throw out.

Maybe that old Cannondale tourer that I haven’t ridden for a few years now??

 

(Nigel can be found at http://fairweatherbicycles.com/

Yas belongs to http://www.bikeclinic.com.au/

Ross lives at http://www.canningbridgecycles.com.au/)