obrentharris 

I started out breaking oranges into their individual segments, letting them dry overnight so they wouldn't burst in my jersey pocket, then putting them in aforementioned pocket along with a banana.

Twenty years later they invented something called the Power Bar and I switched to those.

That only lasted a few years until more palatable products hit the market; Clif Bars, Larabars, Fruit and Nut bars, etc.

Now days I just plan my rides to include a bakery stop!

Brent

fender1

I have always been transportation oriented, so the big picture has not changed. I have, however, decided that I prefer lighter, functional bikes that have multiple applications. So no more mtb conversions for me. No more internal hub city bikes for me. Bikes with no clearance for larger tires or the ability to carry some stuff are things I may enjoy from afar but do not own.

I keep trying to refine my needs/wants down to the smallest number possible and find a bike that hits in all of the important (to me) areas.

repechage

My introduction to lightweight bikes was from reading Eugene Sloane's Complete Book of Bicycling that I got for Christmas in 1970. Tubulars, Reynolds 531, Nervex Pro lugs, Campagnolo, TA cranks, Mafac brakes… All found on my first ten speed that I saved for 30 months for.

Soon after I started club riding, I learned about Masi, Colnago, Pogliaghi…Cinelli, Full Campagnolo, Clement seta tires… that was in 1973-74. Very little has changed since.

Zinger

I'm building up the same model frame that I did 30 years ago. I still haven't tried that gel sample that some ebay seller sent me and Aero brake levers still depress me, lol. The day I rode my '86 Trek out of the LBS and threw away the index plate in the Shimano SIS shifters sealed my fate......retrogrouch forever.

VintageRide

Back in the mid '60's growing up in Winnipeg I received my first real bike - a red single speed Eaton's Road King in exchange for cutting the grass for the Summer - it lasted barely a year before being stolen, From there I bought a friend's used Peugeot U 08 in 1972 and had it for four years then sold it, after which I purchased a new Sabatini at a local bike shop in 1978 while living Calgary, Alberta and rode it up until late last year when I finally decided I needed something more versatile and sold it to a local collector. I did have a 2003 Giant NRS 3 bought new in 2008 ( it was collecting dust in a bike store ) and then added a used 2004 Giant NRS 1 having an inclination to try riding off road - stripping and selling the NRS 3 frame and purchasing a new 2006 Giant Anthem frame from ebay in late 2009. I was riding the Sabatini less and less in the last few years and after building up the Anthem with parts from the NRS 3 I decided to part out the NRS 1 to fund the purchase of a touring bike, i ended up with a Steelwool Tweed frame and over a month period in early 2011 finally put it together. So now I had a more practical bike with wider 700C 35mm tires that I could mount rear panniers and go shopping and on local rides on gravel trails etc. After years of only a road bike I was finally discovering fenders and Brooks saddles etc. I was enjoying it so much that I sold the Anthem frame and most pf the parts in mid 2011 and by the end of that year was down to the Steelwool Tweed and Sabatini. Near the end of 2012 I tried finding a a bike specifically for grocery shopping and found a barely used late '80's Maruishi Discovery but after a few months decided it was a bit on the small side and sold it and having spent quite a bit of time here on Bike Forums and other sites got the the itch to try 650b. That is when I made my most difficult decision to finally sell the Sabatini in late October for something I considered more practical. After searching for something appropriate I came across a Rivendell Bleriot frame in late 2012 that had not been built up - it was in Texas so eventually it made it's way to me. It was fun purchasing all of the parts for the build and learning a few more things about tires - specifically the Grand Bois Hetres so I went with them - looking for that comfortable ride they offered. By now I had the handlebars higher than the seat and was enjoying the Rivendell experience - quite a departure from the Italian Sabatini with it's limited gearing, narrow tubular tires, low bars and no fenders. I thought I had finally arrived, older age not withstanding.
So now I had a Steelwool Tweed and the the Bleriot and saw an ad for a Rivendell Romulus frame so I decided another Rivendell wouldn't hurt and managed to purchase it. A bit worse for wear it was a 700C sport touring bike with fenders. I started buying what I needed and got it finished in short order and it was a fun bike to ride and then I got bitten by the low trail bug ( too much time reading Jan Heine's thoughts ) and decided to sell the Steelwool frame and use the parts on a project - which ended up being a 1981 Fuji S12S frame that I bought from someone in California.It was the perfect conversion candidate and has become my favorite bike despite being well used and not high end. I also had a spare set of 650b wheels and wanted to put them on something. The Fuji has turned out to be the nicest riding bike I have owned and I have really taken to the front load setup. So having tried it and found it to my liking I made the decision to sell the Romulus, which I just recently did, I miss it but the low trail advantages had me looking for something to fit the bill and much internet searching had me looking at Boulder Bicycles, Ocean Air, Soma and even a small Canadian company called Toussaint, all had low trail/650b offerings based on earlier French designs. Features and pricing had me finally decide on the Rawland Stag so I just ordered one and to facilitate that build I found myself stripping the Bleriot for most of the parts so that frame will be sold. In my case thanks to the wide variety of bikes available today I have actually tried a few different set ups compared to years of the same bike and hopefully have found what will keep me enjoying riding. It might have been great to keep most of the bikes I had but space limitations and the fact that I like to keep the costs down by selling one bike to get another means I will be keeping things simple.

mustang1

I was only interested in modern and expensive racing bikes with the view of buying one after one or two years of riding a low end aluminium. The time to buy that expensive bike never came and I decided I didn't really need one.

