That bike that made you go "WHOA!"

[NHAero]

Another total WHOA was the Pivot 429C mountain bike. 25 pounds, full suspension, modern geometry, 29er, hydro brakes, tubeless tires, dropper post - all new to me in one package. Felt like a ten year old with a new bike all over again.

4-1/2 years later, still love it, and it's been so reliable. Recent suspension rebuild and new tires, brake pads plus one chain and a replacement large cog on the 1x11 SRAM cassette is all that's gone into it across maybe 400 hours of riding time. Brakes, drivetrain, and pivots have all been bomber.

[Coffee Rider]

Originally Posted by Kirk007

Good topic! Lot's of bikes have made me go "whoa." Maybe I'm an excitable boy or l very discerning ; ). The first - a Serotta legend to bought off the Velonews classifieds. It opened up this whole high end bike world to me.

Next, a custom Glen Erickson tandem that carved up the downhill run from the village of Castegnetto Carducci to the Z'Martino in Tuscany as if it was a world cup GS course.

Lot's of great bikes since that for various reasons have come and gone. My Peg Marcelo took steel, for me, to another level.

Right now, all my bikes can make my heart sing on any given day (hard to go wrong with bikes from Hampco towers, Tom Kellogg, Max Kullaway, Richard Sachs, Dave Kirk etc), but the bike that is really opening my eyes right now is my lugged steel road Spectrum that I ordered when Tom announced he was retiring. I have no idea why it is, but it's something else. I just go quantifiably faster on it. It makes me want to drop 20 pounds, shave my legs and move the Alps.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

That’s a really great collection.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mike V]

1980 Shwinn Deluxe Cruiser in blue with tan walls, brown springer seat with springer front end.

[Steve in SLO]

1977: Lighthouse by Tim Neenan built up full Campy casually leaning against the wall in the common room in my dorm at UCSB. Painted with purple metallic Imron paint it was the most beautiful bike I had ever seen.
1978: Calif Masi Gran Criterium in coral. Frame offered to me for $250. I was a poor student and didn’t have the money, and moped for weeks.
2005: Specialized S-works Tarmac E5 carbon/aluminum composite. Wickedly fast. Every ATP I used made it go straight forward with 100% efficiency. I’ve never been on a faster bike. So much fun.
2010: Speedvagen road. Comfy, feels right and encourages diving into corners. Felt like home first time I rode it.
2012: Moots Psychlo-x. A bike very much at home on either the road or dirt. I felt I could go anywhere on it, and go fast on it. So liberating.
2013: Time VXR. So this is carbon? Yes, please!

[JSL]

Seeing a Guerciotti w campy Victory got me hooked on road bikes, but riding a Merlin Extralight some 15 years later was the first time a bike surprised me. Smooth as silk relative to the mid 90s bikes we had been rolling around on.

[tuscanyswe]

For me it was when i got my first titanium bike for myself. The litespeed Tuscany. Hence my username.

Its still the bike that i try to reinvent with every new build. Well maybe not so much the feel of the bike anymore but the feel i had when i first got it and rode it. Couldent beat it, i was over the moon pleased .)

[SimonC]

Merckx Corsa Extra, in fire engine red with extra chrome. I brought it 15 years ago, immaculate condition with full 7400 and tubulars.

I was going through a lot of bikes at that time, but one ride on the Merckx was enough to trigger an ‘ah ha’ response, and I’ve had at least one pretty much continuously since then (although in a fit of stupidity I sold the Corsa Extra to ‘upgrade’ to a Merlin Extralight Compact which didn’t hang around long).

[mjbrekke]

Was 1999. I hadn't really cycled since about 1981 (parenting, you know). A new GT titanium with Ultegra was WHOA for me. Almost bought it. But then rode a used Serotta Legend Ti with Campy Record 8-speed and it was WHOOOOOAAAA!!!! Bought that one.

[fogrider]

Back in the day, I test rode a Serotta Atlanta, I had seen Serottas and didn't think they looked special, but the ride! years later, I would get a Legend Ti.

The first time I rode tubulars...it transformed the ride and never looked back.

The first time I rode mtb...the freedom to go anywhere! and on the trails, a rides by on what looked like a road bike, it was a cyclocross bike, years later, I would pick up a Rock Lobster cyclocross bike. I also picked up a Rock Lobster for the road.

Then came carbon tubulars, Wow! I'm now running 5 carbon wheelsets.

I picked up a Ron Cooper, amazing with lightweight carbon wheels.

Time VXRS + 46mm deep carbon tubulars built up to 6.8 kg = crazy good!

[soulspinner]

Worked in a shop test riding after wrench got through with bike. SerottaTi. Could not believe how it rode with 23 cinchers. Had the feel of steel and plenty of stiffness titanium was not hailed for at the time. Ive ridden some ti bikes that were not nearly as stiff and handled like poo. Full disclosure.....this was a long time ago.

[oldguy00]

I've owned many bikes, but the only one that was kind of a 'wow' feeling was simply getting my first 'real' road bike above the typical hardware store bikes.

For me that was a Cannondale 3.0 (I think) with 105 index shifters, bought new from a shop in Wolfeborow, NH....maybe around '89. Shop might have been the Nordic Skier? Not sure. It was in the winter and my dad and I used to drive to New England each winter from New Brunswick to ski. Freakin loved that bike.

After that, none of my bikes felt like they made me any faster, was always more of just a bling factor.

As far as bling factor, probably my first carbon bike, which was a Calfee Tetra Pro bought in 2001. Loved those webbed lugs.

[Lionel]

Not sure about wow but after many many bikes I typically can tell with the first ride if I am going to like it or not.

The ones that stick out in my mind are the Crumpton, the Sachs, the Spectrum and of course the F8.

[mastaliu]

I remember in 1992 I was racing a very heavy Torelli that felt like it was made out of pig iron with a terrible Sachs/Campy Mirage groupset, when my team mate showed up in a Look KG 176 with Mavic Zap! I went WHOA! We quickly learned about Zap, but that Look was from another planet.

[Gsinill]

Bought this dirt cheap on CL.
Knew nothing about the builder, and nothing came up on Google.
Somehow checking the pictures in the ad, it clicked despite the hodgepodge of parts.
Drove 2h oneway to pick it up, turned out it was EL-OS and built by someone who knew what they were doing.

Put Athena 11 and TB14s on it and was blown away during my first ride.
"Whoa" because I had no expectation when I bought it, and it's definitely up there with my CSi and Casati MAX.

[rccardr]

The Gateway: