Round about ten years ago Peter let me ride his Serotta for about 90 seconds as we were both headed toward the bridge after work at the Mad Fiber widget factory. We stopped and traded bikes back there behind Benjamin Hall hall which is spitting distance from where I work today literally everyday. Back then I just rode past it twice a day. Please note how fitting it is in retrospect to see a Serotta rolling on Mad Fiber wheels, as both companies were bought up by the same investment assholes aka Divine Cycling and immediately ploughed into the ground.
On a positive note… Junior was born ten years ago today. it only feels like 30 years ago walking to the hospital with my old lady in labor leaking amniotic fluid in cutoff sweats and a backpack. are you fucking kidding me? nobody walks to the hospital at 11:30pm to have a baby. But she did. we did. I was there. I saw it.
I was a stressed out former bike messenger trapped in the body of a liberal arts major about to be a dad and overthinking everything head down goggles on two pairs of gloves stacked and sweating respirator huffing acetone grinding out carbon fiber and aerosolized aerospace industry adhesives with a dremel tool one hand built wheel at a time it coulda shoulda woulda been helicopter parts or even better toilet flaps for a 747 but they were cool bike wheels. Totally tubular. I quit before there were clinchers in production and UCI approval never arrived.
My only regret from that brief stint is not snagging a wheel or two from the discard pile. I never envisioned riding them on my bar bike or any of my bikes as sew-ups are rather labor intensive and carbon fiber rubs me the wrong way in all kinds of ways. But I wish I had a front wheel for another Duchamp sculpture to spin here at hq. When I see Mad Fiber wheels wash up at Bike Works or on eBay it makes me smile or maybe it’s a smirk.
Happy Birthday Junior.
Here’s to TEN years.
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