the best bike you ever owned

[ians]

having just sold my Raven Tour got me thinking about the best bike I've ever owned.  I've had a lot of bikes over the years - tourers, mountain bikes and road bikes.

At Number 2 is the Raven Tour.  Fabulous, comfy ride - everything about it was just right.

But at Number 1 is the Muddy Fox Courier (1st generation - white with yellow and black decals).  I bought this from my LBS in the mid-1980s.  It was ordered in specially - my LBS hadn't even heard of mountain bikes let alone Muddy Fox.

I used it get to work, to the shops, toured with it, charity rides, messing about in the woods.  It has the number 1 slot because of one quality that set it above all others - it was fun.  I was about 40 at the time - and I hadn't had that much fun on a bike since I was a kid.

Care to share your best bike?

[Kuba]

Thorn xTc of Reynolds 725 with LX groupset - definitely and by far. If they only made the larger sizes oversize and with a tad more luggage capacity I'd never have sold mine.

Anyone out there looking to swap xTc for a large Cyclosportiff or Raven Tour, give me a shout. 

[jags]

the one i'm riding at the moment Raleigh 753,
the Look KX light was a smashing bike as well
the sherpa was brilliant strong as an old horse,
but yeah the raleigh will take some beating.

[geocycle]

A steel silver 5 speed Viking superstar, ridden to destruction, my first bike as a teenager for purely nostalgic reasons.  But I have to say my RT is the best bike from a practical perspective by miles (and miles).

[Paulson]

I do love my RST but I think that the Audax Mk 3 was, all told, a better ride. 

[Andre Jute]

it would be surprising if the Utopia Kranich that I now use for everything wasn't the best bike I ever owned, considering it is several multiples of the price of some pretty desirable bikes I owned before. And I don't just say that because if I chose any other bike you would question my judgement in buying the Kranich. The Kranich is just so right, everything just works like I want it to, that the best description of it is "a complete bike" -- in the sense of compleat, even iconic in its operation. It never puts a foot wrong, and it isn't pushy about it either, like a Trek or even the sportier Gazelle, which are themselves good bikes.

I've bought three very sophisticated and technically advanced bikes by mail-order, sight unseen, from German dealers, and had a happy experience each time. That's amazing, when you think I'm several countries and two sea passages away.

[NZPeterG]

Because this is Thorn site I can only list my Best Cycle Tourer
Thorn Nomad (Tom)
6th or 7th overall.

Pete

[energyman]

A Woodrup Chimera BD followed closely by an RST.

[brummie]

Of all the bikes I've owned & wish I'd still got, I'd have to say......

Thorn Catalyst.

[leftpoole]

Thorn Audax 853 size 550S which I sold due to illness. I regret it and trying to find another, with little success.
John

[Hamish]

I think my Catalyst was the best.  I wish I hadn't sold it.

[Relayer]

The best bike I ever owned was my Dawes Galaxy.  It was extremely comfortable, it had a good turn of speed (for a tourer), and of course could carry a heavy load.

It was my only bike for a few years and I took it on 200km audaxes, off road through muddy tracks and over more mountains than most MTBs ever see, anywhere in all weathers and foul conditions, and I will always regret letting it go.

Nowadays I have lighter/faster better looking audax/road bikes, a better bike for off road, and of course my Thorn RST which is just great for everything else.

Jim

[honesty]

the best bike I owned was my Raleigh Equipe white/yellow/silver colour that my parents bought me for my something'th birthday back at the end of the 80s. As my first proper racer and not a kids bmx it was the best bike ever, and I rose all over Leicestershire on it.

typically my parents threw it out a few years ago without telling me... my fault for leaving it for 15 years in their garage I suspect...

[anniesboy]

Without a doubt my Coca Cola audax bike actually made (Im told by Nigel Dean) in 531c.
Bought for £150.00 about twenty years ago.

[davefife]

vitus 979 dural, because I was fast, very fit and  a bit younger than I am now!  However, I sold it but did keep the bike I had before the Vitus, a Peugeot 400 professionelle in reynolds 531, still have it and still ride it.
Dave