How old were you when you got your first really nice bike?

sparker wrote:

: I do. And I never leave it outside overnight. I have seen so many bikes
: picked clean after being left out. The bad side of this is I have to carry
: my bike up five flights of stairs each day. I look at it as conditioning.

You bet! I used to carry my hybrid up 3 flights for years. Now
when I do just one flight with the trike - even when loaded with
some ride necessities - it feels light!

But maybe it's due to the last winter's cross-training (gym) and
regular swimming. I've noticed that somehow, mysteriously, I seem
to have a relatively easy time lifting couches etc these days!

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 18:16:53 +0800, Marian Rosenberg
wrote:
For 490 rmb (about 50 or 55 bucks) I got a Giant Athena. It has wide
http://tinyurl.com/nawg

Wow...while that's not a bike I'd be likely to ride, they
really ought to sell 'em in the US. Inexpensive; must be
better quality than Xmart (made by Giant after all!), and
very practical and useful for so many people. You can't get
any bike like that here, especially already with fenders...

You can probably get close to it by customizing a bike, but
that's a project that wouldn't be taken on by most people
who would want such a bike; and it would cost a lot more.

-M
--
Rick Onanian

In article ,
(Brink) wrote:

How old were you when you got your first really nice bike and what was
it?

First of all, "really nice" is relative.

My first bike that I didn't have to share with siblings was a Royce
Union knockoff of a Schwinn Stingray, which I got at age 8. It was
"really nice" because it had pneumatic tires instead of solid rubber,
had no training wheels like babies' bikes, and I was allowed to ride it
to school and park in the bike racks and I had a lock and sissy bar and
everything.

My next bike was a Sears Free Spirit 10-speed I got for Christmas, age
11. It was "really nice" because it had gears and was a big kids' bike,
not a puny Stingray like what grade schoolers rode. I missed hopping
curbs like I did on my stingray, though. I had trouble figuring out the
gearing, so I counted all the teeth and figured out the order of all the
gear combinations to go from lowest gearing to highest. I wondered how
cyclists could memorize such a wierd sequence and do it while reaching
the downtube to adjust those levers.

My third bike was a Hon folding bike at age 26. I'd just bought a house
and had no money left for a car, so I figured I'd ride a bike to the
train station and tuck it under the seat. It was "really nice" because
it got me to work, which I had to go to pay this new mortgage I got
myself into, but it had trouble stopping in the rain and it was no fun
riding to work in wet and cold weather, and the ride up the hill back to
my house was torture on my legs because of the limited 3-speed Sturmey
Archer hub.

My fourth bike is a Specialized Rockhopper, which I bought at age 40. I
got it from a real LBS, and tricked it out by upgrading the fork,
getting a bike computer, headlight, saddle bag, bar ends, new wheelset,
brakes, cranks, harder saddle, clipless pedals, hydration systems,
matching bike for my wife, trailer for my young daughter, trail-a-bike
when she got older, matching bike for my son, and 4-bike rack to carry
them all. It is "really nice" because it's a real bike, and with all the
upgrades and customizations, I _made_ it really nicer.

Van

--
Van Bagnol / v a n at wco dot com / c r l at bagnol dot com
....enjoys - Theatre / Windsurfing / Skydiving / Mountain Biking
....feels - "Parang lumalakad ako sa loob ng paniginip"
....thinks - "An Error is Not a Mistake ... Unless You Refuse to Correct It"

"Brink" wrote in message
om...
How old were you when you got your first really nice bike and what was
it?

I got a cheap mountain bike from the local bike shop at age 21.(
Mongoose hiltopper)

I got a really nice road bike this year at age 29. (Tommasini techno
ultegra components)

Why did i wait so long?

Well at least i saw the light!

----Brink
My first really nice bike was an orange Schwinn Varsity given to me for
Christmas when I was 12. I really loved that bike and spent many hours
performing unnecessary maintenance. My protective Mom wouldn't allow me to
use toeclips or leave the neighborhood. My middle school idea of a solution
to this was to install the toeclips after I left home each day and ride out
in the country 15-35 miles at a time. Finally Mom relented on both issues
after following me in the car for 15 tedious miles one day. I was allowed
to furnish her a highlighted map and que sheet each ride.

At 14, I was given a Peugeot UO-8. Loaded with a Pletcher rack and cheap
borrowed panniers, I rode the Bikecentennial route from Richmond VA to
Boston in the summer of '77.

Throughout my teen years I deeply envied the Paramounts some of the adults
had. I finally got my Paramount, (now Waterford of course) in 2001,
complete with a Record group and Brooks saddle.
One day when my wife tells me we can afford it, I'll buy a P-13 in pristine
condition. )

Rick Onanian wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 18:16:53 +0800, Marian Rosenberg
wrote:

For 490 rmb (about 50 or 55 bucks) I got a Giant Athena. It has wide
http://tinyurl.com/nawg

Wow...while that's not a bike I'd be likely to ride, they
really ought to sell 'em in the US. Inexpensive; must be
better quality than Xmart (made by Giant after all!), and
very practical and useful for so many people. You can't get
any bike like that here, especially already with fenders...

I'm rather surprised they don't. Even with shipping it wouldn't be THAT
much more expensive. Buy them wholesale and send a whole huge bunch of
them overseas and they could probably be sold for $70 or $80 while still
making a profit for someone.

