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.