panzerwagon 

For the past few months, haven’t been able to stop riding my 1982 Chris Pauley Tierra. (Sorry, no pics handy)
If I had to choose right now, that would be it. Allegedly made from a mix of columbus and 531, it rides like a racer but with touring braze-ons out the wazoo.

mechanicmatt

I like my '86 Trek 560. Just super smooth ride, many many miles.


...but this one may be good.

nlerner

I’ve owned and ridden many C&V bikes, but the one that altered my paradigm was a Black Mountain Cycles Road, which came as a frameset and is built with a mix of functional parts:




Something about the fit, geometry, tire capacity (shown with 35mm Compass tires above), and weight all work wonderfully for me, and I’ve used it for bikepacking, credit card touring, and fast weekend rides. I like it so much that I bought another one on eBay and made it into my travel bike:




I also took the geometry specs and fed them into the build sheet at Waltly in China and had them build me a Ti version that takes 38mm tires with thru axles and disc brakes, shown here on the way to our Tour de C’Ville back in June:



I still ride other bikes in my fleet, particularly for commuting, but these three see the vast majority of the around 5K a year road miles that I’ve racked up since acquiring them.

northbend 

1998 Merlin Extralight with Full Campagnolo 9sp Record group, Shamal wheels.
That was a great bike. The standard I use to judge all others for ride quality.

shoota 

I think I need to know more about this Waltly

rogerm3d

Since a brake cable end and housing are the same diameter you can reverse the cable and housing routing through a large number of brake levers (some drilling may be required). With bar drilling and further work you can hide the cables better. This was happening among junior racing in the southern California area in the mid-late 70s before aero levers started to become available. This mod tends to reduce braking effectiveness but it looks cool. Probably the most famous example of this modification was Hinault as early as 1979, and later with Gitane's time trial bikes.

Mackers

After this morning's ride. Though to be honest his 30 years younger brother really rides just as well and is six pounds lighter

delbiker1 

I think I cannot give this a definitive answer. I have 8 bikes and like riding all of them. The one I probably think of first most of the time is my Soma Smoothie, 105 7000 group set, Zonda wheels with Open Pave 27mm and latex tubes. It fits me like it was custom built, has a terrific ride, quick and nimble enough for fast rides, seat stay braze-ons. I have two forks for it: Soma CF with aluminum steer tube and a Soma Tange touring fork width mid leg rack mounts. This is the " if you could have only one bike" choice for me.

nlerner

https://www.waltlytitanium.com

It took about 8 weeks for my frame to be built, and the website says current build time is 4 months. That’s not bad considering current supply chain woes and still faster than a domestic custom builder.

T-Mar

How does one rate their favourite ATB compared to their favourite road bicycle or even their favourite road racing bicycle to their favourite grand touring bicycle? They're all bicycles, yet each has a very different intended use, making them impossible to compare and rank against each other.

bwilli88 

Here in Cambodia it was my Zunow.




Which is now in the States

In the States it is my Gugificatizion English Witcomb and it will hopefully be making its way here to Cambodia.

shoota 

You just gotta pick one. That's why I choose my all road/touring bike(s) since I could in theory cover the most varied surfaces with them.

mprince

I bought a used Gunnar Hot Dog back in 2004 and used it as my travel bike that year. Was a combination of Ultegra/DA 9-speed and had Mavic Cosmos wheels and a Profile carbon fork. I loved how that bike fit and rode, used it that summer to race on Wednesday nights with the MBCC in a state park near Hingham/Norwell, MA. I ended up selling it, it was very close to my custom 2001 Steelman in many ways, but I couldn't bring myself to sell the Steelman (which I still own as my only bike). Unfortunately no pics of the Gunnar, it was bright yellow with a black fork.

OldCoot

As someone stated earlier, "my favorite bike is the one I am on". In C&V terms, my most favorite bike was my Trek 970 from the 80's. Bought as a leftover in a Rhode Island bike shop in grad school cost me what was then for me a minor fortune. It was light, supple, but just snappy enough in all areas to always be fun. It was made from Columbus SL, had a Shimano 600 groupset, and tubular tires. I think tubular tires ride the best.... I kept it for at 15 years. Had it powder coated, as the paint was getting shabby. I moved on to get index shifting and dual pivot brakes ( I rationalized that buying a new bike was cheaper than sourcing all new parts... go figure) Eventually sold it to a naval officer friend. Big mistake. I think there should be a thread about the one we should never have gotten rid of...

obrentharris 

I'm in this camp. Choosing a favorite bike would mean choosing a favorite type of riding, since my different bikes are for different purposes. Do I prefer long road rides (DiNucci) over racing cyclocross (Rock Lobster aluminum cx bike) over Singletrack and fire roads with old friends (Rock Lobster hardtail) over "stop-and-smell-the-flowers" all day rides (1960 Allegro) over my favorite 40 mile hilly road loop? (Bruce Gordon)

I can't tell you which of my children I prefer either.
Brent

AZORCH

Without question the "best I ever rode" (and continue to ride) is my Boulder Brevet, 700 x 32. Not C&V, of course, but that wasn't part of the requirements.

John E

My favorite type of bicycle would be a road touring bike, possibly an older road racing bike, with ample clearance for 32 or even 35mm tires, and with medium-range gearing, something on order of 40 to 95 gear-inches.

Having said that, my mountain bike has been getting a lot of use lately, mostly on road, some on multitrack trails. (I don't do technical mountain biking -- don't have the coordination for it.)

thook

i've had and have a number of great bikes, too. and, "best" can include a number of criteria based on relative application and comparison. but, when i first got on my '98 bontrager privateer, that bike fit sublimely natural and handles it's function the same. so, my bonty would be the best

iab

By the stupid look on your face. Use mine as a reference.

106100-002-026f by iabisdb, on Flickr

Spaghetti Legs 

Don't forget to add in 2 months on a ship in Long Beach Harbor waiting to get unloaded.

SurferRosa

Only one?? I don't know, but I can narrow it down to being ...

- over 35 years old
- double-butted steel frame
- box-section 32/36h rims
- clips & straps
- non-aero brakes
- down tube friction shifting
- quill stem with drop bars
- 6- or 7-speed freewheel
- Campagnolo equipped.

nlerner

Schwinn Varsity with a Campy Valentino RD?

sbrudno

All of my bicycles are >45 years old and my current ride I converted from drop to up bar and accommodating brake levers (I am an old fart BTW). And before the mid 70s, it was hard to even find more than a 5 speed freewheel (at least I never saw one in the Palo Alto catalogue that I used for parts back then). Everything else is OK.

sheddle

The De Rosa Professional is the most swank feeling, and the Univega Competizion is the fastest feeling bike I have, but nothing is more natural for me to ride every day than the Super Tourer.

non-fixie 

For me, the litmus test is easy: which are the bikes that go on the rack when mrs non-fixie and I go on a vacation trip? For that we need bikes that can handle everything we might throw at it for a week or two, which usually ranges from billiard-smooth tarmac to deeply-rutted Tuscan white roads.

We typically end up choosing bikes that do not necessarily excel in any particular area, but are pretty good at almost everything. I guess their quality lies in making us feel comfortable and competent on whatever road we find ourselves.