Jarrett2

I'm curious to find out about the progression of bikes that we are riding and why we chose them in the hopes that we can all learn more about choosing the right bike for the right ride.

I can start:

I started riding in May 2013 and started with a 2013 Specialized Expedition Sport because it felt really comfortable. After being passed by a guy on a road bike on my local MUP, I went and bought a 2013 Trek FX 7.2 iun the hopes of going a little faster. I was too scared to go to a road bike at that point, but I wanted something faster.

A friend of mine bought a 2013 Trek DS 8.3 and let me ride it a couple of times. I liked its off road ability, so I went and got one thinking it would be my off road bike and the FX 7.2 would be my "road" bike.

After doing some group rides and seeing how much faster the road bikers were than me on my hybrids, I decided to finally take the plunge and get my first road bike which was a 2013 Specialized Secteur Expert Disc. After riding it a while, I wished I would have purchased it sooner. At that time, I was riding on smooth city roads and really enjoying it.

In an attempt to get more miles, I started riding out in the country more. It was much easier to get miles, but the roads out there were much more rough than the city streets I was used to. Suddenly, my comfortable road bike became uncomfortable. I tried putting bigger ties on it, but it just went slower so I started looking at bikes that were more comfortable on rough roads.

That led me to a 2014 Specialized Roubaix Elite 105. The carbon fiber frame and geometry of this bike are much more comfortable on the rough country roads I ride on now. Really night and day difference from my aluminum Secteur after 20-30 miles or so. At this point, I'm loving the Roubaix for the type of riding I'm doing now. My longest ride to date has been 45 miles and I am actively planning to do a 50+ mile ride next, with a goal of a century in the next 6-7 months.

So my progression of bikes has gone like this:

2013 Specialized Expedition Sport (I weight 375lbs, was doing short MUP rides, traded in)
2013 Trek FX 7.2 (I weighed 350, doing longer rides on MUP, some road, traded in)
2013 Trek DS 8.3 (I weighed 325, doing longer rides on MUP, group rides, some road, traded in)
2013 Specialized Secteur Expert Disc (I weighed 300+, mostly city street rides, my gravel/backup bike now)
2014 Specialized Roubaix Elite 105 (I weighed 260 when I got it, long country road rides, my main/road bike now)

Anyone else want to play?

PhotoJoe 

Started on my trusty old RockHopper MTB. Then bought my Lynskey. Why? I had heard about the magical ride quality of modern Ti. "Comfortable yet lively". Yup, that's exactly how I would describe it. No regrets.

To make this beneficial to future members, we should include the highest weights we were while riding these bikes. My high was 247.

Willbird

I am riding a 2001 trek 7200 Multitrack, because I HAD it :-).

This is my third time around as an adult bicyclist.

First time was a Huffy stem shift 10 speed steel frame bike.
Second time was a 1992ish Bianchi Premio, and a Schwinn Crisscross.

I sold them both off when were buying our house, and the wife and I had bought the Trek's, I put 60 miles on the Trek and she put 9 on hers, and they got stored, first in the garage, then in the shed.

When I started logging in MFP in may 2014 I was walking, put the hurts on my right knee, so I dug the Trek's out of the shed June 1 2014, and that was 1743 miles ago as of today :-). It got new tires and tubes, replaced the 11-34 cassette with a 12-26 and a new chain, put a flat bar on it, and tried a few saddles. Put SPD clipless pedals on it.

Bill

Lord_Emperor

1998: 1998 Specialized FSR
2014: 1998 Specialized FSR

As they say if it ain't broke. Was ~200 in '98 and currently 193. Heaviest at which I used this bike was ~250 but I didn't ride trails that weight, just commuted to work.