I've only had it for a few weeks and am loving it enough that I have
gone on a few long (for me) bike rides out into the country, am thinking
of going on longer ones while the weather holds, and am talking
off-group with someone about what I might want to look for in an even
better bike for countryside rides.

Most of my riding is city riding at torturously slow speeds. When I get
out into the country I am still in the middle of a big flat plain. I
wanna have something better because I love the comparison of this bike
to my old bike but, at the same time, I know that this bike is right for
the uses it is being put to.

You can probably get close to it by customizing a bike, but
that's a project that wouldn't be taken on by most people
who would want such a bike; and it would cost a lot more.

Ayup. It is not a serious bikers' bike. It is a grocery shopping bike.

-M

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 17:21:47 +0800, Marian Rosenberg
wrote:
Ayup. It is not a serious bikers' bike. It is a grocery shopping bike.

Well, it's still a serious bikers' bike; just note a
racer's bike. In fact, I'd say it's more of a serious
bike than the highly specialized rides most of us
have (myself included) -- usually either ultra-fast
or off-road, rarely useful for accomplishing much.

-M
--
Rick Onanian

10 years old, bought a brand new Schwinn Sting-Ray with my paper route money.

Coppertone paint, 3-speed stik shift, white banana seat. Then I added a tall
sissy bar and a rear basket to carry the newspapers.

The Schwinn rear knobby tire did well in the snow.

This was a really nice bike.

Vin - Menotomy Vintage Bicycles, Inc.
http://OldRoads.com

I started cycling at age 46, some 10 months ago. I have a supermarket
bike. I didn't want anything grandiose when I wasn't even sure I'd be able
to learn.

Now I begin to have a clearer idea of what my "ideal bike" would be, but
will put off buying it until I'm absolutely sold on something. I'll pay
what it takes up to about 1500 Euros (ten times the cost of my current
bike), but I don't think my cycling needs (which strictly do not include
the Tour de France) are particularly expensive.

Did it make such a huge difference in your life to graduate from your
first to your "really nice" bike? How so? What did you notice in terms of
comfort enhancement, features etc that make you say you "saw the light"?

I need to convince myself that there are true reasons and not mere
consumerist acquisitiveness for augmenting my bike budget tenfold!

Elisa Francesca Roselli
Ile de France

Brink wrote:

I got a cheap mountain bike from the local bike shop at age 21.(
Mongoose hiltopper)

I got a really nice road bike this year at age 29. (Tommasini techno
ultegra components)

Why did i wait so long?

Well at least i saw the light!

In article ,
says...
I started cycling at age 46, some 10 months ago. I have a supermarket
bike. I didn't want anything grandiose when I wasn't even sure I'd be able
to learn.

Now I begin to have a clearer idea of what my "ideal bike" would be, but
will put off buying it until I'm absolutely sold on something. I'll pay
what it takes up to about 1500 Euros (ten times the cost of my current
bike), but I don't think my cycling needs (which strictly do not include
the Tour de France) are particularly expensive.

Did it make such a huge difference in your life to graduate from your
first to your "really nice" bike? How so? What did you notice in terms of
comfort enhancement, features etc that make you say you "saw the light"?

To me it did, though I didn't go up 10x in price. I went from a Sears
Sting-Ray to a Montgomery Ward 10-speed, which was a great step up in
speed. Then to a Schwinn LeTour, which wasn't such a step up in speed
as it was in durability and maintainability. Then 20 years later
(less than a month ago) I want to a $800 Fuji Touring, and it was a
huge jump in speed and ease of riding because of the extra gears, STI
shifting, and having it sized properly.

You can get some very nice bikes for $800 to $1000; you don't need to
go all the way to $1500 unless you want higher-end components and a
little lighter weight.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
: I started cycling at age 46, some 10 months ago. I have a supermarket
: bike. I didn't want anything grandiose when I wasn't even sure I'd be able
: to learn.

My old old bike was also kind of a supermarket bike (not sure
where we bought it though), 3 speeds but it was domestic made and
well-built, supposed to be ridden for years (I rode for a decaded,
then kept it as an auxiliary bike until I sold it...). It was
never sporty and had ceased to be fashionable years ago, the jump
to a nice 24 speed hybrid was huge.

: Now I begin to have a clearer idea of what my "ideal bike" would be, but
: will put off buying it until I'm absolutely sold on something. I'll pay
: what it takes up to about 1500 Euros (ten times the cost of my current
: bike), but I don't think my cycling needs (which strictly do not include
: the Tour de France) are particularly expensive.

You could spend 500-1000 on the bike and the rest 500 on
accessories like riding suits, lights, etc... :-) You could ride
the year round.

: Did it make such a huge difference in your life to graduate from your
: first to your "really nice" bike? How so? What did you notice in terms of
: comfort enhancement, features etc that make you say you "saw the light"?

The seat was much more comfortable! Forward leaning position and
cycling clothes improved aerodynamics. More gears meant I could
always pedal at about the optimum cadence - which also ended up
being quite a bit higher. Soon I also upgraded to smoothly
rolling tires. And I got proper cycling shoes and clipless pedals
- made pedalling much smoother and more powerful!

All in all, an increase in speed and comfort allowed me to grasp
cycling as a sport, and I was doing rides much beyond riding to
school, to the library or the grocery store.

: I need to convince myself that there are true reasons and not mere
: consumerist acquisitiveness for augmenting my bike budget tenfold!

It all depends on your goals as a cyclist :-)

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi