kcblair

My Holy Grail, is a 70'ish Chrome Schwinn Paramont, with Campy Groupo. This is what I wanted back in my early teens. KB

LiquorLad

I have some grail bikes so I am more than satisfied, & grateful, as they'll serve me a lifetime of pleasure.

If I were to expand further? Look Bernard Hinault 753, curly stays Hetchins, Bob Jackson, perhaps a few more with more thought.

Sure, there's snootier stuff with a diminishing return & bragging rights. But the 3 I listed above serve as artwork, as they are beautiful in my beholding eye.

big chainring 

I would like to have a Coppi, Anquetil, and Merckx. The gaspipe cheapos from the early 70's, with the photo of the racer on the headtube.

Bikerider007

Cinelli Starship would be nice. And will eventually be a good vintage.

Vintage Raleigh

My International isn't a grail bike (they were never imported to Australia) but a combination of two bikes I had as a kid - a Raleigh Grand Prix and a custom built by/for myself TdF bike, Reynolds, Campag etc etc.

A 60s Bianchi racer with steel cottered cranks would be nice as they were the bikes I lusted after as a teen as well, but now I already have two cottered cranked boom bikes so I don't need it or have the space for any more.

I'm thinking of donating one to a bike shop for display.

UKFan4Sure

I agree with Prowler. Once in a while, something beckons your heart. There is one thing that constantly encourages your soul that it was done to your taste, almost as if it was your personal custom. The one bike your cherish and cannot walk away from without an admiring glance at it as you depart.

For him, it appears to be his Raleigh. That blue is so beautiful.

plumberroy

Two bikes I would consider anything near Grail bikes are setting behind me now . Neither a really rare There was a time I couldn't afford a decent bike I drooled over a custom flat bar Surly LHT in olive green , and the second just got here last week like new Raleigh Sports new brooks B72 saddle is on it waiting for tire to come to replace the original tires on it from 75

armstrong101

The issue with unobtainium is that factors like money and accessibility apply whereas for 10 bikes they don't. Eg. Your neighbor owns that chainless bike and he doesn't care for it so it is accessible for you and therefore "not" a Grail. Conversely, a kid making minimum wage can't afford an entry level colnago (let's day these are relatively "common" for argument's sake), and therefore "not" a Grail but he may never own one for 10 years, so for him despite being a common bike, it really may be unobtainable simply because he can't afford it (even though it might not be expensive to that many other people).

I think "the" Grail bike is whatever bike makes a person most happy to ride/own. Perhaps it can be defined as the one bike you would own if you could only own one bike.

Most difficult bike to buy/own is a different discussion, IMO anyways.

St33lWh33ls

First I want to emphasize that this is just my opinion and in no way attempts to invalidate your opinion.

To me a grail bike like the holy grail is difficult to find and obtain regardless of your ability to purchase it. The bike would be special beyond it's intrinsic value in someway, for instance a bike with special provenance or historical significance. Maybe something built in small numbers like a Confente or historically special like a Herse or just plain rare like the 1901 Pierce Chainless. "10" bikes can still be expensive but are easily found and show up frequently.

The 1901 Pierce Chainless would be special or in my opinion a grail regardless of my neighbors feelings about the bike. It is a very rare bicycle that typically brings between $3500-$4500 at auction in that condition, that particular bicycle sold for $7,750. So if he wants to sell it for a couple hundred bucks thats his loss; knowledge is power.

I have a 1970 Chrome Paramount P13-9, it's a very nice bike that I have wanted for about a decade. I had one years ago and it was lost when a hurricane wiped out my home. Now I have read more than once on this forum that a chrome Paramount was someone's grail and that's fine, they are nice bikes and they can be expensive depending on model and condition. Truth be told they are not that hard to find, there is one on EBay right now, so nice?, yes, grail?, probably not.

I see what you're saying and I don't necessarily disagree. You're saying that grail is relative to someone being able to obtain it and can be any bicycle. In other words one man's Huffy grail could be another man's Confente grail. This is certainly a valid opinion, I just disagree with the relativism as explained below in my definition of grail

IMO most difficult bike to buy/own/find is exactly what Holy Grail means, in this context a difficult quest to find something rare. To me that is what constitutes a grail bike (example-Confente) and elevates it above a really nice bike (example-Paramount), or a "10" if you will.

