canklecat

Stingray, around 1969 when I was about 12 years old. Even then it quickly felt dated and tiresome.

Right about that time a kid from the neighborhood who looked and acted like a pre-teen Fonz had a really tricked out Stingray that he'd customized over the course of a year or so. Finally ended up with a steering wheel type riser bar. He seemed really proud of that thing.

Then one day he just trashed it, right there in the street in front of everybody. He didn't seem angry. It wasn't a tantrum. He was very methodical about trashing it, like the getaway driver played by Ryan O'Neal in The Driver, the parking garage scene where he methodically bashes and scrapes an orange Mercedes sedan into pieces.

It seemed like a rite of passage. And I understood completely. He'd tricked it out. He'd developed a sort of reputation through that bike. Then he'd outgrown it. He couldn't have another kid riding his hand-me-down bike, reminding him of his passing tween youth. So he rubbed it out, the way some little kids suddenly grow up overnight and wipe out their imaginary friends. "Oh, Mary-Margaret Rumbletummy? She died. Run over by a carriage pulled by dragons."

The conventional English style 3-speed I got a year or so later felt like a real bike. I actually enjoyed riding then.

CrankyFranky

You were admirably perceptive as a young dude.

hcoble2000

I lived in a small town that did not have a bike shop. The only bikes sold in town were from the Western Auto, Sears, or Roses and they stocked the basic department store junkers. I had a fairly decent bike at the time but it was 10 years old and I had thrashed it while a teenager and parts to fix it up were hard to come by in my home town especially since the bike was a 650b. I had already replaced the front wheel with a 650a because I couldn't find a 650b wheel.

I was heading to college and wanted to buy a new bike and the closest real bike shop was about 45 miles away and was a Schwinn shop. I also lived along the TransAmerica Trail and had a friend that I went on weekend biking trips and we were planning on doing some longer bike rides on the TransAmerica during the summer. I went to the Schwinn Shop and had picked out a Schwinn Super Letour. They didn't have a 19" in stock and so I put a deposit on a Super Letour and 2 weeks later they called to say it had arrived and was ready to pick up.

My dad got involved when I mentioned I was picking up a new bike. He wanted to pay for the bike as my high school graduation gift. When we got to the shop the Super Letour had not been completely assembled and tuned but was told it would be ready in 15 or 20 minutes.

The owner of the shop comes out and starts chatting with my dad and after he hears I'm going off to college and had bought a Super Letour he proceeds to tell my dad that the Super is the wrong bike for college, that we should buy a Varsity instead and how kids come in and want a fancy bike when all they need is basic transportation. I start protesting that I will also be going on bike tours and the Varsity is much too heavy. Not giving up the owner changes tact and starts pushing the Letour II. That it is much sturdier bike suitable for touring and commuting.

The owner wheeled out a 21" Letour II, when I mentioned to him that it was much too large of a frame for my 5' 2" height he proceeded to lower the seat all the way down to the frame and insisted I would "grow" into the bike. My father starts agreeing with the owner and at this point I was about ready to have a melt down and stated I saved my own money for the Super and that it was the bike I was going to get. The owner walks off muttering that he was only trying to save us some money and how kids don't want to listen to their elders. At this point I thought I had the Super Letour but my father turns to me and starts ranting about how disrespectful and unappreciative I was acting and that the man was only trying to save us money and that he was going to buy the Letour II for me.

I tried to reason with my dad that the Letour II was much too big and not safe for me to ride and that I did appreciate my dad for wanting to buy the Letour II that I had the money for the Super and if he did not want to buy it I would. This only escalated my father's anger, I remember looking over at the owner of the store and he had this smirk on his face. I knew at that point I was ending up with the Letour II. Even though it was a decent bike it was much too large a frame. I never understood why the owner would push a lower priced bike especially when it didn't fit me. I hated that bike and hated Schwinns for a long time after that and it made for a miserable summer of bike riding. The first day I arrived at college I bought a new bike(not a Schwinn) and never rode the Letour II again and eventually gave it to my sister the next year so I guess it wasn't a total waste.

ramzilla

Sorry about your unpleasant childhood experience. Sounds like your dad learned everything about being a parent from watching John Wayne movies. If John Waynes' kids got out of line they'd get a beatin! And, John Wayne didn't ride no pansy assed bike neither! What a doof.

