my new bike

Honestly. I wanted this post to be a bit different. I would be out somewhere lovely, somewhere green, maybe on one of the many beautiful bike paths we have in Melbourne, with beautiful scenery and beautiful weather to match. Hell, maybe I would actually be riding my bike! But everything – everything – has conspired against any bike riding opportunities lately, and so to try to shake that off I decided to go ahead and take pictures of me and my lovely new bike in my mid-transformation back yard.



This is in fact my old bike. The old black one that has been on here before. I loved that bike – she's an old Raleigh, made of steel (or lead, possibly – I've pushed her up three flights of stairs, and that was hard work!) and held together with rust. Matt black with a red trim, a dodgy crank and three gears that I completely ignored and kept in the second gear position. My thighs can be the gears! But alas, towards the end of last year, she went on one packed-in-the-boot-with-another-bike car ride too many, and was broken that bit too much. Several spokes snapped; the mud guard wrapped around the rear rim; the dodgy crank gave up the ghost completely... I could not ride my bicycle!







Feeling responsible (and rightfully so, frankly, hehe) my Mr found an amazing bike guy who fixes up vintage bikes in Melbourne. I wanted to keep as much of the original bike as I could, and source second hand parts where possible – and he does this! Now my bike is cream (I miss the black, but I couldn't keep it on such a different beast) and really very awesome. There is a nice little pump fitted to the frame (which my friend needed on one of our first outings – very useful!) and – much to Mr's outrage – it makes a louder buzzy-whirry noise than even his mega fancy bike. Apparently this noise is a good thing. I've no idea why, but there it is. Whatever its benefit, I now love my ride!





Now I just need to get out on her more... and take those bucolic pictures!

1940s bolero
1950s dress
1970s shoes