My first real bike was a 1983 Schwinn Traveler that I used in college. I'd never had a road bike before so this was a totally new experience for me. I went through a phase where I was spending quite a bit on it (even though it was perfectly rideable from the start); new seat, new wheels, new cables, car wax, cleaning solutions, tools, etc etc. I just wanted the bike to look good. It was also too big for me, at 59cm.

After I graduated I became more interested in cycling, and C&V and had the great fortune to buy my baby: a "mylanta green" Trek 770. I have spent more money on this one bike alone than all my other bikes combined, including their purchase costs. There was nothing wrong with the 6sp Super Record group--at least not for the riding I do. But I felt the need to upgrade, to personalize, to stand out. I started with the accessories. I googled "80s color palette" and ended up with an obnoxious color combination I'm still using now.

Then my own wheelset, because I like clinchers. After that I started changing parts to a mix of old and new Dura-Ace, because Dura-Ace is cool. Out of a desire to "save money", and "keep the vintage look" I went for the 7800 downtube shifters. Most recently, I decided to complete the group with 7800 STI shifters and another wheelset, new stem, and new bars.

While this was going on, I acquired more bikes. My "grail" bike: a Miyata Team. A "pretty" bike: a Lotus Supreme. Throw a Trek 720, a Cucchietti, some random titanium frame, and 91/92 Lemond Tourmalet into the mix and we've arrived at present day. I'll admit something a bit scary: I have not ridden anything but my Trek. In fact, none of those bikes besides the Trek have even been built up. I'm still working on that, slowly.

In any case, every time I made a new purchase, it was because I wanted to try or work on something different. Maybe something better? Maybe I just wanted to be like daf1009, or Robbietunes with their huge and ever changing collections. There is definitely a pleasure in having something different than what you had before. I went from having a pretty good idea of what I wanted--to not being all that sure of what I wanted or whether or not the purchases I was making were even worth it. At some point, I will finish all these bikes. I don't know if I'm going to keep all of them (except for the Trek, because he is special). At the end of the day, I highly doubt that any of the bikes will be all that different from each other in terms of performance to me--I'm just another "Fred" experiencing the thrill of newness.

For this reason, I will never buy a modern production bike. The new bike, new car feeling is not really genuine. A Pinarello Dogma or BMC Time Machine is not going to give me back that moment of bliss the first time I put the Trek on the road in 40 degree weather in early March. I'm not going to experience again that feeling of triumph doing my first perfect upshift without looking at the downtube. They're not going to recreate the beautiful sunset I watched over the Yodo River in Japan that made me stop riding and get off the bike and stare in wonder. They don't have the chip on the bottom bracket shell from where the wrench slipped when I was trying to remove a lockring. What makes me love my Trek so much is that I had all these great experiences on and off it, and those experiences make the bike MINE. No other bike will do that for me--superior performance or not. At this point, the only way I could top the Trek would be to get a custom-made bicycle--and that would only guarantee that it fit marginally better and be a great piece of art. It won't even come with good memories, but perhaps the promise of new ones.

New bike vs old bike? For me, it's a no-brainer. Performance isn't even a factor. Carbon? Di2? Whatever. No other bike will ever be the Trek, and that's good enough for me.