Upgrading Gary Fisher Advance

j.r.hawkins

Yup, I know the type. The kind who buys an old clunker four-cyl front wheel drive, spends the equivalent of a house deposit tarting it up with loud mufflers, low profile tyres, anodised wheels and windscreen wipers, and lowered suspension, not noticing how much smoke the engine blows (needs new piston rings) or that their tyres rub on the mudguards over bumps and will therefore throw them into a roadside tree the next time they cruise a country road over the speed limit. All in the name of bling.

They then sell the thing six months later at a third of what they've spent because they're now bored with it, only to start the same process all over again.

No wonder the cops love picking on them: they're stupid AND dangerous. For what they spent they could have bought a secondhand, low-kilometre PORSCHE. And with the change they could still be a home-owner!

Want to personalise your bike? Get a top-level store-bought bike, and then pul it all apart. Get some candy-coloured spraypaints, some masking tape and an airbrush. When you're done put it back together. You'll have a better level of equipment, something nobody else has (your own frame) and money in your pocket for other goodies.