What bikes have you owned

DonDaddyD

What bikes have you owned since learning how to ride a bike? What was your favourite and why?

My bikes

Raleigh: Even more Extreme
Townsend Sotavanna
Barracuda snakebite
Giant Escape M2
Giant SCR 3.

My favourite bike:

Raleigh Even more Extreme was a shimano 6 speed no-suspension steel frame mountain bike with with heavy discs that came on the front and back wheel.

It was the bike that started it all for me. I grew up on that bike, it lasted years with no need for major repairs. It truly was endlessly reliable. My Summers riding the backroads of Brixton near Sudborne School were shaped around that bike. It simply was the best bike I ever owned.

always_tyred

Isn't this just going to turn into another pi$$ing contest?

<sits back and waits>

linsen

Purple budgie
Hercules folding bike (which i never folded)
Black racer (brother's cast-off)
Blue girls "MTB" (nicked)
Pink Dawes MTB (nicked)
Green Raleigh "MTB" (sold to a friend)
White peugeot racer (acquired at uni)
Gladys
Joanne
Frank

There, AT, seems I don't pi$$ very high.....

Edit to say: I had a real fondness for the black racer as it happens - i think because it wasn't mine at first and so when I finally got it it felt like quite a prize.....
Nowadays I am quite in love with Frank

always_tyred

Why did you get rid of the Peugeot? It would have been a perfect fixie project.......

<sits back and waits>

linsen

Always Tyred wrote:

Why did you get rid of the Peugeot? It would have been a perfect fixie project.......

<sits back and waits>

I went abroad for a year and as I didn't have an address in England at that time there was nowhere to leave it. Also, it wasn't really mine to keep - it doubtless went to some other impoverished student when I left it in the Hall of Residence shed

always_tyred

I just realised - I now own a ludicrous bright orange cross bike AND I once was the proud owner of a 3 speed Raleigh Thunderbird in .... bright orange.

God, what is wrong with me?

linsen

Always Tyred wrote:

I just realised - I now own a ludicrous bright orange cross bike AND I once was the proud owner of a 3 speed Raleigh Thunderbird in .... bright orange.

God, what is wrong with me?

Is that a general or specific question? And is it rhetorical?

always_tyred

linsen wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

Why did you get rid of the Peugeot? It would have been a perfect fixie project.......

<sits back and waits>

I went abroad for a year and as I didn't have an address in England at that time there was nowhere to leave it. Also, it wasn't really mine to keep - it doubtless went to some other impoverished student when I left it in the Hall of Residence shed

You just weren't cool enough to know of fixies at that time.

(surely someone will rise to the bait?)

always_tyred

linsen wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

I just realised - I now own a ludicrous bright orange cross bike AND I once was the proud owner of a 3 speed Raleigh Thunderbird in .... bright orange.

God, what is wrong with me?

Is that a general or specific question? And is it rhetorical?

I don't even like orange. It reminds me of the decline of British Leyland.

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

1) 'Imp' kids bike (this is all I can remember about it. It was purple and had solid rubber tires)
2) Sunbeam kids bike (second hand or out of a skip I think, renovated by my dad to an awesome standard in metallic orange).
3) Raleigh Stryker (the mini Grifter - with the fake plastic suspension 'suspension' at the front).
4) Module 3 three speed 'racer' (written off in a crash that also broke my arm in two places).
5) Puch kids 'racer' of some sort (which I loved. I don't know what happened to this one. Probably sold/passed on by my dad to make room in his garage).
6) Peugeot 501 10 speed racer (written off by my brother by crashing into the back of a tractor – I sh*t you not)
7) Claude Butler 501 10 speed 'racer' (again, don't know what happened to this. Probably the same fate as the Puch).
Eight) Falcon Fat Track MTB (recently renovated by myself and passed on to my brother in law).
9) Raleigh 631 frame that I cadged of my brother and re-built myself. (Rode it for years. I miss it dreadfully and don't like to talk about what I did to it. Suffice it to say it is with us no longer).
10) Kona Caldera MTB still in use.
11) Raleigh Ultimate road bike, later built up as an SS (my 'cycle path cruiser).
12) Orbea Mortirolo road bike, built up as my current SS and at present my main commuter. Original Ultegra groupset and Aksium wheels cannibalised for:
13) Cervelo Soloist Team road bike, currently back with Cervelo being examined.

