Objects of Desire - Other than a 552.....

May sound a bit geeky, but...my choice would be a 3D printer.

This technology is maturing at such an incredibly fast rate. In the next 5-10 years, an extremely wide range of consumer products will be sold in the form of designs that can be purchased online, and then printed (i.e., manufactured) either at home or, at the very least, locally (close to the point of consumption). There will be no need to mass produce consumer goods in China, and then incur the energy costs of shipping them halfway around the world.  IMO, 3D printing has the potential of disrupting the world's economy to an even greater extent than did the internet...and oh yeah, I want one.

This stuff blows my mind.  It's almost as if Star Trek's "replicator" is becoming a reality.

Hook

PS - If 3D priniting is new to you, then do some google searches. It's not all about little plastic toys.  Everything from working firearms to skin grafts for burn victims to, yes, vinyl records (!), are being printed...today.

Probably bleached!

Try one of these...

+1 Tony. My all time favourite dream car. 

What?! Not even La Divina Sophia Loren?!

Ah, Italian women! Just like some cars, they are great to look at but not easy to live with! They'll drive you nuts(no pun intended)!

Thing is Tony, if they look like, or comport themselves with the regal air of, the fabulous Ms Loren, then any foibles they possess can be overlooked as far as I'm concerned.

+1 Tony. My all time favourite dream car. 

Super Record Dérailleur.

I just swapped for one - Pat 1980. It will mount beautifully on the Carlton to match the rest of the "period" Super Record group-set. Only the brake levers and callipers are Gran Sport, from the 1960s, but this is appropriate for the North road bar as the levers are shorter and more curved than the later Super Record type, and this suits the old style bar.

These ancient brakes actually work very well indeed. The rear calliper is deliberately less powerfully levered, and so gives very nicely controlled braking, while the front one really is very strong indeed. I use Fibrax brake blocks after experimentation. They don't squeal, and work even quite well in the wet. They are quite soft, so wear out quicker than more advanced ones, but seam to not wear the wheel rims much. This is a good way round, I reckon, considering the costs of brake blocks and decent wheels.

ATB from George

George,

I’ve just had a look on evilbay and cannot believe how much vintage campag is for sale for these days, do people really buy it and those prices.

Debs

From George:

Dear Debs,

The fitting out of the Carlton mostly occurred over the last four years.

Nothing for eighteen months till this dérailleur, which was part of a swap.

I don't count the value too much if it could be afforded.

To put it another way, there is no way I could afford it if I were starting out currently!

Crazy prices for rare parts. But I have two of everything, so it will last me out, and I intend to use the cycle, as I have so far. It is a working commuting machine and sometimes used for sheer pleasure of cycling for the sake of it.

The most expensive part I bought was the front crank-set [spare is gipiemme] that has the unusually long arms of 175 mm. The ton did not cover it, and yet long crank arms do lead to a relaxed and powerful progress, though hardly suited to optimal sprinting!

On normal progress I like it. But as the photo shows, the bike is set up in  a very personal way.

ATB from George

Never a woman who smokes.

steve

....or A Hi-Fi upgrade?

What else do you admire and desire?

My current object of desire is:

I'm with you entirely. For me smoking is the biggest of all turn offs in a woman. Smell, taste, I find it quite disgusting.

Wrong attitude - she's an actress...she's pretending to smoke...

Perhaps this thread should have been called Objectifications of Despair 

Well for me there are few things more sexy or seductive than a woman who knows how to smoke properly.

The French (as per Catherine Deneuve, above) and Italians do it best. About 20 years ago I had a very beautiful French girlfriend named Cecile who smoked so much that she was practically half-woman, half Galouise. She had that uniquely French ability of being able to do anything with a fag clamped between her lips while at the same time maintaining a magnificently arced, unbroken column of ash at the end.