Thanks for the replies guys - at least it's not just me and I feel slightly better knowing that it isn't a totally unusual thing. It has got me worried about using OG tyres for the L2B ride though. I am thinking about going for 1 1/8 Panaracers now as I have a few pairs kicking about. I would hate for the same thing to happen en route to Brighton though
GRAB ON KID - one of my most annoying experiences ever involves a pair old Oakleys. Back in the late 80's I managed to talk my folks into buying me a pair of Oakley Mumbo Sweeps to take on a school skiing trip. They were the iridium lens ones with the floro splatter frame. Pretty cool at the time but horribly dated now. Luckily, I am also horribly dated now too, so I dug them out a few years thinking they would be retro-cool to reintroduce to my snowboarding wardrobe. I have a few pairs of Cazals so I thought they would go well with my vintage collection
Unfortunately the iridium coating on the lens had degraded and could literally be scraped off using reasonable finger pressure. I contacted Oakley directly and they said even though they were old they could remove the lens and recoat it for me (free of charge) so off they went in the post.
I was mega excited when an Oakley parcel arrived a couple of months later, but upon opening the package I was gutted to discover that they had replaced my original 80's sunnies with a new, modern pair, accompanied by about 3 different replacement lenses. No explanation, nothing.
I called them up and asked what the fook was going on, and I was told that they had supposedly damaged my original 80's frame when trying to remove the lens so had thrown the lot away and sent me a replacement.
I know how rare my original model was so even now I still think they are sat somewhere either in their own factory collection or one of the workers is walking around in them. Barstools.
I still haven't managed to locate a replacement pair like them either....