If anything I've conciously gone the opposite direction this year... I started the year with 'one' bike, the 650B Trek 715 project. I start 2014 with the 650B Trek, Atlantis, XO-3 and MB-3 (not counting wife's bikes or tandem(s)). A bit ridiculous. My thoughts are that 2013 was about the exhuberence of getting into the bike geekdom, learning alot about different kinds of bikes/components and riding more than the combined total of my life up till then. I haven't dived in so quickly to a new hobby/interest at any other point in my life but it's been a ton of fun. I like this resucitated thread becuase I think it would be usefull both in theory and in practice to 'rationalize' my bike's over the coming year. As of today I've got three primary 'needs' from a bike and one 'growth area'
Needs: -Commuting, ~4 days a week all year around paved. -Utility, errand running, not massive costco runs or multi-day grocery but 2 basket load type shopping -Sport Riding, mixed surface short of aggressive single track, 80/20 on pavement though Growth Area: -Off road rambling, my family has some wooded property about 2 hrs from my home with fire roads, creek crossings and ATV trails. I'm planning on building a small shed out there to make camping easier and I'd like to have a couple bikes to enjoy out there. One bike from what I already own = Atlantis (if it fit slightly better!) For my needs though I like Jan's thoughts on his blog and earlier in this thread, two bikes makes sense to me both from a redundancy perspective, ability to tinker and maintaining some flavor in your choices. Stripping away any specific's of my current bikes here is what I'd want in my own 2 bike solution for the 'needs'; Common Characteristics: -~60cm, 90 PBH -Wheel size same (natural, no conversions) -Fender/Rack-able w/ ease -Tire clearance >=45mm (42 w/ fenders) -Rear dropout same -Rim brake -Capable of front loading -Dyno light friendly -Common parts where possible (same type brake pads, same cranks/chainrings, interchangeable drive train's) -One or the other less flashy overall (not quite beater, but easier to leave locked up outside a bar) Bike 1 (sport) -lighter tubing spec -Drop Bars/Moustache (perhaps set up w/ cable splitters for hot-swap) -Front rack only, rear saddlebag option Bike 2 (utility) -stouter tubing spec -Upright cockpit, Alba's most likely -Front and rear racks, w/ baskets Wheelsets: -Fancy: Phil/Paul/WI Rear Cassette hub & SON Dyno Front Hub, Dyad or lighter Rim -Just as good/half as expensive: Shimano Rear Cassette & Shimano Dyno, Dyad or heavier Rim -SS: WI Eccentric Rear free/free & WI Eno Front, Dyad Tire Rotation: -Hetre like (preferrably hetre actual) x2 -Light knobby -Winter Studded Now that I've laid out some rqmts'... here is what comes to mind for bike 1/2 options; 700C Homer/Hillborne + Atlantis/Hunq (except there's no beater here... :) ) OAC Rambler + Surly Ogre (Rear OLD mismatch, perhaps w/ a fat front option!, no lugs here though :( ) 650B Big Saluki/650B Homer (anyone?) + Bombadil (roll out the truckloads of $$$, but wow this would be sweeet!, and also no beater) Boulder All-Road + VO Polyvalent Rawland Stag/rSOGN + ..... (not that many rim brake utility 650B's out there) 26" Bstone XO-1/ MB-1 + Surly LHT S&S 26er (tough to find the XO/MB) Handsome XOXO + Surly Troll Ahhh gear musings... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
