Pre-Rules
[rule number=12/]
That is a very reasonable opening salvo for the Rule about bike ownership. Three is good and certainly a minimum, and we are talking road bikes here, if there was any doubt. They naturally become ordered: the #1 is ichi-ban, top dog, go-to bike for every and all rides. #2 was the old #1, it sits on the bench, always ready. By the time you get to bike #3, there is a good chance old #3 doesn’t get ridden too often, except commuting, but is that any reason not to keep #3 updated, upgraded and ready for action…just in case?
My #3 is my thirty year old steel bike. It was my #1 for many great years and great kilometers. It stayed behind on the mainland, stabled in an unheated space at my parents, waiting for me to visit them and her. And you better have a bike when visiting your parents. Sometimes the #3 has to do this kind of work. But now the Bella is back with the rest of the crew and needs to be reborn hard.
I already upgraded the steel bike whenever I could. It would not be acceptable to show up for the strade bianche granfondo on this machine despite its age. The carbone ergo levers and the 8 speed Jan Ullrich vento wheels would most likely be met with moustache twisting disapproval. I don’t want a classic steel bike with six speeds and downtube shifters, FFS. I want mine with lots of modern gears, fast wheels, better handlebars and a nice new paint job.
Besides Rule #12’s unwritten clause stating your partner needs to be on a slightly more awesome bike than your own, the upgrade-downward cascade effect cannot be left unmentioned. Upgrading your or your partner’s #1 bike’s components can mean a shower of quality components now cascade down the line. When I upgrade my wife’s Campagnolo Chorus 11 speed to Record 11, one, she will be a full gruppo above me, flying overhead in the clouds. That frees up the slightly beaten up Chorus 11 gruppo for my slightly beaten up #3. My wife is happy, I am happy, bikes are happy, the equation balances out.
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one GREAT thing that i've noticed over the last 20 years, is the increase in the prevalence and utility of bike lanes. there are HUGE swaths of my city where i can just ride down the middle of the street at 35kph without a care in the world, and i'm not alone. the motorists have gotten used to this, too, by and large. it's really kind of paradise around here, compared to 20 years ago. as the world gets more crowded, bikes just make too much practical sense for people to ignore them as a viable alternative. i think demographic and economic pressures will succeed in greening the world where idealism has basically failed thus far.
@MangoDave
Pegoretti...
Sorry, had to clean up my drool.
I have just started riding again back in July. But my n+1 thus far:
1) 2003 Pinarello Prince Dura Ace
2) Capricorn (local frame builder) in process of being built with Chorus and Honjo fenders for my winter bike
3) Commissioned a Harbinger (another local frame builder) to be built with Record to replace current #1
4) '85 Specialized Stumpjumper made into a commuter for my lock down in town ride
just crashed my #1
1. Parlee Z5i Full Record 11.
2.Pegoretti Responsorium Chiavete Paint. Full Record 11.
3.Cherubim Uli. Full Dura Ace 9000.
4.Norco Indy Drop. Full Fenders. 105 Group. Disc .
5.Rossi 10 Speed. Downtube Shifters.
Maybe one of these days I'll get back into MTB, but Ms. BONE isn't too keen on more bikes. Throwing CX tires on the Jake is plenty good fun for the most part.
@TBONE
err.............would that be a southern hemisphere coriolis effect?
Word, living in Canberra is odd: the Green party regularly shares power in local government, there's bike lanes everywhere, but it's a munted city where having a car makes life so much easier. For all it's got going for it, Canberra has literally unlimited urban sprawl - its the defining feature of the city. Food miles, particularly are terrible because it is surrounded by not very productive farmland, and all the food has to be trucked in, making food prices very susceptible to price changes in the cost of fuel.
I do ride everywhere, and I'm definitely in the minority here, I'll see a handful of cyclists out and about compared to other cities. I am pretty buzzed on myself that I don't drive everywhere, that I ride and commute as much as possible, in terms of keeping cars off the roads, but the climate here is pretty dreadful for cycling and I don't blame anyone for not wanting to do it. I've never bought a car, I've always lived in cities (Canberra excepted) where owning one was either not necessary or a waste of money, and hate driving.
As such, I have very ugly commuters that are the heroes of the $ per km equation, and nice expensive road bikes that sit for days at a time till it's their turn for crib night/sunday best/track racing.
@Gianni
Baboom, Etsy. This is a re-imagining of the original decal head badge, with some v-cogs chucked in there. That was the easy part, now to do everything else a recently sandblasted frame requires. This is brushed and polished nickel. What a deal.
So my wife changed to Ultegra Di2 on her SLR01, leaving me a nice SRAM Red22 bro-set to play with. All I needed was a frame and bars, and a new #2 was born. So, in order of use:
#1 BMC SLR01 with Red22
#2 BMC SL01 (slow one) Al with Red22
#3 Giant Trinity C1 with Ultegra and Red22
#4 Giessauf 531SL with Nuovo Record (1983)
#5 Avanti ventura cheapie hardtail MTB/commuter