Never mind the quality
 

Only took up road riding a few years ago- after 15 years of MTB's. I now ride at my pace and my distance and my rules. I mostly ride on my own but occasionally meet others on the road- but Did notice a group of roadies looking at my Bike last year at a cafe stop. They were quite impressed that a basic 24 speed- Yes I had a triple and 8 speed- took quite so long to catch up the last hill. Mind you- they were more impressed that I was just getting to the end of a 65 miler- they had only done 20 when they caught me.

I wasn't impressed that they had bikes that cost 5 times as much as mine, weighed 6 lbs less, were ridden by lads half my age and took so long to catch me.

Works both ways I am afraid as they did have an influence on me- This was just before the new bike was built- and On the quality of the bike stakes- I have joined them. Still wonder how I used to ride that heavy Giant OCR3 for all those miles and at that speed and that it gave me all that enjoyment.

Oh, I hear you, brother. I was quite content with 5½" of rear travel until I got 7" . . . until I went to 8¾" ;)

Only 8 3/4......shouldn't you try a Dana?

Sometimes I don't realize that I need something until I try it out for a period. I'm in the process of deciding if I should try one of those new-fangled cell phones. Seems like it might come in handy at times. Then again, I've managed to survive for 65 years without one so that proves that it isn't a necessity.

What do you all think?

Naw, 60s are nice but the 8¾ has the snubber so you don't need to run traction bars ;) Plus it's as tough as any 60 or 9" Ford. and cheaper.

I had a 1983 Maico 490 mx bike that had 12.2 inches of front travel and 13 on the rear wheel. Fun times.

Funny thing, I've been riding with the LBS owner lately on the weekends. Very nice guy. Known him for years. He rides a new CF bike costing ten times more and is at lest ten LB lighter then the old steel bike I ride. He can't keep up with me climbing or on the flat. But he is improving everyday. It's all about the motor people! Don't get me wrong I'm no Ricky Road Racer by any imagination.

Having the newest lightest fastest bike doesn't mean you will be. But then being fast isn't what it's all about for me anyway.

Now that was a bike! I was out of MX by then. My memories ran more to the square-barrel 501s. Being a small-bore racer, it often fell to us to be be lined up for practice and motos behind the open class bikes. Man how I did hate to be behind the bark of one of those (especially in the days before silencers :eek:)!

Not to mention the rocks flying off the rear wheel, hitting you in the knuckles.
A friend had a KX500, that thing was great. Skinny, easy to move around on, light, good brakes, and the powerband of perfection.

I used to have a KX500, tons of fun. With bicycles, IMO once you get to decent quality, anything else is just icing on the cake. Icing is way cool but can get expensive.