I am a big fan of Stephen Roche. I think the funkiest bike he ever rode was his Tonton Tapis Gios Compact with Stronglight/Sachs New Success, so this one was a no-brainer.....

I have a variety of motivations for what's in my fleet, but all considerations start with proper fit and ride quality. The latter usually means Reynolds 531 DB steel, clearance for 30mm or larger tires, relatively steep geometry--at least for the go-faster bikes. But I think my motivations are best described by the bikes that haven't made the cut:

Peugeot PX-10: I've had and refurbished at least 3, but never felt the ride was anything that screamed out keeper.

Raleigh Professional: I do have one in my fleet (a 1971), but it's likely the bike to get moved on this year. I've had at least 3 others, but like the PX-10s, the ride quality wasn't anything special.

Raleigh International: I also have one of these in my fleet, a 1971 that's been fully gugie-fied and is a 650B conversion; I've had 3 or 4 others from 1970-74, and they all rode fine, but didn't ride better than what I already had (particularly my Rivendell Romulus, which is essentially based on the design of the Int'l, I understand).

Peter Weigle: I bought a frameset on eBay, an early 90s one before PJW got into rando builds; this was more of a race-y bike. I liked it fine, but for what it would fetch in re-sale, I liked just as well two or three others in the fleet that cost a fraction of the Weigle.

'73 Raleigh RRA: This is a rare bike, built only one or two years and featuring an all-French drivetrain. I didn't like the way it rode at all.

'50-'51 Raleigh Clubman: At one point I had a 1949, a 1950, and a 1951 Raleigh Clubman. I've kept the '49 and moved on the '50 and '51 (which are quite different designs than the '49). Really, it's crazy to hoard.

a couple of mid-80s Mercians: Nice bikes, but superfluous at the time and easily found again in the resale market.

Many Raleigh Super Courses: I have a strong affection for this model as it was my first real vintage road bike when I purchased a used one in 1983. Since then, I have bought (usually as frame sets), fixed up and sold many, but usually have one in the fleet. That present one is a '73 with Capella lugs set up as a 5-speed IGH with drop bars.

Bianchi was the first bike I built from a bare frame. It is the bike that started all of my madness.

LeMond was given to me by my uncle as my first “real” bike and was the bike I rode on my first Century. It is still one of my favorites.

Raleigh Supercourse was given to me by the same uncle as a birthday present...it was made the same year I was...1973.

Torpado was my first “lust” bike. I saw it online and had to have it. There was, and still is, something sexy about it.

Canopus was a bike I acquired from a friend of mine. It was not a lust, but it was something I REALLY wanted. And when the opportunity to buy it came up...I jumped on it.

http://i.imgur.com/kviNCZxl.jpg

Batavus Champion: My girlfriend needed a bike for when she was in town during the weekends to get to and from the train station. She was used to her mom's old Batavus Sprint with drop bars and when I found this online for next to nothing I snatched it. Put a bit of money in to make it rideable again and modernised the lighting after the old incandescent ones stopped working.
She was hit by a car a few weeks ago but it still rides true after we put in a new front wheel.

Gazelle Grand Tourist: (Album) I'm a sucker for Sturmey Archer drum brake bicycles. When this came along I thought I loved the classic color and the name. It was in a sense my first project bike. It has been through a few iterations (classic upright roadster - drop bar - Porteur) but it's still basically the same. It's a fairly heavy bike but I enjoy riding and working on it. Still have a few more ideas to play with.

Batavus Randonneur GL: (Album) I wanted a Randonneur and I needed a larger frame. My first personal bike with a derailleur and cantilevers. This needed (and still needs) a bit more work but working on it is half the fun. Amazingly lightweight bike with its 531ST tubing and probably a whole lot fun on longer rides next summer.

This was really tough to think about as I can be all over the place. I like riding and bikes, many types, levels and ages. If I had to try and narrow down I would say;

-80s first. My teen years. But also 70's as my hippie brothers and their friends rode 10 speeds. haha.
-Italian road, but also have wants for older French Rando, though they are difficult to source.
-Early MTB as it reminds me of 80s BMX, but I can ride without having to be on 20" wheels. And many have BMX touches and parts.
-Fixed/track, I like the clean lines and feels closer to BMX in regards to balance, weight and maneuverability
-Clean very original bikes (who doesn't)
-Projects, exploring and learning about unique old bikes, high to low level, clean or rough. The older the better when it comes to these.


All that and more, hence my generic screen name. Oh and I like Bond of course.

Fascinating replies. Thank you all, and keep them coming.

From most of you I detect a few common themes - opportunistic purchases, affordability, and some emotional and even irrational attraction. I guess that's why we ride C&V instead of the latest go-fast machines that are reputed to be so much better. Of course we must be able to ride each one or we'd pass and keep looking.

