Favourite bike of 'all time'?

[Bearbonesnorm]

I was just sat in the workshop, looked up and noticed a Carver frame hanging from the beams. It got me thinking about how much I loved my previous Carver. I thought some more and realised that it had probably been my favourite bike from all those I've owned - it wasn't the most used, the most expensive and certainly not the prettiest but there was something about it. Rose tinted specs? Possibly or maybe I rode it at a times / places that hold fond memories?

Obviously, this train of thought continued and I thought, I wonder what everyone elses favourite bike was?

[ssnowman]

Cannondale 1fg Ultra. Bought it new in about 2004 for £850 and still have it.

Beautiful lightweight scandium frame, headshock and EBB. For me it's been the perfect singlespeed bike.

[Shewie]

Raleigh Burner with yellow Skyway mags :)

Closely followed by my Technium Chill

[atk]

I've always regretted selling my old Steamroller. Far from being anything special, but would have been the first bike I rode 50, then 100 miles and such. What got me back into riding bikes after uni. It was perfect for cruising round South Manchester and the Cheshire lanes as well as commuting, bike polo, pub trips, coffee outside, groceries. Might have even done the odd audax on it.

Still keeping an eye out for one popping up on ebay or the like in the right size...

[The Cumbrian]

My first mountain bike, a Ridgeback 602LX that I bought when I was 16. I put thousands of miles on it until I bent the frame in a crash on the Mosser fell road. It still got me home though.

[redefined_cycles]

Santa Cruz superlight... remember seeing it in the mags years before I bought one and was in love with it (kindof). My first proper full sus and I managed to pick up a used frame that was exactly as I'd seen in the mags (mag actually: MBR.. of which I realised years later its just a crappy ol mag for lots of reasons)...

Absolutely loved it

[psling]

Tough one this. Bit like favourite girlfriend, there have been some good 'uns but also a few shonky ones...

I could get all rose-tinted-glasses and roll off some early fond memories of first bikes but in reality later models have got progressivly better. Hard to categorize 'favourite' really but I do still regularly ride a couple of bikes from about 2003/4 so I guess they are probably my favourites. Although, a bit like your Carver I do have an old Root Beer Trek 69er lying forlornly in bits at the back of the garage...

[whitestone]

MTB - My Mk1 Solaris. It felt "right" from the moment I first rode it. If I was to have only one bike it'd be the Solaris.

Road - a handmade Reynolds 531 frame from Bruce Everett in Kendal. One of those that got a jealous sounding: "That's a very nice bike" as I'd prise it from the mechanic at whatever bike shop I'd taken it to for servicing.

[Ray Young]

Hand built Dave Yates Team Diabolo fitted with the first version of Manitou elastomer forks. Dave asked me if I wanted it built with a standard 1" headset or one of the new fangled 1 1/8" headsets. I chose the latter, so glad it caught on. I rode thousands of miles on it and raced it many times. Happy memories.

[FLV]

Hmm, tricky one this

My first thought was a Kona Pahoehoe, I rode that thing all over the place but in reality I think it was my Kona Raijin. It was my second 29er and I still hanker after something 'just like it' (but with some slight improvements )

[ton]

my 2009 custom Ventana el Capitan. just amazing.

I sold it in a bout of depression when I was unable to use it whilst waiting for heart surgery.

I would love another one.

[Mariner]

1998 Marin Shoreline Trail in red.
Pogo stick suspension rim brakes on 26 inch wheels.
Loved that bike. Bought it new in Edinburgh and was a size too small - apparently.
Rode it all over Scotland where areas were accessible and some that were not.
Took it to Germany when I moved there and sold it when I left.
Happy days.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Dialled bikes Prince Albert or the Morning Glory (Ti version) that took nearly a year for someone to send me from Canada.

The Alpine I had after that had the potential to be vaguely exciting. However, that only started to show itself after a mate borrowed it and corrected all my shonky building errors (a nearly seized BB will make any bike feel sluggish ). I had one great ride on it and then it was nicked.

[quimarche]

A wholly knackered nth-hand tandem. But it wasn't the bike itself, it was the people and places associated with it.

[restlessshawn]

Despite not being the current favourite it would have to be my 2007 853 Inbred. It's been built up quite a few different ways in the last 12 years but I'd never part with it and it's only cracked once so far

Been thinking I might put midge bars and fugly stem back on it as the flat bars are the main reason it gets little attention these days.

