Vicelord

I hear people all the time say that folks have a nicer bike than they know what to do with, or others have a crappy bike they ride the hell out of.

Which class do you fall into?

borobike

Definitely the latter, but that doesn't make me love my bike any less.
.
.
.

Vicelord

borobike, posted a poll after you posted here.

Hippiebrian

My bike will better fit my old fat guy abilities when I replace the smallest front sprocket with a 24 to help with the climbs. Just sayin'...

Machka 

I have a lot of bicycles of different qualities and for different purposes ... and I'm a decent cyclist who has been in the sport all her life. I own most of the bicycles I want to own, but I still have a few on the "wish list" which I haven't acquired yet for various reason.

gbiker

My history has been to buy bikes above my ability, then rise to and surpass that, then ride the hell out of them.

Sixty Fiver

I own a good number of very nice bicycles that are a combination of vintage, handbuilt, and modern and consider myself to be a rather decent cyclist who once may have been able to ride a Huffy in the pro circuit.

Now things like my handbuilt road and mountain bikes are just tools that make going a little faster, a little easier and sometimes I can make bicycles that are not supposed to be fast just a little faster.

Other folks could exploit the virtues of these bikes better than I can now... something like a new CF wonderbike would be wasted on me.

Nermal

You didn't ask, but here's a minor possibility. I went that route and couldn't keep the chain from falling between chain rings on the downshift. Ultimately, we went with 26 teeth and a wide ratio cassette to get the final gearing I needed. Your mileage may vary, of course, but it's still a monster reduction when you go from middle chain ring to lowest. I wouldn't go back, but just so you know. . . . Anyhow, I'm waiting for the middle ring to wear enough to justify dropping a couple teeth so the shift won't be so abrupt.

wahoonc

^^^This is pretty much me

I have had high end racing bicycles in the past, but no longer ride at those levels. I use all of the bikes I have and I usually ride them with the intended use in mind.

To me a person riding is more important than what they ride. I don't care if they are rolling a WM cruiser, I would like to see them on a better bike...but at least they are riding.

Aaron

cachehiker

Purchased retail or custom built from the shop, I would have to say my bikes exceed my talent. On the other hand, I do 95% of my own wrenching and am constantly on the lookout for quality gear on the cheap. Based upon the money actually spent, they're a pretty good match for my talent.

My $1400-ish road bike weighs just 17 lbs and buying something faster brand new would have you shopping in the $3000 range. Much of it including the seat post, stem, handlebar, crankset, and wheels were all purchased in used but practically new condition for about 40% of retail. My three $900-ish commuters were all assembled in similar fashion. The Planet X Kaffenback frameset was purchased when exchange rates were heavily in my favor. Its Tiagra 9-speed shifters were acquired for $50 and the bombproof 2005-ish Ksyrium Elites were $150 IIRC. One of my mountain bikes, a classic GT Zaskar, was built with mostly new parts but the other, a bomber FS Motobecane, came out of various friends' junk boxes.

The drawback is spending an entire year on a build isn't unusual for me. Finding the right deal requires a lot of patience.

Vicelord

Interesting how this poll is turning out. I figured most people would answer the bike fits my ability option. hmm

DataJunkie

My road bike matches my ability perfectly. I did start out as an overweight dude in lycra undeserving of the bike but it is my damn money.

caloso

The bike isn't what's holding me back, that's for sure.

johnlh

I am very fit and fast on the road, but ride a bike with Tiagra components. Although I have upgraded a 1400 gram wheelset, Ultegra cranks, a Thomson seatpost, and EC 90 handlebars (mismarked(?)) at a local sporting goods store for $39!), the Tiagra components have lasted over 20,000, and will not be upgraded to 10 speed until they cannot be tuned to function properly.

My Redline Mono9 with a Reba fork and X9 components matches my moderate skill as a mountain biker.

post count +1! maybe I will be able to do pm's soon.

Burton

Thats sort of a funny question, How well does your car match your driving ability?

Bicycling is something I like to do. The bicycles I own are all very different and each one is interesting for different reasons. They all reflect performance areas I`m willing to pay for because those areas are important to me, so from that point of view they`re a good match. And as a result there are a few deliberate deviations from a stock configuration.

A10K

Back when I only owned an early-2000's aluminum/carbon road bike with full 105 components, I realized I was probably doing a disservice to the bike by only using it to pass other commuters on my 6-mile round trip. I never raced, never went more than 40 miles...
Then I got a 50-year old Hercules English 3-speed, with decrepit steel rims and warped fenders and realized I could still pass all the commuters on their drop-bar bikes (while lookin' super fly to boot)... so my lesson from that was that the engine is more important than the steed. Also, you get more chicks with cruisers than STI's.

Vicelord

Last I checked, the simple act of operating a car does not take intense physical energy. It's a poor comparison.

Joemess

I will never have a bike that I feel I am better than. The technology is just to advanced at this point. Heck, I am even thinking about upgrading( which is a misnomer since the bike I have is fine) but I feel I am at a point in my life where I am finically fine and if I want a Modone 6 series (or whatever) I can have it.

Boudicca

Bike, a 2008 Merlin with Ultegra components all round, is definitely far more bike than I deserve or need. But I love it, it fits like a glove and as has been said before, it's my money anyway.

I voted for the first option, although the second would have worked as well.

Ediblestarfish

My bike is certainly overbuilt, but not so much for the performance aspect. It's a sport-tourer built up for all around use, with more attention to the aesthetics and refinement.

I feel no need to wring out every last ounce of its capabilities since that is not what I want to do, and the build reflects it. It is absolutely not made for out and out performance of any sort; It's not even made for heavily loaded touring. It's sort of in the middle of all things, and pushing it to the limits of all around use makes little sense.

As such, I'm not sure how the poll really makes sense for my situation.

ahsposo 

OP, dude.

The categories you missed are HUGE here.

Polls are either under-designed (like yours) or there to make a point.

Where is the fat old Fred thing? My current bike is what I needed when I was 23. At 58 and living in this flat ass hell hole on God's armpit it is SO wasted.

And how would you phrase that as a polite question?

CNY James

I have a nice bike (Felt F5) and am pretty far from riding pro circuit but when I see the guys out riding $5000 madones, S-Works, Cervelos, etc it makes me think that my bike is perfectly suited to my skill level.

CNY James

bitter much?

bradtx

Vicelord, I voted on the third choice. Like others I've built my bikes to revolve around my skills and the specific duties each one has been assigned. My New Year's resolution to dissolve myself of stuff I didn't really use or need included a couple of higher end builds than the ones I kept simply because they didn't have the magic "it". Sounds odd, eh?

Brad

dynodonn 

My poor bike's problem is that as soon as it comes close to matching the rigors of my commute, I find another new way to beat the crap out of it.

It's a constant battle in time/money/upgrades to keep my bike from throwing in the towel.