For you to finally find that one bike? The one(s) you always wanted.

The problem is, I never wanted just one.

Over twenty years till I finally got my first Zieleman

Two of them just literally hopped in my path in the past month. I thought I was over old bikes... oh boy how I was wrong. And it took me 13 years to get my IF.

And I stiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllll Haven't Founnnnnnnnnnnndddddd what I'm looking for......

3 years to figure out, take advice, and find the first one that really struck my fancy, and fit.
3 more years to decide, find, and acquire another one that gives me the same buzz.

Next spring brings house-cleaning, in a big way.

Took 4 years of fevered, frantic searching on Ebay & Craigslist to find my Peloton, and then promptly two weeks later another popped up. (I forgot to turn off the email notices, but I built the second one up with a triple-chainring for steep events like Mount Laguna or when l'Etape du California finished atop Mount Baldy.)



And it either took 5 years or 7 (can't remember if I lost that auction in 2005 or 2007) before I got my beloved Look Hinault frame from JanNikolajsen. (God bless that Utah man for making my dream come true.) I actually wanted it back in 87 when I first saw one, but I lost an Ebay auction for the same frame in the same size (although not as beautiful condition) back in '5 or '07.


I'm a lucky guy. I visit bike shops regularly, and the salesmen naturally suggest I should get a carbon bike, but I've never seen anything that spins my crank like these beauties.

With a little patience, eventually every Kane gets his Rosebud in the Age of Information.

Just resisted temptation on a dream bike, but there are so many nice dreams. Actually that's twice in two months and I'm so regretting both decisions... But I do have two in progress that I should finish before taking on any more projects.

Thought I was good until a certain member posted a picture of his 1965 Schwinn Supersport in copper... have been looking for a Supersport but not with any intensity but there is a new bike on my want list now.

Not that I need any moire or could not build my own filet brazed road bike.

There's something to be said for the pleasure of pining and in wanting, and perhaps for some, getting exactly what you want becomes a burden; but I have been happier this year than in all those years of searching*.

"Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up next to it." -David Lee Roth

*Although, my beloved GF might have had something to do with that too. 2012 been bery, bery good to Chico. (After 6.5 years wasted on internet dating, we finally met at a post-Tour of California pizza party.)


Life is tragically short, and the tragedy is compounded if you aren't working toward your dream right now.

One?

Dunno still looking...

One bike I always wanted when I was in my teens finally came to me at age 50 via a BF member. So 35 years? for that one.

Aaron

Depends on the bike!

For road riding, I've found it, my LeMond suits me to a tee- I fell in love with it on the test ride. As much as I'd love riding/ owning any of several vintage bikes, Torelli, Fuji, Basso, DeRosa, Puch, Miyata, or even just a '99 Zurich, I'll probably never sell my Buenos Aires.

For commuting, I'm still looking and beginning to think that a full-custom build would be a fun involvement. (Let's see... 650b, long chainstays, some triple-butted Kaisei equivalent of Ishiwatta EXT... )

4 years.

I have another quest that is on going for 2 years. Except I know the owner. He isn't ready to sell which is just as well because i am not ready to buy.

It is all pure luck. When I got my first Bianchi Proto with MAX tubing I always said I would be another one as soon as I could. Well after looking on ebay every now and then a few years ago just after I joind here a member contacted me and offered to sell me his. I was estactic but as luck would have it a few weeks later I stumbled on a MAX tube Bianchi cross bike!



The celeste is my original the red one is the 'new' one and the Calico is the cross frame. I like CalamariChris's idea and it is an idea for a project one day.

Now my Hetchins took a bit more work, and alot of money, to aquire but it was well worth it.

Yeah, me neither.
One true grail bike, one I'd divorce my wife and sell my kids for.
Half a dozen near misses I'd sleep in the barn for a couple of months for.
Never had a good shot at any of them.

Top

1. How long
2. for the bike I was looking for?

Well, I've been riding derailleur bikes since '72. Last year I found a bike I might have been looking for.

The only thing is, I wasn't looking for it. It came to me, and only then I realized it was a bike I might have been looking for, should have been looking for.

I'm probably an outlier as I am the right age to have participated in the 'boom' years of the 70s and 80s, but was not into cycling, at all.

So when I stumbled into cycling, and C&V specifically, a few years ago, I had no preconceptions or favorites, and have just learned as I went along and developed my own interests and taste. This definitely has been an evolution as I started out only wanting something nice and basic but before long a very special bike practically dropped into my lap (Centurion Turbo) and that kind of spoiled me. But generally I have been excited by whatever has come my way: that Turbo for sure, a Pro Miyata, a PX-10, several lesser bikes. Oh and my wife's Bob Jackson mixte, but that was a very deliberate choice. The only bike for myself that I actively searched for was my Motobecane Grand Record, and that was not hard to find, as they're not an uncommon bike. Just uncommonly nice.

'Enjoy the journey' is a maxim that applies to C&V as much as anything else, it seems.

It'd probably be helpful if I knew what I was looking for.

I have never found mine (sig. line)

In the world of bicycles, I have found polygamy to be morally acceptable. YMMV.

That is an interesting question.

Way back when I first began to ride with a club on my initial ride saw some bikes that were already going to be hard to find, it was 1973, and I saw a new Cinelli, early Colnago Super and first year Gran Criterium.
I wanted them all, but there was no way that was going to happen. To collect all those took about 38 years. There was that bike I should have ordered in 1976 but did not, I finally bought an example of that about 30 years later.
Most of my wants go quite a ways back.
Without the internet, locating most of those would be neigh impossible.
If I include that Hellenic stayed Scorpion lugged Hetchins I saw in 1971... I guess I am still looking. That one I doubt will turn up, and it was too big anyway.

Twenty seven years...for the right deal. I'm frugal. And patient.

The only bike I ever really fixated on was a Motobecane Grand Jubile when I was in high school. I was one happy boy when I brought it home. Still have it!
That was my only grail bike, since then I have just chosen from whatever has come along. I don't think I was specifically looking for any of the bikes I have bought since. There are so many nice ones around that there is plenty to choose from, and I enjoy a surprise.

So far I really like my Trek 520. I'm thinking this is the bike I would have if I only had one. Of course, that opinion could change!