Over the last couple of years I've become more interested in older steel bikes but doubt I will buy one. I also didn't like fenders or racks and kinda still don't but I appreciate the practicality.

I still really like expensive modern lightweight racing bikes but I've broadened into other bikes too which also include hybrids. My biking motto is any bike is good if youre riding it.

North Coast Joe

My illustrated guide to just over one year of riding:



This is my first C&V post.....Now that I toned down that fixie looking thing, can I play here?

noglider 

Oh, now that I think of it, I think my tastes have evolved. I've been riding road bikes with narrow tires and high pressure. Now I'm really enjoying 32mm tires at 60 psi.

noglider 

We like 'em all, Joe, including fixies and crabon fibre.

Chrome Molly

Started on three wheels, then went up to four, but have been on two for a long time now.

Was in on aluminum and carbon when they first got popular, but went back to steel shortly after and really haven't looked back. As my like of longer distance rides increased, my appreciation for 80's road bikes did also. I riding as much now as ever, but admit about half of my annual miles are done on indoor spin bikes (due to weather and time commitments to other things during the best riding hours of the day)

kroozer 

My first 2 bikes that I actually selected and bought for myself (after the Schwinn Continental my parents bought me) were a Motobecane Grand Jubile and a Raleigh International. I've often thought, "damn, I had good taste for a teenage kid". The lightweight road/sport bikes of the 60's - 80's are still my favorite style, and have a nice balance of functionality, price, availability, and classic mojo. But I've recently felt a need to vary the menu a bit. Last year I got a Kestrel 200 to check out the CF scene, and on the other end of the spectrum I've picked up a couple frames from the 1940's, a Stallard and an Automoto. These last two are really in a different category from my other bikes, it's like starting my education all over again.

Paramount1973 

I started out by wanting flat bars or city type bars on my bikes, but now realize that I like drop handlebars better. I don't get numb hands while riding on the hoods. I'm going to convert the bikes I have back to drop bars.

The Golden Boy 

I started riding again when I quit smoking- so I wouldn't get fat. I had my Schwinn High Sierra that I got when I got out of the Army and a couple of my sister's bikes.










At some point, I decided my ultimate goal was to ride to work. It's about 15 miles, and that was a completely unattainable goal. At some point around here I decided I liked old mountain bikes, but I liked riding by myself, and not really hitting trails and mud- just riding. My hands and wrists were really not digging the upright bars and the lack of hand positions.

While I don't get out and ride extreme distances- riding has become my 'get away from people' thing that I get to do. To that end, I got a couple of different bikes and hit on stuff that I liked.

After a little playing around, I've kind of settled on "touring"ish type bikes. I got really lucky and found my 1985 Trek 620- it shares that "really long wheelbase" thing with my mountain bikes, but it's much more comfortable over much of any distance. I've got my Schwinn Voyageur as a tourer, Trek 400 Elance as a sport tourer, Trek 736 as a "racing" bike, Stumpjumper as a MTB and my old High Sierra as a MTB with drops.














Basically my own particular... idiom is 80s Touring Bikes with late 80s and early 90's components.

I am realizing that I don't ride the Stumpy or the High Sierra anywhere as much as they should be ridden- I know how cool those bikes are, but it's just... they're out of my own particular... idiom now.

Pakiwi

After just getting back to riding I won't say my tastes have changed. I have never bought a new bike and apart from an aluminum frame for a while it has always been steel frames. My first serious road bike was a Carlton that was too big for me. Did my first century on it. Now I ride a 1984 Celo Europa with 7 speed 600 components. Now I think I am wiser and just because I can afford a new bike I know I have more to make a difference by dropping a few pounds. Not sure if I will go beyond Steel frames.

jimmuller 

That's a cool story, GBoy.

FWIW, it turns out that riding "extreme distances" isn't all that hard and is very rewarding. The trick is to have a bike that is comfortable, be moderately fit, don't push so hard that you tire early, and eat often as you go. That's it!

The Golden Boy 

The biggest trick is finding the time to do anything like a ride that lasts over 2 hours.

JohnDThompson 

My tastes haven't really changed, but my chainrings are getting smaller. Haven't used a 53T big ring in years, 50T is the biggest, and most in the 46-48T range.

jimmuller 

It occurred to me that when I started riding I had no special attraction to, ah, girls. That was a long time (and 35 years of marriage) ago. I guess my tastes have changed quite a bit since then.