My collection was never intended to be a collection. I can't claim "people attachments" because I knew no other riders when I was malleable enough. Perhaps I caught some disease from C&V but my bikes, maybe even including that UO-8 bought 45 years ago, were unnecessary I-like-that selections. Selections become collections when you make enough of them.

Jim, from pics you've posted, I venture a guess that a certain tandem has a connection to you that goes well beyond bikes.

He! I see your point. That's not an attachment to the bike but an attachment to the other participant!:thumb:

We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary this year. That was loooong before we started riding the tandem.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Awesome!

It's our neighbor's.

He calls it a "poor man's" Ferrari, but I'll ask him tomorrow to get the bottom of this matter.

I'll try to get the exact name for you. It's a total dead ringer paint match for my 1980 McLean.

FWIW Talk about c&v cars, he's loaded. I got to ride in his Maserati Bora last fall. :)

I know he's up to six cars atm.

Looks like a Fiat Dino to me. The badge looks like the Dino badge. Dino script with yellow background. Fiat made the Dino V6 engine. Of course named after Enzo's son who died early in life. Nice car.

I'd agree about the make but they typically had a round Fiat badge. That rectangle is throwing me.

I recall him talking about a Dino, so you guys saved me the conversation.

He drives a thirty year old Landcruiser in the winter, as the sporty stuff is tucked into bed till spring.

I started with a Sears paperboy bike with ginormous baskets, picked up a Sears Sting Ray knock off which I converted to a BMX before BMXer were around (72).

I later picked up a Schwinn 10 speed rode that everywhere.

Skipped biking for about 20 years until I had kids and rode a bunch of 20 inchers with them.

Skip forward to 2011 and I came to Cambodia and needed to get places cheaply started with a cheap Japanese step thru, broke that and got a cheap hybrid.
They helped me lose 60 lbs. Coming back to the States I put up a request for a 10 speed to ride and a friend gave me a nice '74 Raleigh Gran Prix. Somewhere in there I found bike forums. This led to another Gran Prix and others.

Hearing about Super courses I ended up with 3 and after seeing gugie's centurion Pro-tour and some of his other work, I had to have one. Now I have 2. When I get to the States in April I will thin the herd a bit. \
Keeping a nice 73 Super Course to be built up with a with a beautiful Shimano arabesque group, that original Gran Prix as either a single or dingle speed. One of the other Super courses as a briftered Shimano 5500 3x9.
The 2nd all chrome Pro-tour will end up with 10 speed 105. And last a Specialized Cruz as a grocery getter with 9 speed XT.

For me, it's gotta fit as I ride them all, some only on special occasions, but they all see time on the road or dirt. Also important is aesthetics, it must have beautiful lugs with a big bonus for other features such as twin plate fork crown ect...

When I initially started collecting I had the italian bug which morphed into the Italian track bike bug, however I soon realized that riding track bikes on the street for long distances just wasn't as fun. Most were sold off to fund my current obsessions. Today, the collection is a mix of Rando, go fast, mountain, gravel do all with a strong affinity for the small american, Japanese, or french builders. Trying my best to keep under 10 and failing.

Main bike is for functionality (commuting), second bike is strictly for fun.

Semper Fi.

Some of us can remember doing that actual drill. The only time, we were told, we could shoulder arms indoors, if I recall correctly. Then again, it could have been the DI's giving us a line. You almost never knew what was true or not, but you'd better act as if it was, and be able to remember it if pushed....

Even now, it's slightly unsettling. Trust me, it was not a successful pickup line later. Somehow, lost it's panache.

And, D'Onofrio needs to pull that right elbow in a bit....
Others will note how recruits on the right of Ermey are "Right Shoulder Arms,"
...those on the left are "Left Shoulder Arms."

totally unsat, privates, for lack of the accurate adjective often used then....

Let's just say, watching that movie with a Vietnam-era Marine may take a while if he has the remote....

I often wondered what Kubrick actually thought of the USMC after he did his research. Doubt he'd get it financed in today's climate.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/...9cf3cd1a_c.jpg
Tommasini Super Prestige - Had some bike money burning a hole in my pocket. Went over to gomango's wanting to take one of his frames off his hands for a build. Saw this, lusted after it. Eventually bought it and never looked back. It's a special bike.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/717/3...291eea9c_c.jpg
Colnago Super - Wanted an older, flat crown, Colnago. This showed up one day on CL in my size relatively complete and very clean for it's age but needed most all consumables. Built it up over a winter and it's usually my bike I grab for nice, slower, Saturday/Sunday rides with friends to various breweries.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5452/...b748d5dd_c.jpg
Chris Kvale - Chris does some special work, including paint. See one up close and you'll understand. Grady had to clear some inventory and I knew I had to come up with the cash because this thing is incredible. The bike I ride when I'm not on the Tommasini for the most part or if I'm looking to turn heads. :lol:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4165/...b40a54e0_c.jpg
Schwinn Cimarron - Was keeping an eye out of an older, higher end, rigid MTB to show up at a great price. Wanted to build a bike that can handle beer run, some gravel, something to treat like a big BMX bike, etc. This came up one day for a song. Started throwing everything I wanted at it since I got it cheap and it's turned into a keeper...

