There’s no new bike fever in my life at the moment. Wow. That’s because I have the perfect fleet! I wrote my last “thinking of new bikes” post in 2022 when I was wanting a gravel bike but now that I have one, I’m pretty happy. (And given the effect tariffs may have on bike prices, I’m glad I’m happy with the bikes I have.)
In no particular order, here they are:
1. My Brompton, 2019
See How Sam gets pretty in pink! #Brompton
I bought it six years ago when my ability to walk anywhere when I traveled was declining and I wanted a bike that could come with me on the road.
It’s bright pink and it’s terrific, not just for traveling, but for days when I want to be flexible. It can come into most restaurants and theatres when folded. And it’s always allowed on public transit and fits easily into car trunks.
I can wear it with regular clothes and I own a sparkly pink bike helmet to match.
My bright pink Brompton always makes me smile.
2. My adventure road bike, 2017
See One bike? in which I blogged about this being the bike I’d choose, if I could only own one bike. It’s my everyday bike, probably the most ridden (in terms of days, not kilometers) of the fleet. It’s outfitted with fenders, lights, and panniers.
The one non-everyday feature? SPD pedals so I either wear my cycling sandals or bike shoes. The one change I’m tempted to make is installing pedals that are flat on one side and with spd clips on the other. Maybe. We’ll see.
3. My fat bike, 2017
See Snow dreams in summer for its origin story.
This bike was one I got in a swap for my cyclocross bike. The cyclocross bike was my bonus thyroid cancer bicycle. I used it some but not enough to justify keeping it. At the same time I was renting fat bikes and loving it. So I decided to sell the cyclo-cross bike and buy a fat bike but instead found someone who wanted to trade. Perfect! Sarah now has a fat bike too and I love bombing around in them on local trails and taking them on weekend adventures. Right now they’re at the farm for riding there. Looking forward to it!
4. My go-fast road bike, with di2 shifting, 2019
This is my speediest bike and the one that I use for long, endurance road rides. It’s done the full version of the bike rally and lots of other long rides as well. It’s definitely the lightest bike I own. Whee! Zoom!
5. My new green gravel bike, 2024
Sarah did all the research and she initially bought this bike for herself, but once she decided to buy one bike that does everything, I bought this bike from her. It’s a carbon gravel bike with a single front chainring (1x drive train). You can read here about some of the advantages of this set-up. It’s a lot of fun to ride and it was the one bike I took with me to New Zealand this year. It’s good for climbing and does well in the gravel, including some rides where we ought to have had mountain bikes.
6. My time-trialish Cervelo, currently being used for Zwifting, 2017
Cervelo on the trainer
This is my sexiest and speediest bike. I used to ride it on the road when I was riding shorter distances, solo, and aiming for speed. Now it’s the road bike that I lend to friends and let hang out on the trainer.
I bought this bike used because I was wanting something more aero, good for solo riding. It’s a fun bike. It’s not particularly comfortable but it’s great for distances under 50 km.
These days though it’s pretty much a dedicated Zwift machine.
Confession: I do own one more bike, a track bike, which I would sell but Sarah wants me to keep in case she decides to go ride at the velodrome in Milton in her spare time. That’s a bit of a joke because she is the busiest person I know. It’s in the shed but I’m not counting it as part of my fleet.
How about you? How many bikes? Which is your favorite and why?
Two for me at the moment. My commuter is a ~2012/13 Surly Long Haul Trucker. It’s heavy but comfortable with butterfly bars that let me sit nearly upright. This winter I put studded tires and fenders on it and it was a fine winter commuter as well.
A couple of weeks ago I got the news that my Kona Private Jake that I bought used during the pandemic wasn’t in the best of shape and many replacement parts would have to be sourced on Ebay. Some poor decisions on the part of the assembler (or a recent mechanic – I’ll never know which) meant bottom bracket creaking had been “solved” with locktite and would take a ton of effort. I had them break it down, took the pieces I wanted and left the frame/fork for them.
Saturday, preparing for some randonneuring/longer rides and when I’m feeling brave/crazy I say ‘maybe an ultra race’, I bought a new Specialized Roubaix. It should be ready tomorrow just in time to shake it out on a 200k brevet this weekend.
Officially, I have four bikes still (I gave away my old MTB to a student and sold my cross bike to a friend): my old but serviceable Lemond road bike; my slightly-too-big but still useful Salsa Warbird gravel bike; my old-old-old trek beater bike; and my fancy-shmancy Lemond prolog e-bike. Practically speaking, I use the Lemonds and not the others. I would like a gravel bike that fits me better (either e- or analog). After this summer, I’ll see what kind of riding I’m doing and budget for the following year.