Burton

This city probably has more bikes and bike paths than all the rest of Canada combined! And I guess it being an island means there's some pretty neat scenery and waterside cafes to make things interesting to boot.

I've personally been bicycling off and on for about 35years (I'm 57) and have been very interested in doing some bicycle touring, but never was able to find a traveling partner so did most of my touring on motorcycle instead.

Have had the opportunity to work with some very capable people who were developing titanium and carbon framed prototype mtb bikes, but that's not what I drive myself. Currently I have a 1988 Miyata NineTwelve triathlon machine (Shimano 600 everywhere) with a Mavic Cosmic Elite wheelset and ITM Dual Aero bars, and a 1993 Giant Prodigy hybrid (Shimano 400 everywhere) that's almost stock except for a wider range cassette. Both are cro-moly frames and rim brakes, easy to work on, get me where I'm going, and are fun to drive.

Relatively speaking - a titanium frame is lighter, but the weight difference between a cro-moly frame and rim brakes compared to a titanium frame and a full hydraulic brake set-up isn't worth talking about one way or the other and exotic stuff here tends to be a major invitation for thieves and I'm not cycling competitively. Extras are lots of fun though and some of the neat things available have made my rides a lot more interesting. Those bar-end mirrors on the dropbars on the NineTwelve are, in my opinion, the cat's meow, and large mtb pedals and studded Nokian 240's on the giant made winter driving a whole new experience.

This forum has been an interesting place to drop into and browse for a couple years and figured that this year I'd like to be a bit more active and maye interactive at the same time. I'll be on here sporaticly as I don't have an Internet connection at the house, but will be checking in from time to time. Hope to actually run into some people who are also from the Montreal area!!

Burton