Community > Muppets Threads! (And Anything Else)

one bike

(1/5) > >>

KDean:
Not being one for having several bikes , if you could only have one for doing a bit of everything I reckon it would have to be the Nomad ? at least it wouldn't break .Have you ever been out on a trip & wished you'd taken another bike ? What would yours be ?

PH:
I'm glad I don't face that dilemma, if I did mine would have to fold. 

mickeg:
Probably my titanium touring bike.  Eight speed 11/32 Sram cassette, half step plus granny triple, bar end shifters, dynohub lighting and USB charging, steel fork.  But if it was my only bike, I would have to add S&S couplers.  With fenders (mudguards) it can take up to 37mm wide tires.

I would not take it where I have taken my Nomad, that is one reason to own multiple bikes.  I think my Sherpa can take a heavier load, I consider the Sherpa my medium touring bike where my titanium bike is my light touring bike and the Nomad Mk II is my heavy touring bike.  I am sure that my titanium bike would have worked well on some of the bike tours I have done on my Sherpa, but the Sherpa that can take 50mm tires probably was a better choice on some of those trips.

But my titanium bike rides and handles similar to both my road bike and my rando bike while it can also carry a load on wider tires.  I built it up before "gravel" bikes became a separate category of bikes, but it is very much like a "gravel" bike but with a triple crank drive train and fenders.

Two of my bikes were spur of the moment decisions to buy, not a long thought out process.  And my titanium bike is one of those snap decisions.  I got a great deal on the frame, with factory warranty.  When that manufacturer gets a new frame returned from a dealer they put it on Ebay instead of putting it back in inventory which is how I got it for a great price.  I had always wanted a titanium bike so it was a quick decision to add some bling to my bike collection.  But in the end I found it to be one of my favorite bikes.

Since I built it up for touring, I wanted it to be reliable, robust, easy to repair and easy to replace components.  For example, the rear hub I chose has a steel axle, it is a Shimano XT hub with quarter inch ball bearings, technology that has been around for decades.  But I recently switched to cartridge bearing jockey wheels, as I got tired of cleaning and re-greasing the jockey wheels every couple years.

No racks on the bike when photo taken, when touring I have racks front and rear with a four pannier setup. 

martinf:
If really pressed for space I'd keep two.

Raven Tour, as it will do everything any of my full size bikes can do, albeit slower and less fun than my Raven Sport Tour for lightly-loaded day rides.

And one of my Brompton folders. Less necessary than when I was working but still extremely useful for multimodal trips.

Danneaux:
I currently have 15 bikes, ranging from my late father's 1938 Hercules to several road bikes and folders from 1970 to more modern/contemporary bikes including ones I've built myself and a tandem. Each will of course do anything and go anywhere, but is best suited for a particular task.

My Nomad is my primary expedition bike and is nonpareil for the task. It handles extreme loads well, has extremely low maintenance requirements, and the low gearing I need making it perfect for me in this use. It is also (necessarily) heavier at 20kg dry and unladen than my other bikes and less well-suited for really long 300-400km day rides than my randonneur and lighter touring bikes that weigh around 14.5kg and have lighter wheels. The Nomad works so well for me off-road and on logging roads, any intended road ride soon turns into an impromptu exploration of whatever gravel lane or dirt track I come across. The bike has been superb for this.

At the other end of the spectrum, I have my Fixie which has ended up being my go-fast bike and is also lightest at 11.8kg fully outfitted.

In-between is a 1987 production steel MTB/commuter frame (Diamondback Transporter) fitted with a choice of Thorn Sherpa Mk2 forks, one providing neutral trail, the other low-trail geometry. It is my Enduro-Allroad and closest to being the One Ring That Rules Them All in my stable (the do-all "only" bike). It is about halfway between the Nomad and the Rando bikes for weight yet has 26x2.0 slick tires and the usual mudguards, racks, bottles and sus-seatpost I need for rough-stuff while weighing about 16.3kg. However, it would not be my choice for a long tour because of the shorter lifespan and greater maintenance demanded by the 3x9 derailleur drivetrain.

I put about 9,000kms on a Thorn Raven on my 2014 tour. It was closest to my mutant DB Transporter but with the added advantage of a Rohloff drivetrain. Weight spotted in pretty close to the same as well. I could have become my "one bike".

Still lusting after an Audax or Mercury, so there seems to be no cure for "n+1 Syndrome".

Best,

Dan.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page