Since that big box arrived, this Red 1988 Marinoni Special has been my faithful muse. The skinny tubes and chromed Columbus Steel bring me closer to the cycling gods every time I clip in. 

Nick's Crispy Bikes was born on a big ride in the summer of 2023. I'd never ridden long on an old steel bike before. It was a great day out. The old raked fork ate every ounce of road buzz. I was flying. Then I got to a 10 degree hill. The granny gear on the ol' 1988  Dura Ace 7400 is 39-21. Granny had no choice but to rip 400 watts to get over the bump.

At the top of that hill, I snapped to reality.  All of the moving parts on modern bicycles have improved massively in the last few decades. Modern groupsets, modern break pads, and modern ergonomic brifters are all 10x better than their predecessors. The neckbeards on reddit will tell you that 7000 series was the best Dura Ace ever. That's fake news. If you believe in technological progress, you must believe the best Dura Ace has yet to be invented.  Here's where I'm going with this. 

• I love the soul and passion of old bike frames and forks 

• I also love modern bike technology. 

Slap a new groupset on a hand built steel or otherwise classic frame, and you've got a crispy ass bike. This site will be dedicated to the construction, adoration, and perhaps sales of bikes like this.  Old soul.  Modern performance. 100% crispy.