Repack Rider

My 1970 Peugeot PX-10 was a piece of...

Replaced it in six months with a Colnago, which wasn't.

vtchuck

Lambert Gran Prix '74. My first "real" bike. Almost everything on it broke: pedal, cranks, bottom bracket and finally the frame. Strangely, the "death Fork" survived.

A 76 Viscount. Pretty much a complete restoration. Spent the winter looking for OEM parts. Looked great, hated the ride. Sold it to a collector in Australia.

Trek 1400. Light with Shimano 105. Beautiful condition. Ride was meh. Sold it last week.

Next up Trek / Lemond Maillot Jaune. Carbon Fiber. Super light. On CL & eBay right now.

canklecat

@hcoble2000 -- That's a great story! I know it probably didn't seem amusing at the time and there's probably still some baggage attached, but that's the sort of story that made for so many great anecdotes and tales by humorists like O Henry, James Thurber and Jean Shepherd. If those incidents and accounts didn't resonate with so many readers and listeners they wouldn't be so darned memorable.

rjhammett

Jean Shepherd could have brought that story to life!

USAZorro

Worst ever: I'd been out of cycling for decades, and when my son was old enough to ride on a 6 day trip on the C&O, I went by Target to pick up a couple of Magnas for us. The first day was a 23 mile jaunt. Yeah, I hadn't really gotten my body cycling ready, but I've felt better after 23 mile runs.

Slow to learn: About 8 years ago, I had convinced myself that I would love randonneuring. I had a Miyata 210 that really had nothing wrong with it, other then not having 3 bottle mounts and being on the heavy side for climbing, and not being very fun to ride. So I sold it (Robbie passed it on to someone else, and it may have moved on again after that), and decided to go with a new Surly LHT. It had 3 bottle mounts, and I figured I could fit it out however I wanted. By the time it was ready to hit the road, it was in excess of 30 pounds. After all I'd put into it, I really tried to love it. It did do a whole lot better on the C&O trip that I took it on than the Magna, and it wasn't terrible on a Seagull, but when the next spring rolled around, and I attempted a 200k brevet with the group of sadists/masochists who are the Potomac Randonneurs, (seriously, who creates a 200K with over 9,000 feet of climbing when there are a gazillion flatter route options?) I made the first control point with about 20 minutes to spare, turned around and rode back to the start. I traded the LHT a few months later.

Most disappointed: I came across a Trek Tri Series (Reynolds 531 and all) on Craig's list. It was in great shape, all original and my size. I repacked all the bearings and adjusted everything in anticipation of the great rider I'd picked up at a good price. I had high hopes. A few days after I got it, I was attending races on the Rodale cycling course that is right near Trexlertown. After the racing was done, I took the bike for a spin around the track. I took it for 3 or 4 laps and it felt like I had a parachute deployed behind me. Siyonara couldn't come fast enough for that bike.

canklecat

Maybe in the reading, but this closing sold it for me as a reader:

That's great storytelling. The little observations that take the reader out of the narrator's voice and into the scene itself. And the barbed ironic twist at the end.

Trsnrtr

Had a Trek sponsorship in 1989 and 1990 and was supplied with two aluminum Trek 2000 frame sets. Hated both of them - rough ride and the short fat stays gave the new Ultegra group fits in the rear shifting department.

AZORCH

So many bikes have been parked in my garage over the years. I had to really give this one some thought.

I really hated a Kestrel that was briefly in my hands. Totally dead ride - fast, but no soul, if that makes any sense whatsoever.