Pakiwi

When I returned to cycling as a clyde just over a year ago, after kids started to grow up I was able to hop back on my 1984 Celo Europa 7 speed with triple crankset. I was 245 pounds. I got the opportunity to get some parts when I knew I was going to be serious and bought a used Jamis Xenith Pro and have ridden around 3000 miles on it. I am now around 218 and heading lower. Bike is Carbon Fiber but have no issue riding the steel Celo. Have the trainer ready and will be riding with my daughter inside. For wheels I have Mavic CXP 21s on the Celo and Mavic Aksium on the Jamis. Just rode a century this past weekend on the Jamis and we both faired well.
even though my wife queries why I keep both bikes, the 30 year old bike is a little more forgiving geometry wise.
allan

dagray

I have my Centurion Le Mans 12 speed (steel frame new in 1985, and I am the original owner), but due to goat heads and puncture vine (and me being heavy) I picked up a Raleigh Talus 29er in March of 2014 and also a trainer.

I would rund the Centurion on the trainer... but I only rode a few times between March and August 2014. In July 2014 I was having some adjustment and repair done to the Centurion (the rear deraileur finally quit) and I tried a Raleigh Revenio 2.0 in the bike shop... well it followed me home.

Lately I have been riding two or more times a week even if one day is a short three miles or so and another day is over five miles or so. I use the Talus to pull my youngest in a trailer, but have put the majority of my miles this month on the Raleigh road bike.

Pamestique 

I have been riding too long (seriously since 1980) to document all my bikes... but in 1983 I purchased (for $800 - at the time alot of money) a Specialized Expedition Touring bike... classic touring style with 18 speeds - wow!. For the next 6 years I travelled across the country on that bike and logged a ton of miles. I loved the bike but in the late 90's a join a road club and needed a "faster" bile. Enter the Lemond. A beautiful classically styled race bike (last Lemond before Trek bought the company), steel frame, long top tube, 27 gears! I rode that bike for many years... and on a number of centuries and double metrics. I loved that bike but in the early 2000's ran into my first Landshark and decided at some point I wanted a custom bike. I saved my money and finally in 2010, purchased my Landshark. It will be the last road bike I ever buy. Steel frame, custom geometry, full Ultegra, custom CK wheels, custom paint. Beautiful bike that's really fun to ride.

I also began mountain biking in the early 80's and started with a fully rigid Specialized Rockhopper, moved to a hardtrail (actually several) and then my first full suspension bike, a Gary Fisher Sugar 3. I now have three Santa Cruz/Juliana bikes - the Superlight 26, the Santa Cruz Juliana 26 and the new Juliana 29 (Custom build, CK wheels, headset, bottom bracket, full XT). Hopefully the last mountain bikes I ever buy although I have been eyeing a 650B. People who mountain bike know different bikles suit the needs of different trails. I use the Superlight for short, easy riding, the Santa Cruz Juliana for epic rides and the 29er for technical stuff.

Right now my garage is filled with bikes (although the Landshark lives in the house with me) so until something goes out, nothing more comes in.

As to weight - it stays consistant - my body apparently is comfortable being fat... but I am also in excellent health - at age 63, have normal BP, low cholestrol, good heart rate, take no medication other than supplements (such as calcium and Vit. D). Cycling has kept me living so there's taht!

Pamestique 

My guy would be envious of you... he mentions Lynskey frames all the time! Of course all his road bikes (which he has several) are custom Ti so I suspect one day he will get the Lynskey MTB.

Judi

I have an Electra Townie. I'm 5'3" with a long torso and short legs, and at my heaviest was over 400 lbs. I also have hardware in one of my ankles that has affected the flexibility of that foot. So the Townie was pretty much the only bike I could find that worked for me. I did have problems with the bottom bracket once, and broke an axle another time, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as being perfect for someone larger.

Now that I've lost some weight, I've been thinking about a faster bike. My husband and older daughter both have hybrids and like them.

ill.clyde

Like Pam ... I've been riding off and on since I was a kid ... so it's hard to document my progression.

My prized position as a teen was my red Peugeot. I still wish I had that bike.

