Ian May rebuild

[SkipdiverJohn]

- I'd be tempted to buy it back, but then it would just gather dust at mine instead

You could of course ride it, which would give some payback for all the hours you put into restoring it!

 

[fossyant]

PS don't be too hasty. It's taken me five years to get back on my road bikes after a similar injury. I do get pain in my back after a few hours on them, and they are lower and longer reach than that. You aren't going to be ready just yet. It's taken me years.

 

[fossyant]

PS I am doing a ride this weekend with two very fast cc'ers out to my van in Wales. 75 miles, then beers, then ride home. We are then back there in the cars two weeks later with MTBs. Don't give up.... The lads, and me, never thought I'd ride road again. My best bike is something else...

The thing is we have all had major injuries recently...

 

[Duffy]

I genuinely appreciate the sentiment however I’ve got arthritis already and the expectation is that this combined with the new injuries are going to reduce my flexibility longer term.
I’m not giving up cycling, just working towards bikes with a more upright position

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

It's perfectly feasible to ride a leightweight road frame with flat bars and a more upright posture. My own Ian May is a Reynolds 531ST tourer which had been previously converted by someone to a flat bar commuting hack and used as a station bike by the scratches on it.
My intention is to fit it with an alloy 700c wheel with a Sturmey 3 speed in it that I acquired, and make it into a lightweight roadster with suitable flat bars. With old-school steel frames with horizontal top tubes, so long as the frame isn't too small for the rider, you can usually get a comfortably high bar height.

 

[Duffy]

I’m sure it is but that’d involve bodging the bike into something it wasn’t really intended for which would be a waste
If it was something ordinary/modern/easy replaceable fair enough
However that would be to miss the point of this bike and rebuild entirely