what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Spoke key, as I remember (cyclo) probable late 60's.
Just try and find an image on the net......that isn't a sale item........this is not mine.
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iandusud
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by iandusud »

Mick F wrote: 12 Oct 2021, 3:18pm
Clothing, I still have a lined Goretex jacket from the late 1980's still waterproof though the yellow is very faded. Bought it from Devon Cycles, Frankfort Gate, in Plymouth ........... long since gone. :cry:
Is that a Freestyle Sports Gortex Jacket by any chance? My wife and I still use ours, bought in 1989, and like your one very faded. Not as waterproof as they once were. In fact I bought a modern replacement this year but still use the old one.

I have a pair of Tudor Sports cycling tights that date from before I met my wife, so probably 1985, which I still regularly use and they come up like new when they come out of the wash.
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Mick F
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by Mick F »

Spoke key!
Circa 1970's perhaps.
Still have mine - rarely used for many a long year - and use a Spokey Pro.

This one is my old one! :D
Four different sizes.
IMG_0822.jpg


As for the Freestyle jacket, it says Sports on the label. Just looked.
Freestyle was a Plymouth manufacturer.
Boyfriend of our younger daughter was into kite-flying and often bought off-cuts from them. Going back to the early/mid 1990's then.
Mick F. Cornwall
mattsccm
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by mattsccm »

Clothing: Orange long sleeved jersey with world champs stripes. Bought from Halls , Eastgate street Gloucester in 1979/80. A touch tight round the tummy now but wearable.
Wool tights with proper embroidered Campagnolo logo on thighs. They did a have a proper chamois liner until it died. Bought them from Barry Davies in Bangor in 1983. Pair of leather soled shoes bought at the same time. Only worn with my 1983 Raleigh. Still got but rarely use a pair of leather and crochet track mitts from 1979.
rjb
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by rjb »

King Dick !
I'm not bragging but mine's 12"
How big is yours. :lol:
IMG_20211012_190410.jpg
What's the significance of the square hole in the centre of the spoke key. I've a similar one but with a diamond ?
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Bmblbzzz
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

PDQ Mobile wrote: 12 Oct 2021, 2:19pm It struck me that perhaps the OP meant clothing?

Rather than puncture repair kit and the like.

An age thing?
Change in meaning?
Militarisation of the English language? :shock:
Interesting idea. I'd never thought that kit meaning clothing might have a military origin, as in (I suppose) kit bag.
Bmblbzzz
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

OED says:
Middle English: from Middle Dutch kitte ‘wooden vessel’, of unknown origin. The original sense ‘wooden tub’ was later applied to other containers; the use denoting a soldier's equipment (late 18th century) probably arose from the idea of a set of articles packed in a container.
But that's general equipment rather than specifically clothing.
KM2
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by KM2 »

Has to be a toss up between a Greenspot nomad jacket and woollen 4ply long sleeved jersey in Solo Superior colours that my mother knitted me when I was 14.
Still fits, I just can’t breathe.
eileithyia
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by eileithyia »

Probably my camper long flap saddle bag.
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MikeF
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by MikeF »

King Dick spanners were considered a top (the top) quality make by those that used them professionally.
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millimole
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by millimole »

The frame, headset, brakes and chainset of my 1946 Hetchins, bought from the original owner for £5 in 1971. The rest of it is Tiggers broom territory.

Clothing - a nylon fronted yellow jacket bought maybe 1985.(Can't find a good replacement)

Tools? Who knows, I swear by the biggest hammer I can lay my hans on for most jobs.
Leicester; Riding my Hetchins since 1971; Day rides on my Dawes; Going to the shops on a Decathlon Hoprider
drossall
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by drossall »

I think I've got both of the spoke keys pictured above. And I still carry a Trigger's puncture kit from the late 70s. My Aende road bike was built up in 1979, although some parts have been replaced.

Sticking more closely to the clothing theme, I have my South Lancashire Road Club colours (long-sleeved jersey and "track vest") from the late 70s, even though they haven't fitted for years :oops: But the club hat from the same time does fit, and at least one member of the CC Sudbury recognises me on Audaxes by means of it. I also have a pair of classic leather shoes dug out of the back of the cupboard after decades of storage, which is useful because my 1982/3 Holdsworth Mistral has toe clips and would look wrong with clipless pedals.

My current club just updated its colours again. I can do a fashion parade covering about four generations of kit back to the early 80s and less synthetic material.
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foxyrider
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by foxyrider »

Oldest? well i have some tools that i inherited from my parents who did their riding in the '50's so perhaps those? Or the club jerseys etc - and bike from @ 1978, maybe? But they are museum pieces so whilst i own them they aren't in use, the bike and racing strip last saw the light of day on the 2016 Eroica event in Bakewell.

In current regular use its most likely the pair of pliers i bought @ 1976, my oldest 'in use' bike dates from 1998 but none of my current use clothing is older than my 2004 Goretec jackets, yep i have two which have seen a fair bit of service in the intervening years. I ride a lot, clothing/shoes are used to oblivion usually, most of my kit is less than 10 years old.

Its one thing to own some old stuff but bike shops and the industry can't survive on 1 off purchases made decades ago - of course those same people will bemoan the local LBS shutting and the unavailability of parts for something made in 1953 (other years are available)
Convention? what's that then?
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andrew_s
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by andrew_s »

iandusud wrote: 12 Oct 2021, 6:06pm Is that a Freestyle Sports Gortex Jacket by any chance? My wife and I still use ours, bought in 1989, and like your one very faded. Not as waterproof as they once were.
I've got a Freestyle goretex jacket from 1988 (I think). Similarly faded, and in use as the work/commute jacket (not that there's been much of that recently).
I've also got a couple of HH style base layers from1986, and a Brynje string T-shirt.
I did have a fleece jacket (what the military called a hairy bear) of the same vintage that expired a bit over a year ago, and I was disappointed to find I could no longer replace it like for like. If it had died a couple of years sooner, I would have been able to.
jb
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Re: what is your oldest piece of cycling kit?

Post by jb »

I have an original Karrimor saddle bag from around the forties or fifties. Came from a bloke who cycled for a Halifax club.
I occasionally use it for its copious capacity & also to annoy the fashion brigade.
Cheers
J Bro
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