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4739/...551d55a9_c.jpg
Serotta Colorado - Didn't need another bike but always loved Serotta's pink to orange fade. Frame showed up on eBay in my size and I couldn't resist. Threw new Ultegra at it and few other things I like. Was supposed to be a winter project this year but here we are in January in MN and it's done. Thanks Chrome Molly!

I rode bikes as a kid, I got a bike when I got out of the Army- intending to ride it to school/work... didn't really happen that way. Fast forward another 17 or so years I decided to quit smoking. So I decided bicycling was going to be my exercise so I didn't pork out.

The bike I got when I got out of the Army was my 1987 Schwinn High Sierra and I think that particular bike shaped so much of what I think is cool about bikes. It just happened to be this bike- it was something a friend was selling and I was entirely going on his recommendation- it just turns out it was a really cool bike. The braze ons for racks, fenders, lowriders, pump pegs, bottle cages and the chrome (and black chrome), fillet brazing, triples, shifting from the bars, the whole 'burly but beautiful' thing and the whole "uniqueness" of the thing are all what I look at as desirable. For the first few years I was into bike stuff- I was looking for old mountain bikes- because I thought THAT's what I wanted. I wanted a 'long distance utility vehicle' of a bike- and I thought that an ATB/MTB was the way to get what I was looking for.

1984 Specialized Stumpjumper Sport- I got it off CL because I was looking for old mountain bikes- it's got some really cool details, but it was uncomfortable to ride more than 10 miles.

1986 Trek 400 Elance Somewhere around this time I figured out that I was after something less... off road-y and more gracile than a mountain bike- but with a lot of the same features... I kind of stumbled into a 1984 Trek 420 and a 1988 Trek 400- and I started to see pix for the 1986 Trek 400 Elance. Wow- that was the most beautiful bike to me- the colors, the proportions... just everything about that bike was the cat's pyjamas to me. I set off on a mission to find one. It took a few months, but found one in the Chicago area- I was deathly sick and had an awful fever, but I didn't want the bike to get away- It was probably way too expensive, but it was worth it to me. I still think it's my most beautiful bike. The first bike I specifically sought out.

1978/79 Trek 730- I saw this on CL, it was my birthday, I had the money, I just missed a 620 on CL and it was a screwed in head badge 1970s Trek. It was built with Shimano Arabesque 600- so that made it a 736. Since then, I've rebuilt it with a combination of Superbe/Cyclone/Simplex and Stronglight- it's a great bike- out of all my bikes, this personifies "531" to me.

1985 Trek 620- Somewhere prior to getting the 730 I had developed an obsession with the 1985 Trek 620. I think this was the bike where I put it together about the stuff that I liked about my High Sierra- I liked TOURING bikes. A lot of the same components, but more distance oriented- a little less brootal, a little more elegant... I was constantly searching CL and eBay for a Trek 620 and 720- based a lot on Skip Echert's blurb on the Vintage Trek site... Right before I got the 730, I missed a 620- found the guy who bought it on Bike Forums, it wasn't what he was looking for so I bought it from him. This is the bike I've put the most miles on. It's a really special bike.

1984 Schwinn Voyageur SP. At one point over winter a few years ago, I had seen this bike on eBay- and I had been wanting a Columbus framed bike- and the VSP was Schwinn's Flagship touring bike- with the VERY best components on it.

1985 Trek 720 As I'm working on the VSP- I realize that I've got 2 of the sweetest Class A tourers ever built but just for giggles I checked CL for a 720- either expecting to see nothing, one of the hybrids or a way way overpriced bike that was about 3 sizes too big for me... but there was one there, it was my size and it looked to be in great shape. I hadn't even finished with the VSP- but I was scheming ways to get the money together. It worked out- and THAT has been my most ridden bike in the past 3 years. This past year I built it up to a 10 speed Dura Ace setup with Suntour Command Shifters. A severely dominant bike.

1990 Miayata 1000LT I've realized that I have 3 of the coolest touring bikes ever made- but I still didn't have a Miyata 1000. I searched around for one in my size and found one. It had been well ridden- but the paint was in good shape, a few of the parts were beat up and some had been swapped out... I had just been working on the 720, so I decided to do kind of the same thing with that bike- built it up with XTR and XT. It's a really cool bike, and although I haven't had the opportunity to really get out for a couple of days with a load on this bike, I get what people mean about it feeling stable.

