due ruote 

1973 Gran Sport, owned since new, shown here in fixed mode.

modelmartin

My "Old Faithful" isn't so old and I haven't owned it long. It is an 89 Raleigh Technium PRE. I bought in 2012. I have put over 10,000 miles on it since then. It went from 12 speed index to 24 speed STI. NEVER SELLING IT EVER! Pictured before the STI conversion.

Cougrrcj

Do I have an "Old Faithful" bike?

Of course! The late-74 built ('75 model year) Fuji S-10S that I bought new in Oct '76. That was my only bike until just a few years ago. It also will probably be the last bike that I'd ever get rid of, just because we have so much history together. It has been 'updated' and/or modified so much in the last 40 years that little is original. When it was barely months old, I changed from downtube to barcons and added the rear rack... a month later, I built a top-quality wheelset. Many other changes over the years (and 45,000+ miles) two more wheelsets, three cranks, two replacement rear derailleurs, a suspension seatpost... but that old bike just 'speaks' to me.



I have gotten a few newer and 'better' bikes in the past couple of years, but that old Fuji will always be my 'go-to' bike. While the others are newer and lighter, they just don't have that familiar fit and feel. It is a comfortable old friend.

OldsCOOL

I had one of those bought the same year. I enjoyed it for 2 years before parting out for the '88 Cannondale build and then it became a fixie that my son enjoys. Great frames.

clubman 

Although technically my wife's bike, we share it. It's a grocery-getter and sees a lot of use. $25 at the Goodwill about 25 years ago.

ThermionicScott 

I sure do! This 1991 Bianchi Eros was my introduction to C&V bikes as well as road bikes when I bought it in 2009. If I'd known how much I'd be coming back to this picture, I would have taken better shots!



I wasn't immediately comfortable on it, and preferred my cheap MTB until the fit and downtube-shifting really started to come together. Since then, numerous component swaps and fit adjustments have made it my go-to bike, even after buying/building others that I expected to become new favorites. Here is how it looks now:



I've crashed the bike a couple of times, so I'm not getting my hopes up about it lasting forever. I expect the wrinkled downtube to crack eventually, and at that point I will hang up the frame for good. Until then, I am "watchfully waiting". And riding.

ijsbrand

My 1981 Batavus Sprint. Bought in 1981 too, when I turned 14. It was my first vacation bike as well, but it could develop a nasty shimmy with a heavy load. So I got a better bicycle for vacations.

Then its chain stay broke, and though I got that welded I never trusted the frame after that anymore. So I retired it, hung it at the back of my shed as a memento for all the shared miles. Only to resurrect it in 2011 -- as I could use it to practice bike restoration; there was not a lot to ruin.

Last autumn it became a single speed for the first time. This winter it was my preferred bad weather bike.

The Golden Boy 

ThermionicScott 

Daveyk15

My old faithful is a 1985 Bob Griffin had it from new made to measure from a local bike builder.

Mostly original parts from new but in need of a bit of TLC requiring some new hoods and the bearings need regreasing though I have just done the headset.

Gets only dry weather use now as I don't want to wear things out too quickly.https://imageshack.com/a/img923/9008/3LKUTc.jpg

dailycommute

All the present keepers have this vibe-- once a bike has safely bombed down a few steep hills with zero shimmy, ridden through a nasty storm, gone thousands of miles without a flat, locked the brakes for the idiot driver, yet safely delivered me home after another commute/ride I think to myself "old faithful". Just a vibe to the bikes that is hard to describe, they simply seem to roll easier and want to be ridden.