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07-30-05, 10:59 PM
Hi all,
I'm Robert, a 53 year old psychiatrist, and I commute to work by bike 120-140 days per year in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Basically I ride every day I can when there's no ice on the road and no more than light rain. I deliberately have chosen to ride on grungy, (hopefully) theft-repellant, used bikes. For 13 years I have relied on a 1980's era Panasonic 12-speed road bike as my main steed, with a 1990's vintage Norco Bigfoot mtn bike as my alternate, especially in spring pothole season, and fall leaf mulch conditions. I ride the Norco brute in the annual Ride-for-Heart 50 km charity ride on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway, simply because my companion, my now 16-year-old son Robb (as he spells it) has a mountain bike and that makes our pace compatible.
Finally this year I decided the drive trains on my bikes had worn out badly enough that it wasn't cost effective to fix them so I will (I hope) convert the Panasonic to fixed gear and retire the Norco. I bought a vintage 1984 (that phrase would sound ironic in any other context) Trek 520 as my "new" road bike recently and I'm really happy with it, and for my mtn bike I bought a Bazooka Dakar (www.bazookasports.com) full-size folding mountain bike, but I'm not sure yet if I like it. It's rated for riders up to 6'3'', but I'm 6'0' give or take 1/8th inch and I have the seat post up to the max and wouldn't mind another half inch of extension.
I live in a household of 6 people and all have bikes, so with my temporary surplus, there are now 9 bikes in the garage - 2 Treks, 3 Norcos, a Bridgestone, a Panasonic, a Bazooka, and a Bianchi - and about another 10 whose ghosts still linger.
That's my story, for now.
Robert
I'm Robert, a 53 year old psychiatrist, and I commute to work by bike 120-140 days per year in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Basically I ride every day I can when there's no ice on the road and no more than light rain. I deliberately have chosen to ride on grungy, (hopefully) theft-repellant, used bikes. For 13 years I have relied on a 1980's era Panasonic 12-speed road bike as my main steed, with a 1990's vintage Norco Bigfoot mtn bike as my alternate, especially in spring pothole season, and fall leaf mulch conditions. I ride the Norco brute in the annual Ride-for-Heart 50 km charity ride on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway, simply because my companion, my now 16-year-old son Robb (as he spells it) has a mountain bike and that makes our pace compatible.
Finally this year I decided the drive trains on my bikes had worn out badly enough that it wasn't cost effective to fix them so I will (I hope) convert the Panasonic to fixed gear and retire the Norco. I bought a vintage 1984 (that phrase would sound ironic in any other context) Trek 520 as my "new" road bike recently and I'm really happy with it, and for my mtn bike I bought a Bazooka Dakar (www.bazookasports.com) full-size folding mountain bike, but I'm not sure yet if I like it. It's rated for riders up to 6'3'', but I'm 6'0' give or take 1/8th inch and I have the seat post up to the max and wouldn't mind another half inch of extension.
I live in a household of 6 people and all have bikes, so with my temporary surplus, there are now 9 bikes in the garage - 2 Treks, 3 Norcos, a Bridgestone, a Panasonic, a Bazooka, and a Bianchi - and about another 10 whose ghosts still linger.
That's my story, for now.
Robert