Currently, I ride a 2009 Trek 1.2, and a 2012 Kona Jake. I also have a 1997 Trek 6700 MTB that I putz around with sometimes.

The 1.2 gets the most attention. I've been as high as just north of 300 pounds on that bike, currently at 265. I love that bike ridiculously. It's lively to me, and not overly jarring. I love the way I feel when I ride it. And thinking about it, oddly enough, over the weekend, I realized it's a bike I'll never get rid of. I do desire a newer bike, maybe something CF, or I may stick to AL ... not sure. But that Trek has been with me through a lot of good times, and even more bad times. It ties me to a place and time that I miss and know I'll never get back. It'll always hold a place of honor in my heart.

Nikon shooter

In the early 90s I weighed about 185 and rode a BCA Rocky 15 hybrid and a Cannondale 3.1 road bike. Fast forward 20+ years of no cycling and about 75 pounds of weight gain. I now ride a Giant Roam2 hybrid and am looking at a Trek Domane or a Cannondale Synapse.

WonderMonkey

Years ago I bought a Cannondale M300. I was heavy (but in better shape) and I thought I needed it to support my frame. In 2011 I sold that and got a Cannondale Quick 5, which is a hybrid. Heaver than before but I wanted to start commuting. I did that here and there and of course continued to gain weight.

In 2013 I was disgusted enough, found my magic and got enough energy and motivation to get back on the bike. I rode the heck out of that bike (for me, anyway). I proved to myself that I had made a lifestyle change and I wanted to go further, faster so I got a Raleigh Revenio 2.0, which I love.

MikeRides

I was pushing 240# when I dusted off my older (x-mart) Roadmaster mountain bike, I couldn't shift, my brakes barely worked, my tires had uneven wear from sitting for so long, but I was too much of a cheapskate to replace failed components on it so I just rode it around no more than 5 miles at a time (any more than that and it hurt!) Fixed my diet (cut out sugary drinks, substituted junk food for fresh fruits and veggies, reduced my alcohol intake) and got down to 220# when I decided to stop at my LBS.

I didn't realize at the time just how overwhelming that experience was going to be, there were many choices. Because of personal reasons I stayed away from road bikes, and mainly stuck to entry level hybrids figuring if I liked the hobby enough in a year I could upgrade into something else later and didn't want to fork out much cash just in case. I went from 10 different models, practically the same albeit with different components to two models the Raleigh Detour and the Fuji Absolute 1.3. I recall the Fuji being lighter and cheaper, but the Detour was much more comfortable, it was a bike that called out to me as a perfect candidate for weight loss and to kick my lazy arse into shape. I'm now down to 165#, my diet fluctuates but cycling helps me maintain that weight.

What I didn't realize was just how much fun I have on it, although the bike is built for urban riding which I do very little of. All my rides are on country roads where a more road-oriented bike would be more ideal. With 2500 miles on it, still pretty stock (other than a rear rack and bar ends) I feel it can easily go many more. Obviously as much as I ride it I'm finding myself wanting a little more speed as my the "engine" is finally tuned up, so there's a pretty good possibility of a road bike in my future.

CliftonGK1

I have different bikes for different things, and the stable is evolving.

When I got back into riding again, I bought a stock Surly Cross Check and added fenders and street tires to build up and start riding long distances.
Over time, the setup on the bike changed, but it stayed mostly the same; a geared, fendered distance bike.

I got into cyclocross, and rode a Vassago Fisticuff for a season before getting a Redline Conquest Pro (alu frame, carbon fork) setup and swapping my parts onto that. I ran both of those as singlespeeds.

Enjoying the singlespeed thing, I turned my distance bike into a singlespeeder. While my distances were shorter than before, I found I was enjoying myself more on slightly shorter rides instead of 300 - 400km slog fests.

