Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Bike-ology

I keep getting cross-eyed looks from my wife and non-biking friends when I make mention of another bike. Heck, I'm sure even a reader or two (i.e. one of them or the other one of them) has muttered under their breath that I must fall into the "deep-pocketed-mofo" category with several mentions of "new" bikes (don't I wish). I try to constantly refer back to the man with 43 wheels , but then again he does have a number of distinguished years on me so it doesn't seem to help. In any case, it got me thinking I could kill some quality case-analysis homework time by listing out the bike history (if for no other reason than to get that infamous head-shaking look from the dear wife).

Now if you take into consideration each discipline of cycling that I've taken up as it's own entity (I know it doesn't work that way... shush), it's really not that bad:

Road:
- First real road bike - Bianchi Eros. Purchased used off some CRW guy with a laundry room converted into a bike workshop. Once I realized how too small this was for me and I had a few bucks I stripped it for parts and sold the frame.
- First new real road bike - Lemond Buenos Aires. Later doubled as an intro to cross bike and a commuting bike. Ultimately run over by some guy who shouldn't have a license.
- Second "new" real road bike - Leader LD735R. Used the parts from the Bianchi and a few new bits to build my first racing bike when I decided I wanted to race. Later doubled as a commuting bike. Ultimately sold to some dude in Michigan when I accepted this was also too small.
- Current road bike - Old Skool lugged Guerciotti (model unknown). Frame purchased on ebay and the insurance money from the Lemond incident paid for parts. Later had custom fork added. Still in action

Mountain:
- First "mountain bike" - 24" Trek 820, fully rigid. Purchased for about $300 while in college. Later sold to a guy for his dad to ride bike paths.
- First real mountain bike - Nashbar 853 steel frame, hand-picked build kit. Just recently stripped and a few bits being sold (anyone need some wheels or a frame?)
- New (as in not yet ridden) mountain bike - Kona Kula 29er, everything usable from first bike reused, new wheels and fork.

Cross:
(Let's not count the Lemond)
- First cross bike - Bianchi San Jose SS. Purchased off ebay when the Lemond got wrecked and I wanted to race cross. Later sold to some college kid who was bringing it to Chicago
- Current cross bike - THE ANT (need I say more). And for the record, you can pry this one from my cold dead hands.

Commuter:
(Again skipping the Lemond and Leader)
- Surly Cross Check. Purchased this year to save abuse to the ANT and because wearing a backpack for 3 hours a day while commuting was getting old. Bonus double-duty as a pit bike if needed.

So there we are. One could say I need to make up my damn mind and ride the effin things instead of swapping them in and out constantly. Ok, maybe now that I read this she has a point shaking her head at me...

5 comments:

gewilli said...

No time trial bike?
Crit bike and Road race bike?
Hill climb specific bike?

You gotta have both a Hard tail and a FS mt bike...

race wheels? training wheels?
certainly need more of those

ya got a nice comfy complement i'd say... (i might have to steal that Kona of yours say... around the 9th of august)

trackrich said...

That's what I'm sayin... it could be so much worse (or better depending on your perspective) :) The true pisser is the realization and acceptance of the fact that, for the most part, they all should be custom. The need for a 67+ seat tube effs up on the fit on anything stock...

solobreak said...

You might have noticed my frame count went from 9 to 8. There are still 10 in here, but two of them are 50 cm. I used to count the one that was converted for TT, because I made it fit for me, but now that's been switched back to fit the original owner, hence the drop in the frame count.

You got me wondering about the wheels too, because about a dozen of those moved to the west coast along with four or five other frames. I just did a quick count and I only see 42 in here right now.

I don't see anything about a track bike here either. Personally I feel I need two, as I always wanted a pursuit bike. It's only 306 miles to the nearest "real" velodrome, so I'm sure I'd ride it at least once a year if I had it.

Don't use me for an example though. There is one BOB dude who has 25 fully assembled road bikes hanging in his basement. He also has boxes and boxes of new parts neatly stacked in the corners, including dozens of carbon wheels. And he routinely buys more stuff. He probably rides 500 miles/month max...

BTW, he is married with kids too.

trackrich said...

beer?

Sweet, I'll be buying a new bike tomorrow ;)

JSmith5780 said...

I'm assuming the look Lana gives you is something akin to the look I give Jeff when he starts talking about needing new tools :)