I also had a '76 Centurion Super LeMans that I really wanted to love, but it was kind of a kertchukety boat anchor. I did love that dweeby lighting system though! I put a lot of work into bringing this one back to life, so it was quite a let down to discover I sort of hated it in the end.


There've been others that didn't float my boat for whatever reason, and some for really dumb reasons that I later regretted. But these two always come to mind as the ones that just didn't want to be ridden by me.

Henry III

My biggest let down was I had my heart set on a Fargo and tried it out. Felt a bit strange like I was sitting in the bike being it was a small frame. So I tried out a Vaya and went home with it. Had it for a few months and people oooh'd and aaah'd over it. Was a cool looking bike but was a absolute turd. It was what I envision a LHT to feel like. Sold it about six months later as it just sat hanging in my garage over winter.

Then with the money from that I bought a newer Guerciotti Atos aluminum cross frame. Double whammy on horrible bikes. Bike sat insanely high, insanely short top tube, deadly toe overlap as I could almost touch the crank arm to the tire. Felt like a track bike with gears. Defeated with new bikes I went back to used frames so I wouldn't feel so bad if I didn't enjoy them and never looked back. Honestly I'm not sure I've been happy with any of last brand new bikes I've bought in the last 15 years.

Barrettscv 

I've had more than 20 bikes in the last 10 years, most are still in my collection.

Only one bike I purchased as a frameset that was so unsatisfactory that it had to go. It was a titanium Planet X road bike built by Lynskey. This was one their less expensive framesets, and it was so flexy that I refused to ride it after one high speed cornering scare.

Now, I'm a 225 lbs cyclist that uses larger frame sizes, so I need a moderately stiff frame and fork build.

This frameset might have worked for a 150 lbs cyclist in a smaller size, but not me.

Camilo

I have that same tandem, but I changed it to road style - drop bars in the front with road levers and bar end shifters, bull horn bar in the back, SPD pedals, 1 1/4" slick tires, exchanged the pillow saddles for the ones my wife and I prefer. I had almost all those parts on hand so it was just a fun, cheap conversion.

It worked OK that way, but the way the front end is, when riding on the hoods in front, I was WAY over the front axle, weird handling for sure. We've had fun on it for a couple of years, but ever since I bought my wife her own road bike we can do easy rides together that way (I originally bought the tandem so we could ride together). We went a lot faster on the tandem but she didn't enjoy it as much and it was a hassle to transport anywhere. So now she's a lot stronger than she used to be (nice for a woman in her 60s!) and I don't hammer when we ride together but it's a reasonable, fun ride.

I don't think we've used it for a couple of years now. One of these weekends I plan to strip the "road" parts off and put the original parts back on it to sell this spring.

Vonruden

I'm suprised, I heard 24" wheels are the new 29+ in mountain biking circles.

Camilo

My late 60s Gitane.

I bought some sort of cheap, rough, used Gitane in the summer of 1972. I'm guessing it was at least 4-5 years old at that point. I have no idea what model, but not top end. Just as an example, it had stamped, not forged, rear dropouts if I recall correctly. It was too big, didn't shift well and had a true ass-hatchet for a saddle (hard plastic).

Although I was never happy with it, I did have a lot of fun with it on campus, commuting around the cities and towns I lived, doing a couple of short tours. At some point, just "because", I completely stripped it down, bead blasted it to bare metal, re-painted a metallic champagne color with rattle cans (and hand-outlined the lugs with brown Testors!), and rebuilt and re-installed every part in my living room with no previous knowledge or experience using "Richards" and "Glenns" and basic tools (i.e. a nail punch and hammer to remove and replace the BB using the punch or screw driver to hold the bearing cups if my wrenches wouldn't fit.

