plumberroy

I have a couple of bikes that a really didn't know what to classify or call them. After reading here I think they fit under adventure bikes.
Bike 1 Gravity 29 plus from Bikesdirect. I don't ride serious off road but this is the bike I ride when don't know what kind of terrain I might incounter. Not a great picture



Bike 2 Univega Alpina 501 that I have modified I take it to poke around I new park or if we are going somewhere that I what to get away from the crowd and explore locally. I think adventure fits there use

shelbyfv

Good job, that's a weight lifted for sure!

indyfabz

I call them ugly. Just my opinion.

gthomson

Hard crowd to please eh? Technically I would think they are still mountain bikes but used for different purposes. The first bike looks like it could make a good touring bike if it was kitted up with the racks and panniers and the 2nd bike is what we call vintage mountain bike. Has a nice ring to it when you put that vintage in the name ha ha.

Personally, I like my vintage mountain bike for heading down to pick up some groceries, a slow ride with my wife or heading out on some crushed gravel trails through some park land. Comfy, easy to maintain and not very appealing to thieves.

Inusuit

I don't care what my bikes are called by others. My favorite ride is the old Rockhopper, slightly modified and great on tarmac and gravel. Of course I'm 79 and not inclined to be defined by what I ride.

RCMoeur 

Regardless as to what pigeonhole into which they might be stuffed, they look suited for their intended purposes. And that's all you can really ask for.

Iride01 

If it does what you want to do, then that's all that matters. If you ride them long enough and frequently enough, then eventually you might begin to find some things that they don't do well or that they prevent you from doing better at something. Then you'll know it's time for a new bike to solve that issue.

Wildwood 

I use a different system - the red one, the white one, the orange one, the black one, the blue one, etc. Much easier, no indecision and they can all be adventurous, based on rider's situational attitude.

10 Wheels

Red . White

Wildwood 

Every adventure preceded by a little reflection

A kaleidoscope of adventures, at least the vintage ones. Oh the tales these bicycles have unspoken.

wolfchild

Post them in General Forum and call them gravel bikes and I'll guarantee you that you'll get a 10 page debate.

arex

That Alpina is a pretty sweet old-school mountain bike. To me, that's a keeper.

John E

Concur. I really like my old-school, non-suspension mountain bike (Schwinn Project KOM-10) of about that vintage, and I get a tremendous amount of use out of it.

ofajen

This is mainly what I ride now. Back to single speed after a dalliance with 1x7. So, basically a big “kid’s” bike.



Otto

gthomson

I like that configuration and have to agree with you, that as we get older and our bodies change, we're more comfortable on a bike like we rode as a kid. All part of that theory that we start helpless as a baby, grow up as adults, old age and slowly progress back to be a child and then helpless baby.

How do you like that handle bar? I'm thinking of trying out something like that on my 90's mtn. bike.

ofajen

I’m a fan of the North Road style bar for riding on easy trails. I use ordinary Oury grips and put cheap bar foam forward of the levers so I can use pretty much any part of the bar. There are good points for out of the saddle riding; farther back when climbing steep hills and further forward on level ground. These are the low budget Sunlite Elson Roadster steel bars.

Here’s a view of the bars from roughly the steering axis:





Riding single speed just seems to make me particularly happy. Also, I benefit from the challenge of single speed. It keeps me stronger.

I noticed that once I started to use gears more during this last season, I was losing the SS cycling-specific muscle tone and recently I started just riding in the 42/16 gearing.

After a while I decided to just go back to the SS version. Curiously, that is noticeably more fun for me than riding just that same gear on a 1x7. YMMV.

Otto

gthomson

Geometry looks comfortable as well which is important for us old guys and I like you can adjust your arm position. Can you get a shifter on the bar and comfortably reach brakes? My knees are starting to go on me and mashing the pedals causes pain so I would definitely need gears.

ofajen

Stem shifter is an acceptable option for me since I don’t shift a lot, though sometimes my knee will bump it when out of the saddle.

The recent option was a thumb shifter just on the right side of the stem and tilted fairly far forward (beyond a vertical plane of lever motion) but which only interfered slightly with hand positions forward and near the center of the bars.

If you get the much nicer Nitto Albatross bar, then bar end shifters are possible and very handy. 👍

Sunlite tells you this model works for bar end shifters, but they lie.

Also note, I’m using a 140mm stem. The bars would come back further, of course, with a shorter stem.

The bar height represents a balance of wanting it low enough for powerful seating riding but high enough for comfortable reach for all the various standing grips needed for single speed.

Otto

oldbobcat

Are you trying to be the Carolus Linnaeus of bicycling? Just ride and enjoy.

BTW, I'm digging the old Univega. Ben Lawee was a visionary and the bike is beautifully preserved.