There is not a single one of these bikes which I did not love to bits, except perhaps the Claude Butler and the Falcon, both of which I had as I was 'going off' bikes for a period, and maybe the imp because I was very very young.

lost_in_thought

Hmmmm, I've had a few bikes.

Raleigh kid's bike, with trailer for some reason
Small green MTB, also raleigh,
Larger blue MTB, raleigh,
Another blue MTB, raleigh,
Silver MTB, specialized,
Shopper (beer wagon), sprick
Old Commuter
Rubbish Roadie
Gollum the FG
Bowery

sarajoy

Let me think...


Shiny red metal bike with white wheels that I learned on (you know, the one where parents run along behind you 'holding you up' by the rear rack, and then 100m later you wonder why you can't hear them panting any more and realise they're waving at you from about 10m after you set off!). Beautiful little thing. Wish I had a grown-up version!

Slightly bigger yellow bike. Coaster brakes! Still miss coaster brakes. I understand they've got dubious legality in this country though?

CoCo Raleigh. Think it was a sort of mountain bike. Pink and purple.

Purple Peugeot heavy but nice mountain bike. Oops, stolen.

'Oxford' hybrid - beautiful curvy frame, white-wall tyres, really light, Nexus Inter-4 gears. Beautiful! Stolen

Claud Butler Classic. Heavy hybrid. Gnnhh.

Current Specialized Vita Sport

lost_in_thought

Sara- my old commuter has coaster brakes. And a sticker on it in German saying you're not allowed to ride it on the road...

Rich158

My first real bike was a Raleigh with a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub and drop bars. Then a Kalkhoff racer, with a massive 16 gears, steel frame and drop bars.

After a 20 year layoff between my teenabge years and middle age

Univega Ram 830 (nicked)
Marin Rocky Ridge
DMR Trailstar
DMR Sidekick (single speed)
Ellsworth Joker (retired due to snapped swingarm )
Azonic Eliminator (Now passed down to son no.1)
Giant Glory 8
Trek 1.5

Coming soon Trek Madone 5.2 Pro

I won't even try to list the components that have adorned the above frames, they're too many to mention.

Rich158

sarajoy wrote:

Let me think...


Shiny red metal bike with white wheels that I learned on (you know, the one where parents run along behind you 'holding you up' by the rear rack, and then 100m later you wonder why you can't hear them panting any more and realise they're waving at you from about 10m after you set off!). Beautiful little thing. Wish I had a grown-up version!

I can remember doing that for my youngest. It took me a few trips up and down the alley at the rear of our house before I realised the lazy bugger wasn't even pedalling :evil: :evil: :evil:

il_principe

Mmmmm

Several when I was a kid, I remember a trike, a red BMX a silver mountain bike, some others as well I think.

Then:

Ridgeback Hyrid - bleurgh.
Specialized Allez - yey
Focus Variado - yey
Wilier Mortirolo - yey yey
Pearson Touche - yey yey
Pinarello Prince - woooooohooooooooooo

Clever Pun

no "yer ma" jokes yet?

hmm
and Elf little blue thing that had solid tyres
Peugeot bmx
raleigh? racer
Peugeot moutain bike (I think it's still in my dad's shed
Trek 7300+ hybrid X2 the first one was nicked the second needs to be sold
Condor Squadra
Brompton
Condor Pista

DonDaddyD

Jash, were your bikes a year apart?

Sewinman

Red BMX, Peaugot BMX, Mongoose BMX, Emmelle Corniche, Marin Kentfield, Trek 1.2.

greg66_tri_v2.0

First bike I remember was a Raleigh 18. What a piece of sh!t. I sooooo wanted a "racer" - drop handlebars, all the gear - and instead I got a Raleigh 18. Parents thought a racer was a bit too racey at that age. Odd thing was my mate had a racer, but he loved riding my bike because it had a three-speed shift in the right grip - like a motor bike (so he thought, deluded fool). So I got to ride his racer for a couple of summer hols.

Then a yellow Whitcomb racer. Loved that. Five speed. Used to take it to pieces just for the joy of playing around with it.

Then nothing til after I started work: Trek 70 -something hybrid. Sort of OK with my adjusted gearing on it. Sort of.

Condor generic road frame. Put a ton of miles on that. Went through two seatposts fused to the frame; wore out the BB shell; two resprays.

Softride Rocketwing. Now *that* was a head turner. First Shimano bike. Wild geometry. For a while I had the virtual seatpost angle set close to 80 degrees. Really hairy at low speeds in traffic. Managed to slice my fingers open on the bladed spokes of the Spinergy Rev-Xs that were on that once. Not nice.

Giant OCR Composite 2. My first CF bike; first 10s bike. Saw it in a shop in Canada - not a model that ever made it to the UK. After a bit of humming and harring, and hiding from the wife, bought it quickly. Still have that in Canada.

Giant TCR. This was the first domestic CF bike. First bike I bought as a frameset and spec'd all the bits for. Full on T-Mob fuschia and black/white colour scheme. I still remember a ride I did on that in which the first hour was at just over 32 kmh, and then the next three hours were each successively faster than the one before. Had a lot of fun on that. Appalling death wobble at 54 kmh on descents meant it had to go though.

Cervelo R2.5. Replaced the TCR. I loved that bike. Really sad when it I found it was in the recall batch. This was the first time I really looked closely at set up of the geometry, looking to match the set up of the TCR as closely as possible. Prior to this, I was simply aware of how different they had all been.

Cervelo Soloist alu. This established the first all Cervelo wet/dry team, taking over from the Condor as the wet bike. Loved that one too. Set this one up with identical geometry and components to the R2.5, except it all went a notch down for the gruppo. To begin with, anyway.

Cervelo Soloist carbon. Replaced the R2.5 on the recall. Can't say I ever really liked that bike. For a number of reasons.

Cervelo R3SL. Sold the Soloist Carbon and got this. First ride was *just* like getting back on the R2.5 Never regretted this one for a second.

TBC: Cervelo Soloist Carbon-SL. To replace the Soloist Alu. This could be the second stupidest decision I've made, being a rerun of the Soloist Carbon.

Hey Jax

this is my first and only bike i ever owned! ( decathlon hybrid)

i learned to ride a bike aged around 10, on my mates bike... but never had my own until last summer!

but its soon my birthday and i suspect i will be getting a roadie -YEY!

itboffin

Always Tyred wrote:

I just realised - I now own a ludicrous bright orange cross bike AND I once was the proud owner of a 3 speed Raleigh Thunderbird in .... bright orange.

God, what is wrong with me?

Your just tired! ba boom! - here all week

itboffin

So what have we learnt?

Jash put your fingers in your ears, hybrids are a gateway drug/bike and Greg is even older than old man time.

whyamihere

Hmmm, let me think...

In chronological order:
1. Raleigh Firefly - first mountain bike
2. Nameless MTB hardtail - Built up from bits second hand
3. Azonic Steelhead - First proper mountain bike
4. Orange Zero Prototype - Brief foray into trials riding, before realising trials wasn't for me
5. Cove Foreplay - Still the best bike I've ever owned. I miss it.
6. Specialised FSR XC - Bought it, raced one endurance race, sold it.
7. Carrera Fury - Current mountain bike. Possibly the best specced Fury there is...
8. Raleigh Record Sprint - First road bike
9. Ambrosio Stelvio - First road bike that worked properly
10. Coyote road bike - My current winter/commuting bike
11. Ribble winter trainer - Bought for commuting, didn't like it, sold it
12. Scott FX3 - Full suspension MTB, slightly too small for me so I sold it to my dad
13. Cannondale R1000 - Current good road bike, and a serious competitor to the Foreplay's crown of being best.

That's 8 mountain bikes and 5 road bikes. I've been riding 6 years, meaning I've had more than 2 bikes a year on average. I have a feeling I'm missing some though, so this list is subject to change if I remember another one.

Edited to include Raleigh Record Sprint. I still feel like I'm forgetting one...

itboffin

whyamihere wrote:

Hmmm, let me think...

In chronological order:
1. Raleigh Firefly - first mountain bike
2. Nameless MTB hardtail - Built up from bits second hand
3. Azonic Steelhead - First proper mountain bike
4. Orange Zero Prototype - Brief foray into trials riding, before realising trials wasn't for me
5. Cove Foreplay - Still the best bike I've ever owned. I miss it.
6. Specialised FSR XC - Bought it, raced one endurance race, sold it.
7. Carrera Fury - Current mountain bike. Possibly the best specced Fury there is...
8. Ambrosio Stelvio - First road bike
9. Coyote road bike - My current winter/commuting bike
10. Ribble winter trainer - Bought for commuting, didn't like it, sold it
11. Scott FX3 - Full suspension MTB, slightly too small for me so I sold it to my dad
12. Cannondale R1000 - Current good road bike, and a serious competitor to the Foreplay's crown of being best.

That's 8 mountain bikes and 4 road bikes. I've been riding 6 years, meaning I've had more than 2 bikes a year on average. I have a feeling I'm missing some though, so this list is subject to change if I remember another one.

Where's the cross bike???

You're not really serious about cycling are you :P

whyamihere

Cross bike is next.

itboffin

whyamihere wrote:

Cross bike is next.

Good man.

I have every part for my cross project apart from the shifters, the unfinished beauty is just sitting there looking at me

Why oh why must Shimano 10 sp STI be so damn expensive.

whyamihere

Get Campag 10 speed shifters and an 8 speed cassette, you can run it with the 10 speed chain and front mech no problem.

itboffin

I was contemplating using a shiftmate but then I have 105 10sp on my Trek which could be swapped to the Dolan forcing me to upgrade to Ultegra SL or Dura - see what I did there

dialforclown

I've had a few bikes

Some un-named 20" wheel bike to start with
Another un-named 24" wheel bike
Grandad's bike when he gave up riding - I used this for nearly 10 years - changed everything on it except the handlebars, brake levers, rear hub and frame.
Yamaha Passola
Yamaha RS125
Yamahe TZR 125
Yamaha TZR250 - hooligan tool
Yamaha FZR600
Dawes Hybrid
Sumpjumper
Marin Rift Zone - still with me but not used much
Dave Hinde Road Bike - broke the frame on this
Bianchi Matta T9 - with all the bits from the Dave Hinde

mrushton

I didn't take cycling up until the mid-90s so no fond memories of Raleigh Falcons etc

1.Marin Stinson hybrid. Nice 'cheap' bike to get started on. Grip-shift etc. It was a lot of fun and I commuted 10 miles each way and often found myself 'visiting' bike shops. This bike was stolen from outside Mcr University

2. Cannondale T2000 tourer. Aluminium,massive downtube. The business when it came to touring which I never did, but had lots of fun days out to the Peak District/Y-Dales. Stolen - gone in about 5 secs from outside a shop and I was 10 ft away

3. Marin Ltd edition road bike. Steel, 105 STIs. Lesson learned here as I got sold a 60cm frame when I actually ride approx.56cm :oops: . I wondered why my back and neck ached and realised the importance of getting a good fit.

4. Custom steel race bike. Traded the Marin and went custom from a local shop - prob. a rebadged Neil Orrell.Comfortable,fast bike which i eventually gave to a friend

5. Pinarello Paris. The aluminium one. A grey import and what a bike! Classic italian name and when you pressed on the pedals it was warp speed. Drawback was the stiffness, hence the power. Great for a shortish fast ride, but 100 miles on anything but smooth roads and I thought my fillings would fall out. Moved on a couple of years ago

6. Corrado steel winter bike. Mudguards, carbon forks. A v.comfortable ride,same geometry as the Paris. Still have it. Thought about replacing it with a Ti but decided not to fritter more money away.

7. Colnago CT1. Carbon/Ti and Colnago, what a combo. Only bettered by the the C40. A lovely bike/paint job. Fast and comfortable. Sold a couple of years ago

8.Trek 5500. Classic,carbon,TdF winner. Comfortable,stable. I took this to the Alps a few times where it spanked some more desirable kit (also got dropped by 'lesser bikes' with better riders). Sold recently.

9. LeMond Victoire. Half Ti,Half carbon 5500. Sublime ride,v.v.comfortable and quick. Not as fast as #5 but a fabulous ride and nicely made. Sold recently

10. SerottaMeiVici. The biz! An ex-demo bike that I used on two long rides thro' the Alps. I did about 1000km on it and later got offered the chance to buy it for less than half price. A stunning bike and I will never exceed it's capabilities.

11. Pompino. 2nd hand fixie fun. Used mainly as a commute and winter trainer. Fantastic vfm and I'd love a Ti one if they were remade.

12. Serotta Ottrott. Often described as the 'worlds best bike'. The LeMond got me wondering about an Ottrott and a bling last years model came up for sale - brand new. White gold ti/blue tint carbon. The Lemond x 10. Fabulous all day fast bike.Less aggressive then the MeiVici but prob. the last bike I'll buy

13. A Trek 8500 mtb,slicked up and with a Middleburn c/set. Bought to replace the Cannondale and be a commuter. I alternate it with the fixie but haven't took this out for a while. A lovely fast commute bike with Hope hubs, 9 speed and a 12-23 block.

I havent counted the money I've spent but in hindsight I'd have just gone for 1 x Serotta and not bought #5,7,8,9