I sold it and bought the only new complete bike I've ever owned in the summer of '76, an orange Windsor Carrera which was stolen off my back porch in the summer of 1978. It was a nice bike and I liked it well enough, but I don't think the fit was perfect yet. Having it stolen caused me to buy what was one of my favorite, love at first ride, bikes of all times: a like-new, mid-70s Raleigh Super Course. That bike just fit and was so comfortable right off the bat.

jimmuller 

Least favorite bike? That would be the Bertin I was given. The history was it had been given by one BF member to another. That should have been a clue. I bought some wheels from the second guy and he gave me the frame along with the wheels. That should have been a clue. When I mentioned this to the first BF member he asked "What evil thing did you do to him to make him give you that frame?" That should have been a clue. It was a pretty orange frame, powder-coated by the factory, one of the Belgian Bertins.

When I put wheels on it it didn't seem straight. The HT/ST/Do alignment seemed okay but the rear wheel wouldn't sit centered. I suspect the DO were incorrect so that the front and rear wheels weren't in the same plane vertically. I played some games with wheel dish and axle placement to get it to look right but it never rode right. It seemed to require more effort to go anywhere.

I rode it for a short day/sport ride once, rode a few errands with it, eventually decommissioned it.

Slightspeed

I had an alley find SR road bike. Spent about $120, didn't like the way the crank felt, tried to garage sale it, nobody wanted it. I gave it to a friend, who wanted to get healthier. Haven't seen it in years. Now that I know more, I wouldn't mind having a crack at changing the crank. I don't even have any pictures of it.

vonfilm 

In 1989 I had some extra money in my pocket and I decided to get the racing bike that I always wanted but could not afford. A local dealer sold Davidson bicycles and I thought they were exquisite. The workmanship and finish were impeccable. The Ultegra shifters even indexed. The salesman convinced me to get a smaller size than my 73 Schwinn Super Sport. He said it was better to have a more compact frame and that was how you sized a racing bike. I told myself that I liked it. I tried to like it. I kept it until about 3 years ago but never rode it much. I have found that I prefer a little taller frame than someone my height should ride.

Drillium Dude 

This:



Absolute dog. I purchased one for a hundred bucks and built it up with Campy SR while in Hawaii back in 1998. Took it for a total of one ride; it felt completely dead and noodly up the climb I tested it on. Pretty damn heavy, too. Downhill it was nothing short of uninspiring. I tore it down the following day, sold it for what I paid for it and have never looked at screwed-and-glued alloy since.

DD

StarBiker

Sounds more like an idiot to me.

I have never had a bike I didn't like because I rarely ever paid $30 or more for one, and always made some money.

thinktubes 

Litespeed Tuscany - fit great, but frame was too soft. Lousy power transfer and always felt like I was dragging an anchor. Plus, it came with mis-aligned rear drops. Shop offered to "bend" them, returned for a full refund in less than a week of ownership.

clubman 

Scored a 67 AO-8 from about the thrift store in near NOS condition, nary a scratch. Atom hubs, wingnuts, beautiful light-lime green you didn't see in the 70's. I upgraded the steel bits to french alloy, a nice Rigida/Gipiemme wheelset from a tweaked Moto, Phillippe bars and stem, Stronglight. They say all that matters is that you look good but we all now know that's not the case. What a dog with fleas. A nice Raleigh Sports is more responsive.

I put it back to original and sold it for less than what I could have got for it but still made $50. Wheels are still in my basement.

It looked like this, different decals.

Slightspeed

My 2007 Roubaix has tried to kill me a couple of times. I never liked the way it descended at high speed, compared to my Allez, or newer Culprit, not as good as the vintage steel I also ride. I hit a pinecone, crashed and knocked myself out (concussion), broke my arm and wrist, and face planted, 2 miles from home. Another time the chain dropped pointed up hill, with no forward speed, and before I could unclip, met the ground again. The OEM Mavic Open Sports always seemed too flexy to me and got deflected by any kind of road irregularity. The spoke nipples began to pull out on the rear, so I replaced the Mavics with a set of Reynolds Stratus Elite, and it transformed the bike. It seems faster and safer, tracks better, and I still ride it, but it's not my "go to" bike.