jimmuller 

Don't push it, hop on and ride it! If you think it's fun now, you'll be amazed.

Dfrost 

The '87 Marinoni SLX Sports Touring is clearly the most fun of my little bunch. Besides being a joy to look at (IMHO), it definitely wants to always go a little bit faster, crank up a bigger gear even with my modest power, and that's in direct back-to-back comparison rides with the others. Now that I'm bike commuting, it's even "fun" to get up an hour early for that morning 19-mile commute. And boy, will it make retirement even more fun!

revcp 

I knew I was missing something

The Golden Boy 

That's a great question.

For me, it's not somethign that I define-

I'm so fortunate to have a bunch of really nice bikes that I love riding, as to why I like riding them...

The first thing is the comfort in riding- It doesn't matter how cool or fancy or droolworthy or whatever- if it's not comfortable to ride- it's useless to me. The comfort is a bunch of different things, size, the position your body is in, the ability to change your positioning, weight, fatigue (through bumps and vibrations), and general friction.

I have a bike that I love the concept of- I've had it for ever, it's cool looking, it's got some pretty unique components and it's very much of what I love about the ideal of bicycling. But for whatever reason, it's not quite comfortable to me. I can't quite pinpoint it. The bike that I consider my most beautiful bike is my Trek 400 Elance. It's the most beautiful blue- I searched for this bike for about a year and I paid way too much for the bike when I found it. When I finally got it out on the road and paths- the ride was... uninspiring. Again, nothing I could objectively quantify. After some time, I decided to "upgrade" the components- I loved the Tri-Color brakes- so I put those on there- but I didn't have enough reach- rather than dick with anything else, I threw a set of 27" wheels on there- The bike suddenly became much more fun to ride. Everything about the ride felt better. Whether it was the hubs or the rims or the wheel size... the bike just felt better.

Again, I'm really fortunate to have 3 of the finest touring bikes evAr. I've found it's difficult to pick which one to ride- they're all so nice. My 1985 Trek 620 was my favorite bike by FAR. Despite having prettier and ostensibly "nicer" bikes- the 620 was the one I most always went right for- and it's earned the name "Best Friend Bike" from my wife. Over the winter I acquired a 1984 Schwinn Voyageur SP and a 1985 Trek 720. Both were THE flagship touring bikes that both companies produced for those years. Since the riding season has been short due to the weather, through the amount of rides I've been able to take- the Voyageur SP seems to get the most riding. I think the 720 is probably the more "Grail-ish" bike- and it's a fantastic riding and feeling bike. It shifts SO effortlessly and everything about that bike is so incredibly cool. For whatever reason, the VSP is the one I'm going for the most. Go figure.

justin10054

My Rossin is so fast and sleek that it's a joy to ride.
Also, the downtube shifters. Everyone I know thinks I'm nuts, but I love those things.

jimmuller 

Not around here. We all use DT friction shifters here. Well, most of us do.

justin10054

Oh, I know. It's the guys I ride with that think I'm nuts. You should've heard some of the responses I got when I told them I wanted to try tubulars.
They're all 30+ years older than me and act like I'm trying to trade my cell phone in for a telegraph.
My father spent his youth lusting after a Colnago. Now that he can afford one he bought himself a carbon fiber Trek. I think he's the crazy one.

Cougrrcj

My bike is fun because it takes me places!

I wonder how many miles I've ridden since I was a kid. What ever it is, I don't believe I regret too many of those miles! Well, maybe the last few miles of a cold rainy century, or just a the last twenty of my only double-century, but those last excruciating miles also came with the bragging rights - I could exclaim to the world that "I did it!!!"

What makes it fun today is that I'm still riding 30+ year old vintage steel to the utter amazement of the carbon-fiber/spandex crowd!

Cougrrcj

Nope. I don't have a single bike with DT shifters. My road bikes both have SunTour bar-cons, and the MTBs and the three-speed have trigger/thumb shifters.