Then I got a Specialized Stumpjumper Comp EVO and started getting into some mountain bike racing. I wasn't particularly good at it, but it sure was a lot of fun.
Following that trend of 'fun riding' I filled in a gap and bought a Rocky Mountain Flow-1 dirt jumper, set up as a singlespeed for urban thrashing. It's goofy fun, and I miss it after having sold it before a move.

Now, the Cross Check lives on as a singlespeed grocery commuter with townie bars and a giant front basket. My roadie ride is a Spesh Singlecross with all the parts from my old Cross Check setup. I still have the Redline and the Stumpie, and I'll be adding a Trek Farley fatbike for the winter, and a Domane 6.2 disc for the spring. The fatbike is just because it's fun and looks like a blast to play around on one in the snow. The Domane 6.2 disc is because I'd like to up my mileage and my speed, and the singlespeed setup isn't going to do that adequately any more. I just can't keep up with the groups I want to ride with, since everyone else is geared. I'm either huffing and dying on the hills, or getting dropped on the descents and flats. The disc option on the Domane is partially because I'm a huge fan of hydro disc brakes, partially because I like the wheelset the disc model comes with better than the regular 6.2 model, and in large part because with the frame design on the disc model I can clear up to a 32mm tire if I really wanted to go that wide and take it on a gravel ride.

1loosemoose

I currently ride a trek 7.3FX and a Trek 4.5 Domane. I'm 6'4" tall and 236 lbs and the comfort of the Domane is amazing!

As long as I can ride a road bike the Domane will be in my stable of bikes!

superdex

First of all, congrats on the weight loss! It would be an interesting experiment to go back and ride one of those hybrids again -- the engine has been upgraded a bunch since then
First road bike was an aluminum Trek 2300 w Ultegra. Living in Dallas at the time, I was tired of lugging the mtn bike (a Specialized Stumpjumper, the old green hardtail. GREAT bike), so I bought a roadie to be able to leave from the house. Been hooked on road riding since.

Then I bought a steel frame on ebay (Ionic cycles, a Columbus Nemo frame). Which was plush --so plush that I realized (with some research) I was too heavy for it. On a frame search I went.

I've been on a crit-racer for a few years (Blue Competition Cycles Rc4Al --they don't make it anymore, aluminum frame with carbon seat-stays). More or less the opposite of the Ionic. It's stiff and snappy and made for crits. It's surprisingly comfortable enough to do centuries, though. Either that, or I'm just used to the ride.

Just took a new job that's 25mi from the house, which has me daydreaming of long bike commutes, which also means probably something a little more appropriate --Soma Smoothie er something....

SammyJ 

2012 CADD 8 105, love how the bike handles. Drop the air pressure 5 pound to soften the ride. Much faster than I was 30 pounds ago.

My dream: Custom steel frame, maybe a Gunnar.

indyfabz

Not sure why the entire progression from my green tricycle from Sears to my current rides has any bearing on anything.

Commencing from when I started to lose weight because I was finally told by a doctor while in college that I was "fat" (best piece of medical advice I every got)....

Panasonic Sport DX in the spring of '86. Got hit by a car not that long thereafter so I....

Bought a new Maruishi something or other road bike. I was riding an MUP in the spring of '87 while messing with some relatively new gandget called a CatEye computer when I drifted to the left, hit a cutout for a culvert, bent the frame and did a header while not wearing a helmet. Since I was so into riding and had lost a lot of weight I....

Bought a used Trekk 660 (Reynolds 531 tubing. Made in Wisconsin. Boring 80s Trek pain job.) from a fellow student. It had a Campy Nuovo Record drivetrain and black Modolo brakes with...dig this...aero levers. And it was 12 speed, boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Italian components meant I was now a real cyclist. I rode that bad booy everywhere in all kinds of conditions. It developed a crack in the head tube, but I was a starving law school student so I kep riding it anyway until one day, while it was on my trainer in my aparment in PGH, the rear seat stay snapped clean through down by the right dropout. I wasn't so starving by then so I....

