If you could only keep ONE bike, Which one would it be and Why?

[ianrauk]

Nope, just cant decide.
My Van Nicholas road bike which I have dome many thousands of miles over the years in supreme comfort.
My PX Tempest. A great ride and is great for touring, commuting and carrying gear.
I also love my vintage Raleigh Steel/Ti MTB with its oversized tyres. Just out and out jolly good fun.
My Pashley Parabike. That's just a beautiful. smooth, comfy, glorious ride.

Nope, just cant decide. But of you put a gun to my head..... then my Van nick.. no... my PX Tempest... hmm or my MTB or my Pashley

 

[Baldy]

The one I haven't got yet, I have three already. A Raleigh Bannana look-a-like from the mid-eighties that gets ridden about once a year just for old times sake. A cheap Mountain bike, hardtail, Al frame, quite heavy but takes a lot of abuse. Plus a steel framed tourer, Orbit Expedition. Really nice bike but I think just a tad too small for me.
Hoping to get a Sonder Camino Al, when they come back into stock. So, if I had to pick it would be the Sonder.

 

[FishFright]

Bike number number 11* has just arrived so I doubt I have the time to whittle it down to one.

* Plus two recumbent trikes

 

[swee'pea99]

The Claud Butler. The carbon Look's too stealable for daily use in London, and 'my bike' - which is to say my old steel frame fixie - has been packed away since I smashed my hip, tho' rehab's going well, and I hope to be back on it this year. Even then though, I couldn't have it as my only bike - the Claud Butler can do all my London riding plus touring. The fixie don't tour.

 

[si_c]

My Kinesis Racelight, it's not even a competition.

It's a hugely flexible frameset and by swapping the wheels I can change it from a winter commuter or distance tourer with dynamo lights to a summer best bike with full carbon wheels. In either guise it's super comfortable and huge amounts of fun, currently it tends to be in the latter configuration as my Trek Domane picks up all the utility riding.

 

[rogerzilla]

Depressingly, it would probably be the Surly LHT. It's my heaviest bike and not especially lively, but it can do all weathers and all terrain.

If it was purely a heart over head thing, it would be the Harry Quinn track bike.

 

[Sharky]

The bike I would keep, would be one of my EG Bates (BAR Model) or my Mercian track frame bike. Alas, I sold both of these many years ago in search of better bikes, but if I could turn back the clock it would be one of those. Unless it was the Hill Special that got stolen when I was 12.

 

[gavroche]

My Felt roadie.

In the grand scheme its nothing exciting, but by sheer good fortune it fits me like a glove, almost biologically part of me. As a result its a joy to ride fast or slow, and feels head and shoulders above every other bike ive ridden, including one that cost 9 grand. I dare not sell it for fear of never finding something else that fits me so perfectly.

All the bling in the world won't make a mediocre frame better, but lowly Tiagra on a perfect frame is simply peerless.

You paid £9 K for a bike? What made you decide to do that and how often do you use it?

 

[carpiste]

Now I got to the age where the knees have gone, the eyes are going, the hair fell out ages ago and everything seems to be going south it has to be my Raleigh Motus E-bike. It`s like changing from a manual car to an automatic. Just a little bit easier but does the job nicely

 

[Specialeyes]

If it really was just one, it would have to be the 50s Bianchi Folgorissima - it's obsolete, a slipped-disc-waiting-to-happen when you change gear, has braking by appointment only, is heavy by modern standards and needs more fettling per mile than any of my bikes, but I restored it, investing time and energy into it: it's absolutely irreplaceable and I love it dearly.

If the building was on fire and I could persuade Mrs Spesh to grab one bike on the way out too, it would be a similar vintage 1953 Bianchi Freccia, which is in unrestored, original condition.

I know it's daft to imbue emotions into inanimate objects, and they're all ultimately just 'things', but these two would be impossible to replace.

 

[kayakerles]

Sorry but what a stupid question , one bike really

Yeah, I know... but a hypothetical situation...

 

[kayakerles]

My Felt roadie.

In the grand scheme its nothing exciting, but by sheer good fortune it fits me like a glove, almost biologically part of me. As a result its a joy to ride fast or slow, and feels head and shoulders above every other bike ive ridden, including one that cost 9 grand. I dare not sell it for fear of never finding something else that fits me so perfectly.

All the bling in the world won't make a mediocre frame better, but lowly Tiagra on a perfect frame is simply peerless.

I hear ya, Drago, when it's a perfect fit, nothing tops it. Feel the same way about my mountain bike. Nothing super stellar about it, but it had to have been chosen by destiny for me to (eventually) have it to ride.

My $1,200 (new) T r e k FX 7.6 is a comfortable, light, fast, sleek hybrid, but not the one I could use for every occasion, and not a piece of me like my old school Bianchi Mtb. (Probably @ $400 new back in 1997).

Here's to our FAVES, for whatever reason it may be.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Raleigh Pioneer Trail, 1995 vintage with a lugged 501 frame. Cost me a totally outrageous £10 to buy and £50 to turn into a totally reliable bomb-proof ride.
They just get the job done. No fuss, no hissy fit theatrics from the mechanicals, frame goes where you point it, soaks up the bumps, doesn't skip and twitch all over the road. Doesn't look flash and blingy. Not very desirable, so bike thieves don't tend to target them.

 

[kayakerles]

This was covered recently here: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/how-many-bikes-do-you-have-and-which-one-is-your-favourite.267824

Although answers might be different

Rats. I looked for a similar thread before posting but somehow missed it. Oh well, perhaps someone hasn’t commented yet on their fave of fave keeper and feel like sharing about it, and you're right, DC, things change!

 

[kayakerles]

... not the most practical as has rim brakes but it still works in the wet 👍). It’s done far more miles than any of the others

But it probably is a rather silly question

I have been around for 65 years and have never had anything but rim breaks, and probably never will. They have served me well and I trust them. Not a speedster, so no need to stop on a dime. Plus I know how to work on them. Same thing with suspension on bikes, never had it, don’t feel the need. But when I do ride my single speed, I often wish I had the gears from my other bikes! But it has its own beauty to it as well. Yeah, so I am not really a one bike person!