----

I kept wondering what all the fuss over the boomerang was about. Then it finally came to me... (Apropos of nothing in particular.)

gomango

Thirty years ago I wouldn't have touched a spin bike.

This winter?

Spinning four days a week, x country skiing for three and weight training with my oldest son's soccer team.

They are building a schedule for me right now.

One day off a week to do nothing but watching my kids play in an indoor soccer league.

This should be enough to keep me ready for the spring.

Oh yeah, the spin bike is steel.

jimmuller 

I wouldn't suggest you ride a CF spin bike though.

Dfrost 

I briefly tried racing in the early 70's and was a member of a neat little racing team of aerospace engineers at Martin-Marietta outside of Denver, including at least one Olympic class rider (Jack Janelle, an office mate), and we were all friends with Tim (TS) Isaacs, Bob Shaver (Shaver Sports clothing), Alexi Grewal in his younger days (his dad beat me in a little 3-day event), and a few others who became notable in the cycling world. Anybody remember the Coors Classic? Man, those were fun days! BTW, in retirement I plan to volunteer at a Seattle bike coop, where I happened to see a photo of a race pace line from the Coors Classic. One in the photo was an amazing great guy, racer and friend that we lost way too soon: Bob Cook, who was also a likely Olympian.

I then essentially dropped out of bicycling (sold my '72 Masi for $675 to pay for a wedding ring for a woman that I should NOT have married - what a waste!) until 21 years ago, now living in Seattle with its very strong and diverse bicycling culture. I quickly got into group rides, which you could find here literally every day of the year. I did OK in sorta fast groups and night rides considering I was often one of the older riders. And of course, I did most of the big rides around here - STP, RSVP, RAMROD, Cycle Oregon, Tour des Lacs (really fun one around Lake Coeur d'Alene in the fall), and all the other organized century and longer rides, often every other week.

Apologies for the long preamble and nostalgia, but it helps explain how my tastes have changed.

I enjoyed going fast and long, with lots of pace lines, and loved the climbs. The most amazing thing happened along the way when I realized that a woman I saw on lots of those group rides was pretty neat beyond bikes. I'd met her on my first STP in '93 and got to know her better training for my first one-day, 200-mile STP (not her first). We started dating after that cycling crazy summer, and she invited me to accompany her on a 10-day, 700-mile credit card tour across northern Washington the next year. Our next bike tour was 3 weeks of self-guided honeymoon fun in France in 1998, and we celebrated her one-year anniversary following breast cancer (episode 1) with 3 weeks on our bikes in Italy in 2001. We plan to celebrate one year since episode 2 next fall on bikes in Eastern Europe.

Neither one of us has much interest in group rides and the associated ego agendas any more, although we both still love climbs when we approach "in shape". My best riding buddy is the amazingly strong rider that shares my home. And we get as much if not more pleasure these days out of every ride even if they're not nearly as fast nor quite as long.

Most in this thread have been talking about their tastes in bikes. Because of my start those decades ago, lugged steel bikes were normal then, and I like them even more now. "Modern" bikes show me no reason to "upgrade". I love the fastener improvements that happened in the 80's so that a few hex wrenches can do most minor repairs, but deplore the move toward ever-higher speed counts, multiple "standard" sizes (and much reduced availability of the older common ones), and ugly components. I have come to appreciate the new wide, supple tires and the lower tore pressures, much like those big silk Campionate del Mondo (sp?) sew-ups from my racing days. Guess I've become retro grouch.

What has changed in my bikes is that I have a much better idea of how to fit myself on a bike, and continue to learn more about that. Being less flexible now in my 60's with a couple of new hips, and few other replaced parts certainly changes my sensitivity to what constitutes comfortable. But man, the recovery process after those surgeries gets longer and longer! But at least I'm here to talk about it.

TMI?

look171

I started riding seriously in the mid 80s when I was about 15. I still think some of the prettiest bikes were build between late 80s - early to mid 90s steel frames. I have had my share of destroying many of them over the years. My taste have always been Italian frames and still **** the few American builders like Serotta or Holland. Now racing has been over for me since the mid 90s, I still like to ride a certain way and enjoy the military pace line group rides (now and even before, I just hang on to dear life) so I finish. I do not enjoy going to Starbucks or talking while riding. It can done afterward off cycling clothes. In that respect, I have not change. Carbon bikes I really like for general riding but the steel bikes almost never get ridden any more. They are just old weapons for looks now. The one that won the most races is hanging in my office with battle scars and all. The changes I have notice is the lack of care about the latest and greastest such as deep dish carbon "racewheels". I can hang just fine with my old fashion Reflex wheels or Ksyriums. A heavy saddles and all of the heavy steel bottle cage bolts are ok by me. I do spend lots of money on tires. Life is too short to ride crappy tires. They just feel good with plenty of grip.

One change I have notice is that I no longer drool over Campy like I did with Campy Super Record. It was too out of reach for a poor boy. So Suntour Superbe was my weapon of choice for many years due to club discount.

look171

^ What happened, I typed in like and it got written over?