bikes bikes bikes

I finished up my sting ray the other day. . . or at least got it rideable. I've got some other plans for it but it's set for now. Kevin, Matt, Sam and I did some testing on it the other night and all I have to say is that sting rays are bad ass. I now understand why folks who grew up with sting rays are so nuts about them.

Getting nostalgic with the sting ray made me reminisce about my younger years on bikes and inspired me to get out my old bmx. For my tenth birthday (July 1995) my dad bought me my first real bike, a Baja blue Dyno VFR. At that time the bike was a little big for me (the vfr has a "pro" length top tube) but that didn't stop me from riding it everywhere. Eventually I discovered dirt riding and my friends and I would ride atv trails down by the river all day and come home covered in mud. As I got bigger I learned how to wheelie and jump. I rode the hell out of that bike. I broke chains, freewheels, brake cables and my collarbone. When I turned 14 I got a set of 180mm 3 piece cranks to replace the stock 1 piece cranks. The longer arms meant more leverage and a larger sprocket. (45 tooth GT Overdrive!) This was handy for hauling some serious ass. When I turned 16 road bikes were the new bees knees. I got a Cannondale roadie and the Dyno got taken apart and put away for a long time. Well, the Dyno is back, resurrected from my mom's basement. I replaced the broken spokes, cleaned it up, threw on an original 1 peice crank, some tioga comp 3's and hooked up a modern v brake. I doubt I'll rally it like I did back in the day but it is awesome to have it back together.

Here are some unflattering pictures: