Favourite bike

s1mples

When you look back on all your past bikes which has been your favourite? Do you wish you kept it? Or did you?

I've only had one road bike a Genesis Equilibrium 853 which I do enjoy but I had several mountain bikes over the years and a sple 1994 Saracen Kili Comp stands out so clearly. It was fully rigid but the ride was lovely and engaging. It looked stunning too.

joeyhalloran

2014 Genesis Croix De Fer.

Not the quickest, definitely not the lightest but the handling is so good and feels so good to ride.

I've probably had a good 15+ 'proper' bikes.

Another good one I've enjoyed, though less to compare, is my Focus Mares CX bike from 2018.

edward.s

If I had to keep just one it would be my Genesis Croix-de-Fer 725. Built up from a frame with carbon forks using Ultegra 11 speed and some wheels I built with Bitex hubs, DT rims/spokes and GP4S tyres. Its my winter 'training' bike so has full length guards and flaps fitted.

Despite having a fancier titanium bike among others, I would take the CDF pretty much every time.

Its not light, its not aero, its probably not all that fast (but then nor am I!) and its not particularly fashionable looking but is is comfortable, handles well and feels like you could ride it forever.

s1mples

That's interesting that you both have picked Genesis Croix De Fer's. My 2014 Equilibrium is a very pleasant, comfortable ride I have to say but I've nothing to compare it to, it being my first/one and only road bike. To be fair I think I chose well and Paul Milnes at Bradford did a great job with the initial build.

pep.fermi

My fav bike is my current Cannondale Synapse Carbon Ultegra Disc.
Had Cannondale Synapse Carbon Ultegra Rim for 15yr and I liked it so much that when I decided to move to disc I got the "same" bike, just newer version and with disc.

whyamihere

Probably my Diverge (alu, without the silly head shock thing). I have faster bikes, lighter bikes, but the Diverge is just so comfortable. It's the bike I grab by default. Interesting that most of the posts so far are for similar bikes.

daniel_b

Apologies, I'm going to buck the trend here majorly.

My favourite bike is my 2018 Scott Foil - I'm clearly biased, but I think it, and the model that replaced it are two of the very best looking bikes out there.
I'm not so taken with the 2023 Foil aesthetically.

It is rim brake and has exposed cables, but with some aftermarket 2nd hand wheels on it paired with 25mm GP5000s, it absolutely flies along, and climbs indecently well.
I thoroughly enjoy riding fast, and this bike really is an asset in that respect.
It looks fast, it feels fast, and the stats tell me it is fast.

The real icing on the cake though, for me, is that it's probably the most comfortable bike I own, though it is likely to fall into 2nd place for the comfort category this year.
I have ridden 100 mile rides for circa 5 hours on it with literally no discomfort in any way shape or form - and that's with the stock saddle, that just happens to work for me.

I think it unlikely I will ever sell it, but never say never - I suppose at some point a disc one might be desired, but I have other bikes that have discs, so hopefully not.

pblakeney

Bucking the trend?
How about a 2008 Colnago Master that is still going strong? No upgrades required.

daniel_b

I meant bucking the trend from Genesis CDFs

EDIT: It's already my 2nd most comfy bike, as I now also have an armchair of a ride on a gravel bike wearing 40mm tyres, so it will be just about maintaining a podium position.

pblakeney

Bucking the trend as in zero carbon, not even the forks. 😉

navrig2

My Ribble Gran Fondo. It fitted me like a glove and so was the most comfortable. I had to sell it when stuck in Bahrain at the start of the covid outbreak and I needed to get home with minimal baggage. Otherwise I would still have it.

vincesummerskRoxcBTr

My current road bike, Cube Attain GTC as it is the most comfortable bike I have had whilst being fairly light and feels quick. Added a Shockstem which helps on our poor surfaced local roads as well.

joeyhalloran

Funny how comfort seems to be the most common thing to make a bike favourite

pblakeney

joeyhalloran said:

Funny how comfort seems to be the most common thing to make a bike favourite

And yet manufacturers focus on weight, aero and disc brakes.

joeyhalloran

Though to be fair the phrase "horizontally stiff yet vertically compliant" is very cycling

dannbodge

My previous Specialized Tarmac.
Did everything so well, rode beautifully, was extremely comfortable and was fairly light.

Unfortunately it got written off during covid lockdowns.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I'm quite torn on this issue.

I massively under-used my '96 Principia RSL and '06 Felt F5C.

My '16 Voodoo Wazoo fatbike was great fun to give me confidence riding again after my RTA, despite being very inappropriate for commuting and tarmac hill reps before I got my turbo. Was gutted when the driveside crank sheared in summer '20, I was scared to see how much a fatbike replacement crankset would cost me during the bike parts crisis that began in the pandemic.

But '16 my Cube Attain GTC Disc has been great for hydraulic disc brakes, carbon frame and allowing me to discover the South Downs hills weren't really that far away after living in Southampton since late '92!

trevor.hall12

2016 DeRosa SK Pinninfarina .
Such a great bike .

pinno

pblakeney said:

Bucking the trend as in zero carbon, not even the forks. 😉

By the time I had the money to buy such a high quality steel frame, the lure of CF sucked me in. There's a small part of me that would like a bit of top end scaffolding.

Favourite bike:

My C60 bought complete from ebay for a mere £1860 with Super Record (bar chainset),
I've since added, Fulcrum racing Zero's (ceramic bearings), prime primavera carbon stem and bars.
Rim brakes but I don't give a stuff about that.

It's sublime and carries that imperceptible thing you cannot put your finger on that Colnago's have inherently.
It's my 'magic carpet': is comfortable as hell and just as fast.

My Wilier Izoard came close but was a harsher ride.
The C40 was also lovely but 20 years of CF evolution later and the C60 wins.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

£1860 @pinno! Was the seller desperate for cash and offered a knock down price?

pinno

MidlandsGrimpeur2 said:

£1860 @pinno! Was the seller desperate for cash and offered a knock down price?

It's quite a good Jackanory.

I saw the C60 on ebay and added it to my watch list and then... yearned. For about 3 months.
It got re-listed and reduced again and again until heartbreak as it was marked as sold.
But I consoled myself with Mrs P forbidding me from n+1 saying 'not another bike. ... we haven't got the room... it's out of your pocket and not ours... what do you want another one for?' (they just don't understand).

Then it re-appeared! So I contacted the guy by evading the ebay filters/rules and discovered that (if you hadn't noticed; it's not a standard C60 paint scheme} it was re-sprayed (in Ducati red) and potential buyers were very wary thinking that it had been repaired after a crash, hence the re-spray. Another factor is this slide away from rim brake frames (and of course, components that aren't part of a disc gruppo).
Mind you, parts on ebay have gone through the roof since Brexit.
But Mrs P agreed that if I got rid of 1, I could have it.

So I very reluctantly decided to sell the C40 which had been beautifully refurbished by Atlantic boulevard:



It didn't sell as a complete bike but that did me a flavor.
Meanwhile whilst listing, then re-listing the C40 (now broken up), I had to convince the C60 seller that I would get the cash together but said that if he felt he couldn't wait much longer, then I wasn't expecting him to hold on forever. He was intending on splitting it but I knew that whatever happened, I could offer him cash for the frame alone on it's own.
He wasn't in a hurry as he said he would rather sell the whole bike to me given I was going to cherish it and it wouldn't end up being split up and the frame ending up a hack bike. He was also sceptical given the previous listing that someone would buy the frame for what he wanted in it's (wrong) colours.
I got the gen from Colour tech in Dartford https://www.colour-tech.co.uk/about/ who confirmed the frame was just well used and tatty but undamaged just as the seller described.
As the C40 did not sell as a complete bike I started sweating thinking I had missed the boat (despite numerous enquiries, mostly admirers than serious purchasers) I split it, getting much more for it than what it was listed for.
(I contacted the guy who bought the C40 frame after the initial feedback some 2 months later and he was over the moon with it. I sent it by some dedicated bike courier with insurance for £60 who did a fantastic job and packed the frame into a proper carrier box).
The same company brought the C60 to me.

We came to an agreement on the price (he kept the saddle, bars and stem) and it only took 3 weeks form my first enquiry to when I got the cash for the C40 (and bits) so he didn't have to wait too long.
I also got to know him; a retired BBC sound engineer who retired early 'cos the beeb f*cked his pension up and it wasn't worth the extra 10 years so agreed a severance package which would allow him to pedal more.
A sound (soz), decent and honest bloke from north London and I am still in contact with him now.

With the paint job, it's almost like new.

(It would be nice to have the legs to do it justice but at least I look good on it and it rides beautifully).

MidlandsGrimpeur2

Shame you had to give up that lovely C40 but sounds as though it was the right call, and everyone involved was happy with the outcome.

I did wonder about the colour, always pays dividends to get in touch with the seller and see what the story is.

I like it when you find a genuine buyer/seller on ebay. I have had a few deals where I have had an extended chat with people and found stuff I was selling/buying was going to or coming from a good home, so to speak.

I had a C59 as well as my C50 but I ended up selling it as I thought having two similar bikes was overkill. Plus, I was so reluctant to get a scratch on the C59 it ended up sitting in the garage rather than being ridden.

You definitely got a bargain price on your C60!

pinno

MidlandsGrimpeur2 said:

Plus, I was so reluctant to get a scratch on the C59 it ended up sitting in the garage rather than being ridden.

You definitely got a bargain price on your C60!

I did.
The C40 was similar to your C59 in that I bought it cheap for £400 odd quid and it was in a state.
Hard to tell from this photo but the left hand side of the top tube was really badly scratched ruining the lovely art deco (AB wouldn't entertain the idea of restoring it to the Rabobank Art deco colour scheme. Shame really. The Art deco is like Marmite. I hate Marmite but I love the Art deco. It's the paint job of the glory days of Mapei and Museeuw).



So I used it as a winter hack for 7 years.

The paint was flaking in various bits, eventually all 4 bottle cage mounts got threaded, the downtube cable mount/shifter boss too and the rear top tube brake cable guide broke off. There was corrosion on the fork/rear dropouts as they are alu.
After it was restored, I was going to put crud catchers on the thing but did not have the heart and I wanted something a bit more lively for summer after I parted with my Izoard and gained a Wilier GTR, so it gathered dust.
I don't like things as good as that just sitting on show. Like classic cars; they need to be used. However, I won't regret letting it go - I know now that it's getting used all the time and good luck to the bloke who bought it.

The Wilier is lovely but being 4th tier and despite 11 years of Wilier CF evolution, I longed for the Izoard but the C60 in all categories just wipes the floor.

In the same price range framewise: I was impressed by my mates Ribble whatever it was. £1800 complete bike with Campag Veloce(?). He's the same height and rides the same pedals. I rode it when he asked me to fix the crunchy head set*. Hard to believe the frame on it's own would set you back a mere £750. Although he did upgrade the wheels.

*Water ingress form being on the roof of the car having driven back from North Yorks in the rain!!

[I've gone off on one haven't I?].

MidlandsGrimpeur2

[I've gone off on one haven't I?].

Not at all, I love hearing stuff like this.

Completely agree with you about letting something go if you know it is going to get the use.

I love the old art deco paint jobs. I bought my two Colnago's from Maestro cycles down in Bognor (Mike Perry who used to own it was quite a character, lovely bloke who was always a pleasure to deal with, and had an opinion or two on the bike industry!). He used to source his frames from the Benelux distributor. They had a licence at the time to paint colnago frames and he could offer it to you in any colour from the back catalogue.

Back then (talking 20 odd years ago) getting a frame from an authorised dealer came with a 6-8 month wait. Mike used to have 30-40 frames in his shop, it was a proper treasure trove.

pinno

I contacted Maestro regarding the paint job and they responded telling me that the bike would go to Italy and get done and sent back.
...prices starting at £1600. That's without repairs, which mine needed.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

Interesting, they obviously deal directly with Colnago in Italy these days then (hence the hefty cost!).

pinno

MidlandsGrimpeur2 said:

Interesting, they obviously deal directly with Colnago in Italy these days then (hence the hefty cost!).

I think that arrangement is down to the complexity of the Art Deco.
Neil at Atlantic boulevard said that they used to get the stencil set but had run out a while ago and could no longer source them.

amrushton

Still got them. A pair of Serottas. From approx 2007, one the Ottrott a Ti/CF mix with 10 speed record/chorus and a Serotta Meivici (CF) with the same mix of Campag. Never going to get any better than those 2. Newer maybe. Better clearances? yes but these 2 are as good as it gets imo (for me).

pinno

amrushton said:

Still got them. A pair of Serottas. From approx 2007, one the Ottrott a Ti/CF mix with 10 speed record/chorus and a Serotta Meivici (CF) with the same mix of Campag. Never going to get any better than those 2. Newer maybe. Better clearances? yes but these 2 are as good as it gets imo (for me).

Old Campag is just so good.
It's just that damn incompatibility with newer wheels that is irksome.

My Record titanium 9 speed (including hubs, titanium cassette and headset) just got better and better and better. I had that same gruppo for 10 years. until 2007.

napoleond

My Colnago Extreme Power from 2009. Got some new Zed wheels on it last year.

pinno

Yay, it's NapD ! Wheredafukaveywewbeen