Pedal Room: What's your name, where are you located, and what do you do?
Angus McCullough, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Right now I'm searching for acting jobs, doing random design work and working on bikes, of course.
Pedal Room: How long have you been riding, and how often do you ride?
Angus: I've been riding since I was 5, got into BMX when I was 12 or so, and then after a hiatus I started building up fixed gears. Right now I try and spend as much time riding as I can.
Pedal Room: What's you favorite thing about riding?
Angus: Bikes for me are something like topography experience machines, they tell you a lot about terrain, either through sweat and pain or the wind in your hair. I'm always happy to get on a bike. To be honest though, I enjoy working on them just as much.
Pedal Room: We love your Gios Torino...how'd this bike end up in your hands?
Angus: I bought this bike about two months ago. A friend of mine found it on Connecticut craigslist and suggested I look at it. I had never had a road bike or heard of Gios before, but I'm interested in anything Italian, so I went to see it. When I found it, it was in pretty hilarious shape with neon green aero bars, double bottle cages, peeling paint and general rust.
Pedal Room: It sounds like it was quite the project restoring the bike. How long did it take you? Any interesting stories along the way?
Angus: It probably took me about two weeks of work, the hardest part was refinishing the frame. Apparently, the original owner had crashed it once and then sent it back to Gios to repair the top and down tube but hadn't invested anything in a decent paint job. But, that meant that the original stickers had never been used (whih he kindly gave me, along with a box of unused Dura-ace parts). So his negligence turned into a boon for me. I had worked on a lot of road bikes before, but never one that was so period correct - lots of little quirks. But the thing is, I don't know exactly when this bike was made, I haven't been able to find any exact matches anywhere. So it remains slightly mysterious and otherwise Italian.
Pedal Room: What other road bikes have you ridden, and how does your Gios compare to those?
Angus: I've only ridden friends' bikes and beater "road" bikes before. But I have ridden a Bianchi coast to coast and some relatively nice aluminum raleighs. The best thing about the Gios is that it's incredibly responsive. I can more easily compare it to a track bike in that way. The frame is really stiff (Columbus SL tubing) and it just explodes with speed from any inpt. I love how it rides.
Pedal Room: What do you love/hate about your current bike setup?
Angus: I only have this bike right now, with a couple of other projects that are halfway done. But this bike is almost too nice to lock up on the street, so it hinders me in where I ride it and how long I can leave it.
Pedal Room: Do you have any future plans as far as bikes go? New parts for your Gios, new bikes, etc.?
Angus: I'm pretty happy with the bike now, I just want to convert to a single chain ring in the front if I can find one the right size. I'm currently building a junk frame into a beater bike and attempting my first frame modifications and we'll see how that goes...
Pedal Room: Thanks for talking with us! Anything else you'd like to say?
Angus: Thanks to Will, Matt, Rod, and Jeff for helping me fix it up. Thanks for the interview, I think the site is coming along really well, looking slick. Keep those wheels turning.