1978 Trek TX700 I'd wanted to get a TX700 because this is the geometry that built Trek from the screwed in head badge, brazed in the big barn beginning. I'm still playing with builds for this thing- and not ruling out getting it repainted... and since I'm doing that, I'm not ruling out getting canti studs and cable guides put on there. Again, it's barely been around the block a few times... but right now, it's built with Barcons, 1st Gen Cyclone, Stronglight cranks and Suntour/Super Champion/Wolber touring wheels.

So, short story long... most of my bikes have been sought after, hunted and acquired.

After years of absence from cycling..... I almost accidently rediscovered my cycling passion. I also found as much I enjoy cycling.... I also find pleasure in wrenching on bikes. After buying a (then) new bike... I proceeded to buy and fix-up or restore every bike I missed owning.... since my teenage years when I had new 1963 Schwinn Varsity.

Some bike I sold at real profit.... some I practically (or literally) gave away. I made enough... with buying, fixing, owning & selling the hobby was at least self-supporting. A yellow Trek, and a Red Cannondale... were too sweet to let go.

They all fit but other, newer, Trek fits like young skin.... and is my daily rider. I was exploring different bike fits when I found it. It felt too good not to own it.

The Gravel Grinder in my foul weather bike... which I am fitting for a little bike camping as well. I bought the gravel bike because it drew my interest.... with big tires and disc brakes. And it's price. Brand new it was a real value.

Posted this about a year ago on the Ironman thread.

Top Ten Reasons We Love Ironman:
(Drum roll please)
10. Endorsed by 6 time Ironman world champion Dave "The Man" Scott.
9. Hard to beat the 80s paint jobs.
8. The least expensive way to beat a carbon bike.
7. Those thousands of Ironman buyers can't all be wrong.
6. Best bike to have in case you have to run a marathon after a 112 mile bike ride.
5. You can train all week and race on the weekend using the same bike.
4. This bike will Not assplode.
3. The Intelligent Choice.
2. Cause life's to short to not experience Cool.
1. Man its Iron, or cause it's Iron, Man.

I went to basic training the summer of 87- It looks like that I was waiting for Zero Week when Full Metal Jacket came out. I don't remember DIs ever using the "this is my weapon..." thing, but I graduated from Drill Sergeant School in 1992 and use of that phrase was a no-go.

Ever since I bought my first quality French bike, a new '74 Motobecane Grand Jubile, I've been enamoured with Motobecanes of the upper tier. Their fit and finish so outclassed any of the other French and English bikes that were around at the time. I ended up buying a '72 Le Champion frame and over the years have rotated several other Motos in and out of the stock. I finally decided that 23" (58 cm) was too big for my 5'8" size and now only buy in the 52 to 56 cm range. The current crop consists of:

'72 Grand Record that I converted to FULL period correct Campy Nuevo Record in keeping with the bike's model name, including hard to find French headset, BB, and seatpost. It's Black with red panels.

a '73 Le Champion that's kind of a beater bought as a frame last year and built up with a bunch of left over stuff. Its also black with red panels.

a '73 Le Champion that I bought from it's original owner about 7 years ago or so. Has remained faily stock but I swapped out the crank and rear derailleur to get lower gears. It's turquoise with white panels.

'75 Grand Record that I bought last summer that is drop dead gorgeous and looks like it just rolled off the show room floor. Totally stock, it's silver with black panels. It doesn't even have the clear coat yellowing that most silver Motobecanes develop over the years.

'75 Grand Jubile Mixte. I think they only made the Huret (long cage) Jubilee equipped mixtes one year. Bought it for my wife. One of the nicer mixtes on the market, with a frame made with Reynolds 531 and Nervex-style lugs. Red with black panels.

'75 Grand Jubile frame in much better than averge shape, red with black panels. Matches my wife's GJ mixte.

'73 Raleigh International that I bought last spring. It's pretty much of a frankenbike with some minor frame damage. Not sure what I'm going to do with it.

'74 Raleigh Competition that is also drop dead gorgeous. Not sure why I bought it, just have a thing for Huret Jubilee equipped bikes, I guess. Bought it this past summer. Black, totally stock as per catalog.

'86 Veloce, custom-built for me by John Stinsmen in Allentown, PA. Very sweet bike. Dark rose metallic to light rose metallic fade.

'38 Allegro, swiss-made 650B 4-speed with upright alloy handlebars, Reynolds 531 frame with Nervex-style lugs and double box pin striping on the frame. Alloy wheels. Appears to be all original. Not sure what I'm going to do with it or what it's value is. Found this in a local antique shop this past summer. Met. light blue.

'75 Grand Record that I've sand blasted, had Gugie braze on bosses for Mafac Cantilevers, and the whole bike will be built up with period French components. Will be orange and cream in original Moto color scheme ... once I figure out how to accurately mask off around the Nervex lugs. (break out the new Xacto blades!)

I hope I'm done collecting. Time to thin our the herd!

Bill