Thursday Meditations on an Average Bike

[Pegoready]

Like a lot of us here, I'm a bike snob. Paradoxically, the time I spend fretting about the color of my bar tape and the perfect angle between my Campy lever and Sim Works bar gets in the way of actual riding enjoyment. I know this. We know this.

I picked this bike up on Craigslist yesterday:

https://i.ibb.co/fQdhHQf/IMG-0356.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Lyjqamc.jpg

It was $250 and a nice widow was selling it. She even threw in her deceased husband's used helmet, cycling shorts, and lock with unknown combo, all of which I graciously accepted and threw in the trash as soon as I got home. I did keep the half used bottle of Dumonde Tech lube, however.

I bought the bike primarily to part out the 105 triple STI shifters and derailleurs, which I wanted to install on an upcoming ironically lowbrow rando bike. The rest would get chucked or sold. I've never done a randonneur event and probably never will, so I don't know why I'm excited about an ironically lowbrow triple build. See the note above where I fret over builds for no reason.

Anyway, this bike is a brand no one covets, from a bankrupt company, and it sports a cheap heavy wheelset, no name brakes & cockpit, and solid metal FSA cranks. I had no intention of riding it. I decided last minute the best way make sure the drivetrain was working was to pedal the thing, so I pumped up the tires and took it for a spin in the late afternoon.

I couldn't stop. What was supposed to be a 5 min. ride turned into an hour, and I cut it short because it was getting dark. This bike just fit and rode so nice. The Shimano shifters fit my hands really well. The ugly SMP saddle was really comfortable. The bike handled neutrally and with confidence. I forgot about the bike and became mesmerized by the distant snow capped mountains and crisp winter air. I was frankly shocked I could have an equal experience on a $250 bike as I could on a bike many thousands of dollars.

That's it. Big whoop. I know a lot of us here have reached the same conclusion about cheap, big box bikes. This bike is killer and an unexpected fine experience. If I lost everything and had to start over with this bike I would be happy. Cycling joy could be had for very little.

[Jaybee]

Sometimes the best bikes are the ones that let us focus on the ride rather than the equipment.

Thanks for inspiring me to ride my cheap bike today.


Good stuff.:beer:

[Clean39T]

The simple pleasure of riding a bike will never get old - not for me, not for you, and probably not for anyone here...

Some of my most fond memories of riding a bike are to this day of me pedaling around in San Diego on a cobbled together Trek MTB-turned-touring bike in the early '00s. That bike couldn't have been worth more than a couple hundred bucks, but it was my ticket to flow states at a time in my life when they were sorely needed.

If life flipped me on my head and emptied my pockets, I'd like to think I could still put a smile on my face with something similar.

Enjoy the ride.

[Lanternrouge]

Being a bike snob/equipment geek is almost like a hobby onto itself in addition to riding bikes. Part of life of much simpler for people who just have a bike to ride and don't geek out on the equipment. A well-maintained "cheap" bike works a lot better than poorly-maintained expensive one.

[Tony]

Enjoyed reading.
Thanks for sharing

[93KgBike]

Great post.

It's always good to stop and recall that a bicycle is the perfect human powered machine.

It takes more than a really, really, really terrible name and factory build to screw that up.

[KarlC]

Trying to help my bother n law get in to riding I bought him a Douglas Titanium road bike I found on CL, I had never heard of them.

Its in really nice shape, has full DA 7800, nice wheels and came with all the original paperwork, a TON of extra parts / gear and a nice bike rack for his SUV.

All for $350 and after I tuned it up and took it for a ride, I almost kept it, it was really nice and has a great ride.

I ended up packing it all up and shipping it to him as a supersize, he rides it often and now his wife and kid have bikes they ride also.

.

[NHAero]

Great post, thanks!

[OldCrank]

Good inspirational story, thanks for sharing.

Oh yeah, Dead Man's Chamois would be a kickass band name. :eek:

[tsarpepe]

We need more stories like this on the forum.

[C40_guy]

I feel the same way about one of my cyclocross bikes. It fits just right, it disappears underneath me, I can just wander in the woods for hours, playing.

Few of my other bikes disappear that way. I'm always conscious of the bike, more or less.