Respectfully, just my opinion

cbrstar

My grail would be a Bianchi that's dirt cheap!

20 years ago a guy in my riding club had one, and it seemed like the lightest, most beautiful, and the most unattainable bike I ever had seen.

armstrong101

The topic of this thread is "your grail" bike, as opposed to, what in your opinion, is THE holy grail bike. Not exactly the same thing, so that's where the disagreement occurs. But the OP asked for YOUR GRAIL bike, not what do u think is THE HOLY GRAIL bike.

St33lWh33ls

My apologies, I did not realize there was a difference, there was only one grail in this context right?

I realize that there are other definitions, but not in a context that would relate to this subject.

Anyone?

armstrong101

The OP (I believe) wanted people to list their single favorite ride/bike. He used the word "grail" to elicit replies, and I think most people here replied in a manner that the OP intended.

I will also say, that, "What is your grail bike", vs "What in your opinion is The Holy Grail bike" can lead to different replies from the same individual.

I could define my grail bike as a 7-11 Merckx in SLX in my size decked out with full minty DA.

But my opinion of the Holy Grail bike? Probably the Colnago given to the Pope.

armstrong101

We're arguing semantics here, if you haven't figured it out.

Poguemahone

My grail bike is whichever one chance leads me to next

St33lWh33ls

Sure we are, which goes back to my original point, grail is misused in this context. A grail is just a cup or saucer by definition. A holy grail implies a single special cup that knights went through a great deal of trouble-quest to find. IMO the later is what most people are thinking when they say grail. Again JMHO, YMMV.

kunsunoke 

Here are a few suggestions:

Mid-50s to late 70s Cinelli Supercorsa
Tommasini Prestige, Super Prestige, Sintesi, Tecno, Mach
De Rosa - any of the steel bikes; Treduecinque
Any steel Spectrum / or any other bike built by Tom Kellogg
Any steel bike built personally by Tom Ritchey
Any bike built by one of the Konno family members in Japan (3Rensho, Cherubim, etc.)
Peugeot PY-10
Anything by IF, Seven Cycles or Moots in titanium
Older steel Serotta bikes
Serotta titanium bikes

armstrong101

There is enough wiggle room in modern context/vernacular for someone to ask you "What is your grail bike", but to actually mean, (1) "What is your most favorite bike", as opposed to, (2) "What in your opinion is The Holy Grail bike? I think the meanings of 1 and 2 are slightly different and I believe that was the intent of the OP was #1, not #2. And given the replies in this thread, that was probably the assumption of most of those who responded.

In other words, #1 is asking you a personal question; as an individual, what do you deem is the most favorite bike to you?
#2 is asking an impersonal question, and is looking more for a consensus reply that many individuals would agree to; as a society, what is the Holy Grail bike?

LouB 

1948 Legnano equipped with Campagnolo Cambio Corsa groupset as ridden by G Bartali in his TdF win that year. That said, I have never ridden any of the rarified high end Italians (Bianchi, DeRosa, Cinelli, Colonago) so dont know what I would think of them. For the historical aspect, the '48 Legnano would be very sweet imo.

St33lWh33ls

Grail=Holy Grail

Don't take my word for it, look it up. If we can't agree on that we are just running in circles.

armstrong101

I posit there is a difference between YOUR grail and THE holy grail.

St33lWh33ls

LOL, it's not MY grail, it's every dictionary's description of grail. Don't shoot the messenger. If we agree there is one grail as described in every dictionary we can move on to opinion on how it pertains to bicycles.

dunrobin

Pegoretti big leg Emma -- quirky and hopefully painted while listening to jazz.
Just because.

St33lWh33ls

I had to look that one up, as Arty would say...very interesting.

willydstyle

OP here: I deliberately left it up to personal interpretation, hence the "and why" part of the question.

For me when I made this post it was a Fuji Opus III. Now while I still recognize that as a beautiful, hard-to-find bike, I've learned a lot more and now I think my grail bike would be a French Technical Trials bike from the '30s or '40s. One of the winners like a Jo Routens or René Herse.

My definition of "grail" has changed, and that's fine. Language is inherently mutable and subjective.