15+ year old Takara deluxe sport here, which is beginning to show its age. (see also my old thread)
Bicycling is my favorite exercise. I’ve got crushed limestone trails fairly nearby. The Great River and LaCrosse River trails–The latter which connects to the great grandad of bike trails: Elroy-Sparta.
There is also the Root River trail (paved) slightly to the west of me in MN .
I also bike around town to get stamps, the ATM, the library, etc.
Brian
I have been riding seriously for around 10 years now.
I ride Mountain and Road, and am picking up a cyclo-cross bike this summer. I work part-time as a bike shop to lower the costs of my bike candy habit. Plus I was spending so much time there, might as well make a few bucks on the side.
Mountain Bike:
2001 Titus Racer X: with a 2002 Fox Float RLC, XTR cranks and BB, shifters and deraillers, 2003 Magura Marta SL disc brakes, Eggbeater pedals, Thomson post, Ritchey WCS stem, Eason carbon fiber Monkeylight riser bars, Chris King ISO disc hubs laced to Mavic 3.1 UST disc rims, with a set of Hutchinson Scorpiens UST tires.
Road Bike:
Seven Odonata with a Campy Record Ten Groupo (both about 3 years old now). Seven Ti Stem. Cinelli bar. Eggbeater pedals. Campy Record CF post. Continential GP 3000 tires.
I took my current job so I could ride more. I love bikes.
I’m an A-to-B rider too, covering about fifty miles a week at present. My bike is probably something that real cyclists would sneer at, something called an Escape, a mountain bike with no suspension. If I ever get a bloody job I plan to get front suspension, because I often ride with my daughter in a child seat in front of me and it’s rather bumpy for her. I’m not sure about getting road tyres, because of riding with this extra weight, but if the job I eventually get involves a lengthy commute, then I will. I do like not having to pay for my transport.
Only a punk would sneer at your bike. Real cyclists know that it’s all about getting out and riding.
And only tough people ride without suspension.
how do you like the eggbeaters? a friend of mine has some but I’ve never gotten to try them
I love them. Easy entry and release, great in the mud and ice and are very light to boot. They are my favorite pedals overall.
A real cyclist would never to that. Just some of the idiots who happen to ride bikes. Its not about the bike, its the engine that matters.
Another (mainly) commuter bod checking in with a creaky bottom bracket (oooer missus!) and other dysfunctional bits.
I ride a Gary Fisher HooKooEeeKoo which not only has a stupid name, it also has the build quality of a water soluble fish. Having said that, I ride it every day in all weathers (50-100mpw), and I’m not exactly into keeping it polished, so maybe I deserve all the funny noises. I managed to bend the derallieur dropout when a large lump of ice got jammed in the wheel while commuting last winter. Still haven’t fixed it, though the gears kind of work. Sometimes. Must say that commuting in ice and snow adds a certain something to the bike experience, that certain something usually being a full body coating of slush from passing Jeep Wranglers.
More commuter joy is provided by the bike’s full knobblies and their persistent, energy-sucking road-whine. Alas, I live down a Forest Trail of Great Lumpiness, so I can’t fit slicks, or get a roadbike. Perhaps I should just get a Jeep Wrangler?
From time to time I do head out to MTB for real, or at least my half-arsed definition of ‘for real’. Big shout out to Coed-y-Brenin, Cymru for the trails there, all you Welsh types.
Hm, all this talk of bikes … maybe I really should get round to stripping the bottom bracket this weekend. Or maybe I’ll just sit on my fat arse drinking beer and eating pizza?
Wish list: Rohloff hub. Hope mini disc brake. Carbon fibre arse. Titanium eyebrow hair. Actually a rear brake that works at all would be nice, along with some non-warped wheels.
My workhorse is constructed from a Gary Fisher GitcheeGoomee.
Who says the Amerinds didn’t get the last laugh?
They are tough suckers, I’ll give them that. I swear every year on my workhorse is going to be its last.
One source of squeaking I solved was to get the cast steel bike seat bracket replaced with a machined aluminum one: $10.
A good week has at least 150 miles of riding.
I ride a Rivendell Rambouillet on the weekends, with Specialties TA/Shimano components and a Brooks B.17 saddle. Mudguards and Gilles Berthoud saddlebag, of course.
My commuter/around-the-city bike is a 1962 Rudge Sports, made proudly in Nottingham. It has a Sturmey-Archer 3 speed, 590mm aluminium(!) rims and a Brooks B.72. It’s usually hauling stuff around in a Carradice Nelson Longflap saddlebag.
Ms. Bjorn240 rides a Bianchi Eros Donna and a Bianchi Milano.
Bikes are the best!
Today was bike to work day. I felt guilty, then thought “I can drive in 10 minutes, or I can bike in 2.5 hours over hills.” and stopped feeling guilty.
Anyway, I triathlon. Badly, but I do - so I bike. It’s far and away my worst sport (which is saying a lot) but I’m getting better at it. I’ve put in time this year, and I can see improvements…just a few, but I think they’re there.
I do need a new bike. A good road bike. I’ve needed one for a while. I know it’s time.