stapfam

Been thinking about the bikes I have now- and past ones.

Currently I have 2 bikes that are ridden a lot- 2 that get out occasionally and several that are just kept in the shed. This got me thinking about the quality of the bikes I have had.

In the early days of my riding- I was just happy to have a bike. I started with a S/H/ Mountain "Type" bike. It had 26" wheels- knobbly tyres- straight handlebars and worked. Only problem was that it had road gearing and I definitely wanted to go offroad. This was followed very quickly by a Trek 800 that still did not have low enough gearing- but at least it would take the knocks from the treatment that I started to give it. Then another couple of bikes that were an improvement- but my first quality Mountain bike was a Kona Explosif. From then on each bike was an improvement on quality and suitability for rough use.

But those early bikes served their purpose. They were good enough for the use they were given- they stood up to the misuse I gave them and they had one important factor that I never thought about. They told me the limits I had and the limits the bikes had. Each bike told me where I had to improve myself- and what the next bike would be so that I could better manage the improvements that were about to come.

I carried on the View of start on something just about suitable when I went road. I did not know if pounding the black stuff for mile after mile was going to be "My Thing" so I got a bike that was at the lower end of the quality range. Got an OCR3 and soon found the limits of what I had bought. I got a bike that was one size too small- Still had MTB thinking on frame size- and the wheels were not up to a standard that I should have got. The rest of the bike was fine but at the end of a year- I realised the limits of this type of bike. Got Boreas and quickly followed this with the TCR-C.

Boreas and the TCR are good bikes. Not top of the range but they do serve a purpose and serve it well. I do realise how good they are when I ride the OCR- but there is no way that I can knock that OCR. Got me into road riding at a price I could afford and at a level that suited me. Each bike I have bought has been a progression for me and I do not regret letting any of the bikes go. They had served their purpose and it was time to move on. Can't say the same about the current rider though. I still have to improve my stamina a bit and speed is definitely lacking. True that without any training I could go and do a metric century tomorrow and subject to the route- probably do it in around 4 hours. But to go that little bit further or to go a bit faster is going to take some training.

Don't know if it is going to be required though- just like my early bikes- There is a limit on what I am capable of- but there is always room for improvement.

Retro Grouch 

A major life style changer for me and my wife was our Schwinn Twin tandem. It didn't really fit either one of us, and it weighed 60 pounds. At the time, however, it was the best that we could afford and we rode it together, for literally thousands of miles, over 8 years. It's the bike that got us into the cycling lifestyle.

I doubt I'd be posting this now had it not been for that Schwinn Twin.

SaiKaiTai

Oh sure, I get this!

My trajectory has been well documented...

Started with the Gary Fisher -gone now- which led to my LeMond as an intoduction to "real" roading.

The LeMond might be going bye-bye tomorrow but with no regrets, at all.
It led me to my CF Giant -an OCR- which I love.
It's still a better bike than I am a rider and probably always will be.

Now, with room for just 2 bikes in the garage, I've added my steel Jamis which falls in nicely as a "hybrid" of my LeMond and my Fisher and with a far smoother ride than either of the two bikes it replaces.

I'll never be very fast and I climb slower than a dog... however, at this point, I have the endurance to ride on flat or slightly uphill roads for as long as I care to.

The Weak Link

I'd like to get a dual suspension mountain bike. That makes some sense. It might be easier on my joints, although the effect would be negated as soon as I became overconfident on it and wrapped it around a tree.

I'd also like to get a hipster fixie. I have no idea why except that I read every post that Bike Snob submits. It's like reading Bertrand Russell's "Why I Am Not A Christian" and becoming a believer because of it. Perverse, I know.

Artkansas 

My Bacchetta Giro 20 was the first bike that I spent much of any money to buy in the past several decades. It was a gift to myself for finishing up my divorce and getting out of deep debt.

I did buy a Giant Stiletto four years ago, but that was pretty cheap on eBay, and previously I hadn't bought a bike in a bike store since 1979.

It seemed that the more I put into buying a bike, the faster it got stolen. The bike I bought in 1979 lasted a month before it was taken out from under me,while I still have the bike I traded for a load of wood in 1978. I had adopted the policy of not buying any bike that I couldn't afford to lose. My main bike, an early '90s Hard Rock, was a freebie.

So I was apprehensive when I bought the Giro 20, especially considering that some of the poorly-employed youth living in my apartment complex seemed to take notice of it. But a year later, they are gone and the Bacchetta is still here.

zacster

I started with a Peugeot UO18 in the early 70s. I think that one was stolen, or maybe it was crashed. In any case my next bike was an Atala Grand Prix. That one was definitely crashed. After that I bought an Austro-Daimler Inter10 in the late 70s, which was stolen out of my apartment in Seattle, as was my stereo at another time. I replaced that with a custom built Davidson in 1981, pics are in this thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/495359-my-davidson-81-a.html

I also had another bike come into my hands, this one my stepfather bought in Italy in 1982:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/501103-italo-zilioli.html

Obviously I still have them both.

My current ride is a Kuota Kredo with all Chorus. I also have a Trek 8000 mtb that I bought when I turned 40, and the frame from my Kuota Kharma which I bought when I turned 50, which I promptly crashed (that's where the Kredo comes in.)

Tom Bombadil

I'm looking forward to warmer weather and riding in 2009 to see if I want to ride anything other than my new RANS Stratus recumbent. Only got 4 rides on it before the snow started flying, but I loved every mile of them.

Still plan on continuing to tweak my nearly brand new Fuji flat-bar bike to see if I get to the point of where I enjoy riding it and increase my performance a bit.

tobycat

Ross touring bike (triple).
Trek 1200
Original OCLV 5500
Litespeed Classic
Moots Vamoots SL
Cervelo R3