It doesn't matter that it's an oil company when this exists
Indeed. It's all about racing nostalgia. And an ace combination of colours. The Gulf Oil company hasn't existed for most of my life anyway, so it's not like using the colours is promoting them.
Weirdly, as I have a full face helmet painted as a replica of James Hunt’s, I can’t stand motorsport livery inspired paint jobs on bikes. They look great on the cars, leave them there.
Club ride on the road bike tonight. Group of 11. Two bikes have manual shifting and one bike has rim brakes. My bike is the intersecting set. It is however Dura Ace 9000 manual and a 13 year old Defy Advanced SL with Hed Jet Black wheels and 28/25c tubeless GP5000s.
Problem is that the ride is sublime, weight sub 7.5 kilos, shifting light and precise and I can service every part of it, and the only battery is in the power meter. Not sure what I’d update it with. Did I say Degenkolb won Paris Roubaix on exactly the same frame and groupset? Will probably have it resprayed as it’s a bit over Giant-ed with seven logos!
Proper superbike stuff. Just not on trend.
My lot:
Liteville 303 mk12, 26" wheels and xt gear.
gt hans rey trials frame with onza forks and magura hs33.
Omnium cxc with a pizza rack. 800mm high rise bars and middleburn cranks.
Spa cycles mono, middleburn cranks and fixed gearing, with a Thule bike seat bolted to the seat tube.
Do I win?
No tan wall tyres though.
I think my shocking pink Moxie transcends fashion and is far more popular (never had a bike that gets so many comments from randoms) and much cooler than I am.
The less said about my other bike the better…
I have a few bikes, a Titus Modena full ultegra , Titus Supermoto, Titus Rockstar, Orbea Gain D30, Bontrager Privateer, 7 speed Rockhopper 5 miles max on the clock, Marin Rocky ridge, Gary Fisher x- caliber but sold the xtr rear mech
Titus never seemed to be in vogue but at the laggan demo days I was always on one, everyone went for a handjob, hustler or just had a stiffer or maybe a Kona
Must get rid of some
Ali frame, 10sp saint shifter and slx other, hard tail, random brakes, on-one tyres! It's getting a fork service from Cooksons this week and Shaun will be doing his best not to laugh at it , or say 'yeah time to go to the bike charity with it' 😁
it's not like PP put any actual Gulf stickers on there thankfully.
They included a sticker pack with the frame, so you could if you wanted to...
Cooksons this week and Shaun will be doing his best not to laugh at it
The same cheeky kit who mocked my 3x10!
Didn't stop me buying a new gravel bike off him though. No doubt when it goes in for its 6 week service it will be condemned as a museum piece.
Titus never seemed to be in vogue but at the laggan demo days I was always on one, everyone went for a handjob, hustler or just had a stiffee or maybe a Kona
I sold my old Stiffee a while ago but I did used to use it occasionally at trail centres and it always got a fair bit of attention. For a "hardcore hardtail" back in the day, it looked amazingly weedy next to big travel e-MTBs! But yeah, used to get a few people clustered around it when it was in the bike rack outside the cafe. First time I saw a couple of folk looking at it I assumed they were ripping the piss out of it so I was pleasantly surprised to find they were saying to each other "oh wow, do you remember these!" and "didn't your mate have a set of those cranks?" 😊
26" QR wheels, 3x10, ISIS BB... Those were the days. 😉
Juts done a geometry comparison between the brand new 2026 SC Tall boy and my 2019 Enduro, and TBH things seem to have settled down anyway. Lots of measurements are with a few mm or less than a degree slacker or steeper.
it's not like PP put any actual Gulf stickers on there thankfully.
They included a sticker pack with the frame, so you could if you wanted to...
Am I remembering wrong? I have the sticker pack but I didn't think it actually had the Gulf logo on them. I'll dig it out next time I'm in the shed, and discover for sure.
Did you know you can get Gulf Oil coffee beans?
GULFOILLTD.COM I certainly didn't but then I had to make a football ad for them. They did not take the hint to send me a free bag so I cannot tell you if it tastes any good.
Bike fashions are as cyclical as any other flavour (IMO/IME).
Stuff comes back around, currently having a HT and no bouncer seems to be ‘out’ (if you only base your estimates on recent interweb waffle), but I reckon the whole HTs as your simple “back to basics” MTB will come back round.
E-MTBs can never really be fashionable IMO, all too ugly, expensive and seem to be an implicit admission of aging, which is never cool 😉. So as long as I resist motors I avoid acknowledging my own creeping middle-age, whatever my kids say.
Got all the other bases covered with road and Gravel bikes, none of them bang up to the minute or top spec. Tarts that can’t countenance anything less than ultegra/XT or a frame more than 18 months old would be horrified but my bank balance is ‘acceptable’ and I have all the tools I need for the riding I want/need to do.
Stop worrying about what the internet thinks and go out for a ride on whatever you have.
10sp saint shifter
The best shifter ever made?
both mine start off reasonably fashionable in certain circles on paper
Gravel 29er from Salsa, - then i bolted on TT bars , a double chain ring , No dropper, 2.2" tires.
Titanium 29er - but it has 2009 race angles, low front end , Rigid , no dropper , jones bars, skinny tires, single speed.
both have a full compliment of baggage to strap on.
Both are ace , both make me smile and both are built for my needs/wants
This, amazing how your bike becomes increasingly unfashionable as you adapt it to what you actually need/want instead of just aping whatever the professionals are doing or buying into the latest 'emperor's new clothes' fad.
Road - rim brakes, 2x11 mechanical groupset, not even particularly aero. 7.5kg and flies.
Gravel - (posh) cantilever brakes, 2x11 mechanical groupset, round steel tubes, would probably be tubed tyres as well if I could start all over again and hadn't spent so much on making my tubeless as reliable as possible 🙄
MTB - Relatively steep geo, 100mm forks, 2x11 mechanical, 160mm rotors, no dropper, chopped down bars. It wasn't even very fashionable when I bought it, just a bog standard bike-to-work £1100 aluminium hardtail, but every time I ride it I'm amazed how versatile it is.
Shand bahookie. Old school steel hardtail with hopes and a rohloff and funny bars.
Salsa fatbike with funny bars
Not too old fashioned compared to my roadbike
1960s steel french race / training frame, with 60s SA 3spd with a 30s brass trigger and bullhorn bars. I call it the hipsterfixie****bike but is that old hat now?
