Saturday, September 20, 2008

I'm a bike slut...


I've sold two bikes this year and have another I'm thinking of parting with. You might think my fleet is shrinking rapidly and I'm headed for one-bike-nirvana. Not to worry I'm very good at recycling bike money back into new projects. I've got a new MTB frame hanging in my office slowly accumulating parts eagerly anticipating its fat tire debut. I have a second bike project in mind - actually about three of them, but I'm working my way towards deciding which one will become reality this winter.

Why so many bikes? Why not? Besides travel, bikes are the only thing I spend money on. I enjoy thinking about new bikes, getting the parts in, building the bikes and then riding them. Although I enjoy the process no matter the outcome I don't fall in love with all my bikes. That's partly due to the high caliber of the rigs in my fleet. There is some stiff competition when a bike gets voted off the island. The bikes that don't make it aren't bad rides - in fact their new owners usually fall head over heels for them, but in the bike-eat-bike world of my fleet they couldn't find their niche.

There are some bikes that never have to worry. I can't recall the last time I made any significant change to my Surly Long Haul Trucker. It's been years really and even after the initial build I've only tweaked a couple things. I was going to say the LHT is perfect and that's why I haven't changed anything, but that's not true. I can think of a more comfy saddle I could put on it and nicer fenders. I was contemplating some faster tires. So why don't I just get on with the upgrades? Well the LHT isn't perfect, but it's a darn nice ride. Everything on it has served me well. No matter what else is going on with my other bikes I know it's ready to saddle up and it can handle 90% of my cycling missions with aplomb. I appreciate how reliable it's been for me and I value that more than tweaking it to be perfect.

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