General Cycling Discussion - If you could only have ONE bike. . .

It occurred to me the other day that I love my two bikes, and that getting rid of either would be painful, or worse. For the first time in years I'm not bike shopping, nor do I have bike lust. I haven't even been on eBay looking for upgrades.

My MTB is a FS Giant NRS with a Mars Elite up front, an XTR/XT drivetrain and homebuilt wheels with Mavic 517 hoops.

My road bike is my Fuji Team (bought as a frame) with an Ultegra drivetrain and 105 shifters, hubs and brakes.

Please don't ask me to choose between them, but. . . if you did. . . and I had to. . . I'd pick. . . ummm. . . uh. . .

The Giant. I'd get another set of wheels for slicks so I could ride/train on the road. At this point in my life I couldn't give up XC riding and racing, so the MTB would get the nod.

Ask me again later. I may change my mind.

P.S. Sorry to have forgotten cyclocross in the poll.

I really do only have one bike that's street worthy. Heck, that's all I need!

If we're talking ANY bike, it would have to be a Litespeed Vortex. <drool>

If we're talking about the bikes I currently own, it would have to be my Litespeed Tuscany. :love: :beer:

I'd have to get a Seven Sola...hmmm, tricked to the max with Carbon Fibre....<double drool>

Rich

I'm pretty much hardcore roadie so I
voted road bike. I guess I'm just too
much of a retrogrouch/traditionalist to be
happy with anything else if that was all
I could have.
As for what bike, well I won't even go there.

Marty

If I could only have one bike, I would be too depressed to ride it. I would lie on the couch watching Springer, eating bon bons and getting fat.

But I voted for a hard tail MTB. It is probably the best compromise bike. It can be ridden almost anywhere. Not as fast as a true roadie, not as suited to extreme terrain as dualie, but capable of riding roads and trails, usable for touring and commuting....

I'm just glad that I don't have to choose!

Although mtb's and road bikes are fun, I'de have to vote for the commuter bike because I get back and forth to and from work where I get the money I need to buy the other kinds of bikes I have fun riding, like the road bikes and the mountain bikes. My commuter has to have gears the enable me to freight heavy loads (like an entire exhaust system for my daughters car) up new england hills, and brakes capable of stoping the loade d bike when I go down the other side, it has to have fenders that keep me dry, lights and racks. It has to be stiff and rugged, Oh, and it has to be ugly so noone wants to steel it, and it has to be comfortable enough to stay on for for a while every day.

I'd go with a cyclocross bike.

Ditty for a CX bike... can we have more then one wheelset? :)

I think that would be cheating Joe. :D

Im kinda partial to a Santa Cruz Blur right now...
that is if I could afford it...
lock out the rear and put some slicks on it for the commutes..

Some would say that a FS Rig would be too heavy as an all rounder... but hell my hardtail with STX-RC weighs 29Lbs... so a blur with LX would be almost 3 lbs better..

Yep - I'd have to go with my Single Speed Cyclocross bike - it's a do all bike - plus I look funny when I climb on it.

Originally posted by lotek
I'm pretty much hardcore roadie so I
voted road bike. I guess I'm just too
much of a retrogrouch/traditionalist to be
happy with anything else if that was all
I could have.
As for what bike, well I won't even go there.

Marty
Lotek, i like the way you reason out, I will go with you on that don't even go there,

As much as I enjoy my mountain bike and my road racing bike, I voted for the commuter, which is by far the most practical of the bunch. I can ride 700Cx28 tyres on hard-packed dirt roads, and a rear rack, panniers, handlebar bag, etc. come in very handy.

i love my road bike and my mountain bike. so i compromised and said cyclocross because i like trails and speed. altho a hard tail MTB would probably do the job. i own one infact but stil.. i need both..

Rm7 moded out. I need some super have rear hub and wheel setup. Either that or a santa cruz they just seem small to me.

If it was only one bike... I'd get a Seven Cycles Ti tandem for around 7 grand. I'd then turn around and sell it to buy a $2000 NRS1, a $2500 Stumpjumper s-works team, and a $2500 Rivendell Touring frame to build up.

Like the old MTV commercials used to say... "Too much is never enough!"

Id stick with my light-touring commuter rig. Its fast on the road, but tough enough for trails, reasonably light but strong enough for hauling the shopping.
Its the bike I use 99% of the time anyway.

I'd go with a tricked out F/S rig. Lock it out, its a roadie bike. Dam take it on any trail and its a comfort bike compared to to a hardtail. Then when you feel like ripping it up you can.

Only disadvantage, it looks to good to be left alone on the street by itself. There is no way I'd leave my FSR Comp just sitting there right now, let alone some 5K bike.

I haven't voted, as there is one category missing.

The current definition of "road bike" is very much a racing-oriented bike, whereas in my neck of the woods, the commuter bike is also known as a hybrid (with straight handlebars).

However, both from experience and preference, I will vote for a loaded touring bike. Why?

- relatively aerodynamic position;
- good fore/aft weight distribution;
- good hand position on the drops;
- good for leasurely trips and also good on the occasional gravel road;
- very good for commuting;
- very stable even when loaded with 40 kg of groceries.

I'd probably go for a hardtail MTB but set it up as a commuter bike, pretty much as I have done, with slicks or semi-slicks, rear rack etc. Ideally it would have a decent fork that can be locked out (funnily enough I've got one of those on order).

It will be a compromise, in that it won't be up to what a full suspension bike can do off road, or as fast as a true road bike, or as good at hauling as a full tourer, but it would cope reasonably well with most things.

After getting my 'Bent, I got rid of my wedgies, but a trike would be kinda cool....

A commuter bike is whatever bike one uses to get around on... in Chicago, you see commuters on all sorts of bikes: hybrids, mountain bikes, roadies, recumbants, old three speeds. I even know a couple of people who use 19th century high-riders as their main bike.

The only types of bikes that I don't see regularly used as commuter bikes are
* rat patrol bikes (weird bikes that are assembled from two or more bikes into odd configurations) & other novelty bikes They're great bikes to ride in a parade or a Critical Mass, but a terrible everyday bike.
* rickshaws (Rickshaws are seen often enough in Chicago, but usually the riders only have them out when they're working themselves.)

One bike to do as many kinds of riding as possible? A road bike of the type that the marketing schlongs call a "sport touring" bike or what French cyclists call a randonneuse. It would have a longer wheelbase and clearance for fenders and fatter tires than a racing road bike--say 44cm chainstays and room for 700 x 32 tires plus fenders, and use long reach (57mm) caliper brakes.
It would have brazed on fittings for racks and lights. Mine would need no more than a 50 x 13 high gear and preferably a 28 x 28 low. It would still be a little lighter and substantially quicker handlng than, say, a Bruce Gordon Rock'n'Road or a Trek 520.
It would be made out of steel for ride comfort, the ability to tailor the frame tubing gauges to me, and because I've had to tell two customers in the last two months that they had to ****can their $300 carbon forks because of chips caused in minor falls. Bikes like this are still made and are still available, you just have to ignore fashion and look a little harder.

My Litespeed Blueridge, it does everthing I need in a bike. Touring, cycle-cross, fast training rides and very plush.

:D :beer:

If I didn't have to ride a recumbent it would be my fully equiped cannondale touring bike because it is the most versitable. Karl