Oh and get that carver down and build it

[Cheeky Monkey]

... But it wasn't the bike itself, it was the people and places associated with it.

[RIP]

Doubt it'll come as any surprise but, bein' Reg, mine's nowt to do with MTBs, racers or whatever.

It's a tricycle. I had it secondhand for my birthday when I was three. Shortly afterwards I decided to go and fetch my dad from the railway station on his way home from work. Unfortunately I forgot to notify Mother Perrin. Neighbour spotted me and brought me home.

But the priceless lesson I learned wasn't 'don't run off' but bikes are freedom and fun. Set me up for the rest of my life and it hasn't changed in 57 years.

[lune ranger]

1999 Orange P7 with Marzocchi Bombers.
Pre millennial sh1t kicker

[Bearbonesnorm]

Something I'm sure we all suspected but is obviously backed up by this thread is that, the actual bike is largely unimportant and what the bike represents to us either now or then, is the reason we liked it so much.

That's a brilliant thing really and highlights the great potential of a humble bicycle

[jameso]

I've had two, then and now.

A '98 Santa Cruz Chameleon in large, gloss black with orange Z1 Bombers, 60mm Azonic stem and big bars, single 34T ring, D521 rims and IRC Kujo tyres. If only droppers were available then (I had a hiterite but it was rubbish). It was a good XC bike that I took to the Cranham 4X track most weekends, it went downhill well too. Just a great bike for a 50/50 mix of all-day rides and local DH or street razzing. It broke in the end. Definitely the bike as well as the times - younger and dafter : )

My Jones bike/s. Same reasons - though I don't jump much at all now it's a great all-day ride as well as really fun handling. XC meets 4X in a rigid 29er, weird but great. I have 2 versions of it but I think of them as the same bike. Been some amazing places on the geared steel Jones, I really can't imagine a better bike for those big rides.

I suppose my Genesis Equilibrium also counts but it's become a winter bike rather than anything 'favourite'. About 10 years old now. It has SKS guards and 9s 105 on it, I like the modest functionality. It's never been anywhere but the local roads on mostly dreary or cold days, but I started to really appreciate or enjoy those drab roadie days on that bike which says something about it.

[rando nomad]

My 1994 Brodie Climax- Lightweight steel tubing, a Ritchey logic curved fork- 1 1/8" threaded. I had it for years. Off road/on road bike. Ended up in the mid 2000's giving it to my Dad to use. He had it for a few years and then when he passed a few years back, we cleaned it up and "lent" it to the son of a mate of ours. He's a teenager who is really into repurposing stuff and hates to buy new.
I check in every now and then and he's still using it.

[psling]

Something I'm sure we all suspected but is obviously backed up by this thread is that, the actual bike is largely unimportant and what the bike represents to us either now or then, is the reason we liked it so much.

That's a brilliant thing really and highlights the great potential of a humble bicycle

Exactly this

And yet we all (OK, maybe not all, but...) continue to throw our hard-earned at new bikes, frames, and kit, in our quest for the ultimate bike whilst our favourite bikes are sold on or lie languishing unused in a corner somewhere. Fickle lot aren't we

[Al]

On one il pompino I rode to work every day for years. First and only fixed wheel I’ve owned.
I wonder if the fact this has drifted to the top has something to do with trading a twice daily 40min ridedown country lines for the best part of an hour each way sat in a car....

[faustus]

For nostalgia reasons, my 2004 Rock lobster 853 is the favourite, as it covered lots of ground as my only bike for 7 years. The nostalgia is for the places I rode and people I rode with. Did Snowdon a couple of times, and it also went to France wearing Schwalbe Kojaks and went up Col des Aravis and Alpe d'Huez!

Jameso might like this: possibly one of my current bikes will become a favourite, my 2012/3 Arkose 3 frame. Got the frame ridiculously cheaply (like £110). It's been through many guises and components and on some very memorable rides, including french alps (alpe d'Huez weekly TT, Marmotte route) and this year lots of mixed terrain local routes. It's been extremely versatile. Strava tells me it has done 8053 miles in that time. Yet, I'm just in the process of doing what psling describes, thinking about replacing it for a few mm of extra tyre clearance...

[jameso]

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