cyclist first ? or bike builder ?

peanut
peanut Posts: 1,373
edited September 2010 in The bottom bracket
Often wondered which I prefer the most.

I just love the whole thing about planning a new bike build. Seaching for a frame and all the components. Changing and agonising over the spec and colours the cassette ratios . Compact or not ? :roll: Which wheels ,which tyres etc . I love the whole business from beginning to end.

Don't get me wrong I love being out on my bike when I actually get out there but sometimes I think the balance has finally shifted to bike building /fettling first and actually riding it second .

Am I alone in this dilemma? :wink:

Comments

  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    Not at all I love the planning and building but not as much as riding the new steed.
  • pneumatic
    pneumatic Posts: 1,989
    I know where you are coming from there. Bike fettling generally is great displacement for actually riding the things.

    I built a fixie back in the Spring and I still haven't taken it further than the end of the road! :oops:

    Fast and Bulbous
    Peregrinations
    Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)
  • peanut
    peanut Posts: 1,373
    pneumatic wrote:
    I know where you are coming from there. Bike fettling generally is great displacement for actually riding the things.

    I built a fixie back in the Spring and I still haven't taken it further than the end of the road! :oops:

    well at least you got to ride it ! I built a really nice alu framed road bike last summer and never rode it ? its still hanging from my workshop ceiling .... :roll:
    I've taken this 'displacement' activity one step further just lately. I now make endless lists of things that I should be doing so i don't even get as far as the fettling stage
  • GiantMike
    GiantMike Posts: 3,139
    Cyclist first. I don't understand building a bike for the sake of it. Everything I build is built for a specific task or bought for a specific task. Although I'd like to own a fixed-gear trendy bike with really narrow bars, no brakes, carbon wheels, and a neon paint-job. Alas, I have no need for one. Unless I had a specific task of riding round looking like a tw@t.
  • Oddjob62
    Oddjob62 Posts: 1,056
    If I couldn't ride I wouldn't fettle, but if I couldn't fettle I would still ride.
    As yet unnamed (Dolan Seta)
    Joelle (Focus Expert SRAM)
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    I hate bike related stuff.

    If I had the cash I'd pay someone to sort my bike out every day after I'd finished with it so I'd never have to any mechanical stuff.

    I ride because I like riding.
    _
  • peanut
    peanut Posts: 1,373
    GiantMike wrote:
    Cyclist first. I don't understand building a bike for the sake of it. .

    did it ever occur to you that circumstances might have prevented someone from doing what they intended ? no-one has said that they built a bike just for the sake of it have they? :wink:
  • GiantMike
    GiantMike Posts: 3,139
    peanut wrote:
    GiantMike wrote:
    Cyclist first. I don't understand building a bike for the sake of it. .

    did it ever occur to you that circumstances might have prevented someone from doing what they intended ? no-one has said that they built a bike just for the sake of it have they? :wink:

    Go to Retrobike. A LOT of people build bikes, look at them, then break them up and sell the bits. There are a lot of brand new 1990's tyres on immaculate bikes that will never see tarmac, field or trail. I don't understand that. I'm not criticising, or saying it's wrong or even stupid. I'm just saying I don't understand it.

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