Updated with the 30-year old tights... "What’s the oldest piece of cycling kit you’re still using?

Now with Road CC socks - received today!  I thought I would recreate the La Vie Claire photo with as much of the original kit as I could find - not all of it in current use! I found the same frame (Bob Weston but with a now very tired respray), pannier rack, seat pillar, saddle - Hurricane - used to be very comfortable, Zefal pump, Shimano chainset, Look pedals, Addidas Eddy Merck shoes, Cinelli 65 bars, stem - an early hinged one eliminating the struggle to get bars into the stem, Weinmann brakes, Campag Victory rear mech.  The shades are of the time but Rudy Project this time and the gloves are a pair of unused Carratti crochet mitts I have owned for a long time, similar wheels (MA2s on shimano hubs) and mudguards (ESGE) but not the originals.

Must have a clear out at some point.

I still use occasionally my old orange and green "VC Ecosse" woollen jersey which I bought in Aberdeen in 1960.

My Dolan L’Etape has a Unicanitor 55 saddle dating from the mid-1970s. It is the most comfortble saddle I own, and has been on several bikes, since I first used it on my racing bike as a juvenile when it was new.   

Shimano cycling boots, originally purchased to go with a Canondale mountain bike purchased from a friend around 1993. 

A *minimum* of 13000 km cycling, and still tread on the soles.

3 items for me:

1. 1983 Carlton Pro mk 5 still going strong, now with more modern groupset

2. Mavic 646 LMS pedals, from 1992 or so. Like them so much I buy every pair I can off eBay!

3. Briko gillet, goretex windstopper front, bought Christmas 1994, still worn most weeks

I think Gnarly aka John Tomac wins this one squarely..!

This rather fetching Hetchins top was a souvenir from when I used to "work" there as a Saturday boy and frequent hanger on at the shop in my late teens. It's now over 35 years old and really only comes out for the annual overnight pilgrimage to Dunwhich. Beenbag clothing was really good quality, it's such a shame that they are no longer around.

It's in much better shape than its owner!

Going through my shed yesterday, I rediscovered some Carradice bags I have owned for a while but not used in ages. One of them came on a bike which was last ridden in the 1950s, having been crashed, so it as at least that old! It's still going, albeit with lots of rubs on the bottom from where it's bounced off the tyre. 

I bought a 30's Claud Butler tandem when I was 18, so 1980. And in doing this up I bought a Sun Tour friction bar end shifter for the gears. Later I upgraded the gears but kept the shifter, as I was sure it would be useful again. in 1997 I got a custom made Tony OIiver tandem and re-purposed the Sun Tour shifter as the drag brake control, where it still serves - a nice solid item well suited to the job.

I still have my mother's Raleigh Trent Tourist. She bought it with her paper round money in 1959. My wife cycles it sometimes. My daughter will probably use it too once she's bigger.

Single-speed and heavy, but works fine. The original front-rim has started to rust through in one spot and will need replacing soon.

I also have vintage jerseys from 1970s and early 80s - collectable race jerseys - that I wear. And a 1979 Colnago.

My 51-year-old thighs...

I have a Descente yellow top from 1986.  Cost me 25.50, which was a week's money then.  Still use it.
I also have a grandfather's axe runabout bike, whose lineage I can trace to an early 1960's Dawes tourer which was my brother's, then mine.  I put a Cinelli quill stem on it, which went onto an Orbit Gold Medal when the Dawes frame broke.  When the Orbit frame broke, I found a NOS Giant racing frame and transferred the Campag Super Record headset, the seatpin, the stem, handlebars and the brake levers onto it. 
*It's the same axe my grandfather used to chop wood with.  It's had two new heads, three new handles, but it's the same axe.

I still have the very first pair of padded shorts I bought in 1976.  They still get a very occational wear on the indoor setup if my newer, and frankly much more confortable, shorts are in the wash.  I have a number of parts from my old bikes going all the way back to the late 60's.  My oldest bike still in regular use, actually did a ride on it with my daughter last weekend, was bought new in 1996.

My Ridgeback MTB dates from 1989, bought to replace the 1978 Falcon tourer I had stolen from outside a pub in S London a week or so earlier. The wheels have been changed, as have the bars, levers, forks, saddle, front brake, pedals, and mech (and chainset and bottom bracket obviously). But the frame, seat post, carrier, bottle holder, rear brake and front mech are all original. I've no idea how far I've ridden on it. Even 15 years ago I worked out the frame had clocked around 30,000 miles.

I still use the cycling jacket I bought in 1990 to make the trip with a colleague to the Picos in Spain on said MTB. As far as I know, we were the first MTB riders to ride up the Cares Gorge. It's a popular destination for MTB riders now as I well now having been back since, but it certainly wasn't then. The Spanish and French cyclists, of which there were many, were very intrigued by our fat tyred MTBs. They'd heard of them and seen photos in cycling mags, but had never seen any in the metal before.

But my bike is a youngster compared with the Brookes leather saddle my nephew uses on one of his bikes. It came from my dad's old Sunbeam single speed tourer, bought in 1948. I'd be curious if anyone has any component older than that still in regular use.

As my name replies it's my old Mixte, found by a refuse bin, reported to police and allowed to keep. The saddle and tyres hves been changed but little else, luckily it had alloy rims. Suspect it is French from the tour de france marking

Karrimor Kalahari Bardale handlebar bag, circa 1996. I have an earlier green & gold one from 1986. Wouldn't be without it, everything is to hand and it clips on/off in a second for pub stops.

My La Vie Claire ski hat has been in use every winter since I bought it in 1984 (I don't wear a helmet, obviously).

The Campag Super Record seatpin on my winter bike is slightly newer , but only just. And for that matter my winter bike is the race frame I had built for 1995. 

And all my road bikes have Turbo Lite saddles on them.

A Squire bike lock from 1983 that I still use regularly.  Recently had to retire (but still have) Karrimor Iberian panniers of the same vintage.

Polyester ( and wool) last nearly forever. I have a couple of Helly Hansen base layers in both materials that still work well yet are nearly 30 years old...sustainable gold dust! 

"We also had an email from Jody who claims to be using a 30-year old pair of bib tights. That’s about as much as I wish to know about that one and I’m very glad we didn’t receive any pictures…"

Oh, sweet summer child. You just wait

Strikes me that things you've had for a long time and old things you happen to have bought are two separate categories. 

In the first category, my oldest item is a pair of shorts (of the touring type) from 1986. In the second category, I used to have a 1950s Philips roadster – but I haven't had it since about 1990 and it was only mine for a few years before that, so not really much personal history in it.

1980 Rourke road bike. Well, the frame and quill stem.

An original 1980 Sella Italia Turbo sadle, currently on my turbo trainer bike.

Shimano 600Ax stem from 1986. Got for my birthday- Loved the hidden bolt design then and now.