Bought a Schwin 755 in '90. Biggest piece of bike junk I ever bought in my life. A one point the bearings fell out of the cassette. Rode it for a while, but since school was over and I was gainfully employed I....

(Somewhere in between the above and below I bought a Trek 930 MTB for commuting, and trail riding. May have been '91.)

Bought a Bianchi built with Columbus SLX tubing in '91 or so. Celeste green with...dig this...some gruppo called "Shinano 600," later re-named "Ultegra." Unfortunately, I had to get his by a car riding that thing in '93 so I...

Had built up a Guerciotti (Columbus TSX tubing) with a chrome fork, chrome front lugs and a smoked yellow paint scheme. Full Ultegra and Mavic rims. That baby turned heads whereever she went. Even got to take her to the mother land for some riding in the Alps and other locations while following the '95 Giro. Then I...

Got into loaded touring in '99, so I bought a Cannondale T700 and logged about 10,000 loaded miles between May of '99 and August of '00.

Then I got back into road riding. The Guerciotti was beat down and had a slight bend in the down tube, so in '01 I bought a Colnago Dream Plus. Second biggest piece of bike junk I ever bought. It cracked not long after I bought it, but within the warranty period. Not long after the warranty expired, I found another crack so in '04 I....

Bought a custom IF Steel Crown Jewel SE, which I just rode 160+ mile on this weekend.

At some point, my job required me to work in NJ several days a week, so I bought a Bike Friday NWT with the idea that if the weather turned bad I could fold the bike up and get a ride back to the bigh city with someone I worked with.

In '08, I wanted to get back into loaded touring so I bought a Surly LHT, which was the perfect bike for the job, especially ially since I was able to retrofit my custom racks and bags to it. Took that baby on several trips, including one in Montana, British Columbia and Alberta. Sadly, one night in December of '190 we left the door to the house unlocked and someone stole my custom racks along with the bike they were attached to. That required me to....

Buy another LHT in the winter of '11. She's been on numerous loaded trips and serves as my everyday commuter. In fact, I rode her to work this morning.

Due to corrosion, my beautiful IF is nearing the end of its useful life. I will probably be ordering an Engin Ti later this month or in early November.

CliftonGK1

Engin makes some sweet bikes. I get to work on a couple of them at our shop. You'll love it!

1nterceptor

Foldingbike progression: Dahon Espresso, Schwinn folder, Tobukaeru to my current Brompton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmFU...6zPoymgKaIoDLA

Roadbike progression: FUJI Newest 3.0, Newest 1.0, Scott CR1 Pro to my current BMC GF02:
2014 BMC GF02 by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

Null66

Hey,
First bike was an AMF 10 speed. Lasted about 20 miles. Went a series of on a path ruts about 3/4 wheel deep at maybe 10mph and down tube came free. Back to shoe leather express.

First real bike was a 1981 Schwinn traveller 1 size too large. I was about 150-180 then, ran mostly 1 3/8ths. Put many, many miles on it. I use a 5k estimate... Occasionally to school (19 miles one way) later 26, long rides for the hell of it. Around the lake ride, to arcades )50 miles rt.. Got used to a stretched out bike. Number of flats, but usually fairly lucky where...

Next bike a 1995 Trek 1770, loved the light weight and fast feel! It's a damn fine 27 speed. Nice low gearing kinda like a compact today and functional STI's. would only take a 28 on the back and 23 (i think) on the front. Maybe 4 rear wheels and 3 fronts a lot of flats even running Gators or Aramdillos. I rode it mostly long rides, commuting, MS 150, and American Heart association rides. One ride the Erie Canal attempt. It had not been repaired and one stretch had stones the size of large potatoes. Several attempts at truing the wheels and all three of my tubes later, I missed the bike shop by about 10 minutes. Attempt over.. I estimate around 5k.

