Originally Posted by
dwnptrl_777
Funny how things turn out. When I built the Goat in '08 I thought I'd found the perfect bike. And believe me, it was hard to let go of that bike a few months ago. But it helped me get back on my feet, literally, and it became part of a process of a few bicycles (Goat > Trucker > Pugsley) which, ultimately, helped me know what I wanted as The One. My heart is deep in the woods. Has been since birth. And so the process of bikes helped me understand that I needed something built for offroad, with a second wheelset that still let me play on the road or race when I wanted to.
Anyway, point is, sometimes we need to work through this stuff to know what we really want/need, so no harm done in selling your BD, Adam. Someone else will enjoy it.
Yeah, I think the part of this process/problem is that I am not really sure what I want (that doesn't apply only to bikes either) and I don't have the room to keep all the bikes (and some other things too...) that I'd like to keep. It was definitely a learning process though. I was also hoping that the BD would become my universal bike but I guess I was wrong. It's a cargo bike. It can't replace a touring bike or a mountain bike and it turned out to be too big to be a commuter bike as well.
But I can't have "The One". When it comes to bikes I don't think I can have one bike that will do it all.
I think the idea is beginning to surface that I want three relatively simple bikes:
1) a commuter/hauler, I already have one and it works well alone or with the trailer
2) a weekend/touring bike, probably a rigid MTB with narrow tires and touring bar that would fit on trains or be easily packed for flying/shipping
3) a front suspension MTB, I still would like to go hit some trails, I miss not having a pure MTB
I was thinking about having one bike with a couple of wheelsets (road and off-road) that would satisfy #2 and #3. However, for touring a suspension fork is less than optimal and all the racks would be just an extra weight and bulk for a mountain bike.
I was overhauling my commuter bike this week (new cables, adjusted brakes and gears, etc) and I realized that I really like that Nashbar frame. I think the key here is here to realize that just because it's a $99 aluminum frame it doesn't mean it's a bad frame. There is a lot of attention to detail there and it can be build up with a susp fork as a mountain bike or a rigid fork, thin tires and racks to be a commuter, tourer or whatever bike. So it occured to me that, considering the price, this frame is likely the way to go.
I think I fell into that mindset for a while that I need a fancy steel frame to be happy. Maybe not? With the Nashbar frame and Deore level parts I can build up a nice bike for under $1k. Does it really need to be fancy to be fun? I remember the most fun I had on a bike was when I had a $200 dept store MTB and I was oblivious to all the "requirements" for a decent bike and I was riding every weekend having a blast. I think I got to the point that I was spending too much time and mental energy (and money too) on over-thinking rather than riding.
As I said before, I will stop trying to reinvent the wheel. I will built two simple, purposeful bikes and just start riding them.