It also happens to be a one of one Colnago Master CX unicorn... :)

[galgal]

Great post, and thanks for the reminder about the simple joys of riding!
A year or so ago, I was paring down the bike stable and selling what to my snobby regard was the "least" of them: a Masi with Deda tubing, full Campy equipped and Campy hoops. So a young Italian girl came by to test ride it and the sheer joy on her face when she came back was really something. I sold it to her for less than asking price, just to see her joy and realizing what I had almost lost touch with was worth more.

[Ozz]

Trying to help my bother n law get in to riding I bought him a Douglas Titanium road bike I found on CL, I had never heard of them.
....

wasn't that the old Colorado Cyclist in-house brand? Kind of like Scattante for Performance...

[XXtwindad]

I still really appreciate my Paceline Brother LivingMinimal's post from the "Bike Regret" thread a week or so ago:

(Quote)

"No regrets. Theyre (mostly) just a tool to do a job. That said I have two pegs I'm never selling (to avoid any potential for regret), and I had a custom bike made to commemorate my late mother that broke, but it hangs on the wall in my office now.

Bikes, even nice ones, are to me, mostly utilitarian. I want the experience of riding my bike in far away places with friends more than I want the actual bike.

The way people churn through even custom bikes shows that the chase is often more important to some than cherishing something or even riding. Easy come, easy go. YMMV but that's been my stance for a couple of years.

(I am just now coming around to that idea with kit, which clearly I've had a hoarding problem in recent years)"

(End Quote)

I think that sums it up very eloquently. The bike may have been average. The memories associated with the ride, and the feelings it evoked aren't.

[MagicHour]

I had the next model up carbon rear triangle version of that Scattante frame - not super lightweight but was a great riding frame for the money.

[vincenz]

Lovely read. I find the best bikes are the ones you never notice, the ones that let you concentrate on the ride and scenery.

Now that your musings are done what you need to do is take down the geometry of that bike and contact your dream custom builder [emoji6]

[weisan]

Now that your musings are done what you need to do is take down the geometry of that bike and contact your dream custom builder [emoji6]

Wait a second! I thought he was already on his dream bike?!

:rolleyes::p

[Matthew]

Yes, Douglas was a Colorado Cyclist offering for a while. Looked to be pretty nice. Not sure who built them.

[Peter P.]

Enjoyed reading.
Thanks for sharing

Well said. I agree.

[rePhil]

TST= Titanium Sports Technologies in Kennewick, Wa

I had one for several years. It rode as nice as my Moots


Yes, Douglas was a Colorado Cyclist offering for a while. Looked to be pretty nice. Not sure who built them.

[zlin]

I think you discovered that you’re really not a snob [emoji33]. Enjoy the ride, any ride!

[Uncle Cranky]

Great post but... what about the shorts? Those might be the most comfortable bike shorts ever... did the garbage truck come yet?!?!

[CSKeller]

Great post!

I suggest keeping that bike and slowly upgrading components as funding allows.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[parris]

great post. I just had a similar experience with a basic Trek that I picked up last month to use as a commuter since it has eyelets for fenders. Here's the thing. When I got it home it looked like it had almost no mileage on it and more importantly the thing takes 32's with ease. Now I'm rethinking the fenders.

Thanks for sharing!

[Alaska Mike]

Every time I see a Craigslist ad in my area for a cheap-but-sorta-respectable (e.g. not big-box) road bike for a couple hundred bucks, I have to stop myself from buying it just to "save" it. I don't need another bike that I won't ride very much. I have enough of those. The market for road bikes is pretty thin up here anyway.

I did consider picking one up on the east coast to keep at the parents farm so I woudn't have to fly a bike back and forth, but I'd rather do those sort of rides (Blue Ridge Parkway and the like) on a bike I truly love. Plus, the parents would grumble about storing a bike that would get used only a couple weeks a year (at best). It's just more stuff.

I have built or upgraded bikes for others, frequently losing money on the deal, simply to get another rider on the road. I like doing that sort of thing. Sometimes I go overboard on the build, but I like handing over a reasonable bike to the next rider. Whatever it takes to inspire them to get out there.

[d_douglas]

So true

I have just scrapped a dream to buy a super nice custom bike due to other expenses taking priority. Rather than a new bike, I am using my old redline CX bike as my gravel bike - reviving an old friend.

I have had this bike for years and it has been a great, proven and slick bike on Singlettack, getting to work and accompanying my kids while they learned to ride.

I am actually buying new 650b wheels for a few hundred rather than $7k, so while not exactly locking the budget, I am actually very content with what I have and what promise it holds :)