Modern era started for me with the impulse buy of a 2007 Fuji Tourer. I was anything from a very soft 280, down to 240, to a pretty strong 285. I loved it! Fit me great. But I kept breaking things. Front axle seized about 10 miles from home on a 100+ degree day. 3 rear wheels (all machine made).. but worse I never could get the brakes to work right. Builder showed me that I was flexing the frame. But fatal flaw was when ever I horsed on the bike, the rear wheel would tear loose and jam into the chain stay. Tried a bunch of skewers, everything short of solid axle... Nothing like stopping dead when you were trying to dodge a car and hearing it's brakes lock up to convince you that's a bad tendency! But it did carry me maybe 2500-3000 miles and FINALLY, my SO and riding partner drove to buffalo airport and rode the Eire Canal... Damn nice 10 days!

Fate was unkind to such a nice machine. Last ride before parting it out, a little girl did a U-turn on the end of the bridge. NO place to go I crashed. Stepped on rear triangle, hard, more like hopped. When tearing it down had real hard time getting wheel out. I had bent one of the seat stays pinching it quite tight! Still hanging on rack, hard to think about recycling it.

So to defeat problems above I purpose built up my DT.
Disc brakes are GREAT! As are the vertical drop outs!
I can both stop and GO!
Started at 285, plus a pack that has gone upwards of 50 lbs. Now I'm 250...

A builder built a set of "last wheels"... Wheels for the Apocalypse! PW disc tandem hubs, 48 spoke, Chukker rims running 38 marathons now. Over built heck yes, heavy, yep. But a joy to ride! Whisper quiet, so silky smooth.

I got a 56 (same size as Fuji) probably should have went with a 54 but a short stem addressed that.

I geared it real low as we ride in hills, even so I spin out only when > 25, 30 on a good day... Sometimes wish I went a step or 2 larger on the triple crankset, but then trying to get up any one of a number of nasty hills when I'm spent, well I use that bottom gear!

In the year and a couple months I have about 3500 on it. It's gotten me home every time!

CACycling

After 30 or so years of +/- 5 miles of riding annually, my journey began when I picked up an '86 DB Ascent after giving my little used 1997 DB Outlook DX to one of my sons. That led to a 1977 Schwinn LeTour II which led to an '07 Schwinn LeTour GS which led to an '08 Fuji Roubaix RC.

The only one of those still around is the Fuji but I've added a '92 DB Ascent EX (found on eBay NIB a couple of years ago) and an '11 Fuji Cross 3.0 (replaced the '07 LeTour totaled in a crash).

linnefaulk

I started riding my 1990 Trek 820 (mtb) because I knew it was solid.
I got my 1995 Trek 1220 (road) fixed up because I was concerned about being without a bike if I needed my first one serviced.

I have switched to riding the 1220 because it is so much easier.

bbeasley

~ 8 y/o Schwinn Sting Ray with 2 speed kick back hub. Reason: a bit too old for the tricycle
~ 13 y/0 Schwinn Varsity 10 speed. Reason: Parents bought it for me.
53 y/o Schwinn BSO cruiser. Reason: Dying on couch
53 y/o Trek 2.3 Aluminum roadie. Reason: Above bike died after ~100 miles.
56 y/o Wabi Single Speed/ Fixed Gear. Reason: Bored
57 y/o Wabi Roadie. Reason, loved the steel SS/FG.

Sullalto

Bought a Jamis Hudson Sport DLX. "Sport Comfort". Comfortable bike, very welcoming. Great re-intro to cycling. Then I remembered I really liked cycling and wished I had followed the advice of buying the bike you'll want 6 months from now.

Fortuitously, the frame cracked. Good chance it was my fault, but Jamis immediately backed their product and was going to send me a new bike. They were nice enough to let me pay the difference to a Quest Comp road bike, too. Which is what I'm still riding.

I kinda wish I had bought an Aurora(touring bike) for the longer chain stays, which would let me use panniers, but oh well.