If comparison is the thief of joy, then regret is the darkside of nostalgia.
Usually I’m not one for rose-tinted spcatacles when it comes to cycling. Cycling was not better in the olde dayes. Or if it was, it wasn’t to do with the bike you were on. It was probably to do with everything else happening in your life at the time. Such as being younger. And having fewer responsibilities. And more disposable income (or income you could pretend was disposable at least).
Anyway. My no-nostalgia stance changed last week when I came across an old photo of a bike I used to have. Yes, the Cannondale pictured above, as featured in last week’s Fresh Goods Friday. Do I wish I still had this bike? Are there any other bikes that I regret getting rid of? What about bikes I regret ever buying? Well, let’s just say, I’ve had quite a few bikes in my time…
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Bike for life etc etc etc. As long as you know someone who can fix ti frames.
That’s a multi-pivot £3.5k* bike, the Prophet** USP was you could buy them for ~£1400. Â
*yes I know it’s on sale now at about the same price as a Prophet probably was after accounting for inflation, which is great, but from the perspective of the bike industry getting onto a sustainable footing and not getting into a constant cycle of discounting and going bankrupt I think they need to be making cost effective bikes as well as the £££££ super bikes. It needs to find it’s own “80% as good, for 20% of the cost" price point, or Collin Chapman “simplify and add lightness", not just carbon superbikes accompanied by the same frame with sometimes shocking component choices to try and fit a more average price point. Bikes like the Santa Cruz Heckler, Cannondale Prophet etc where the designer approached them trying to make the best frames at a lower price point rather than just the best frame period.
**Particularly the cheapest one with Pikes, the lefty came with a long stem in order for the bars to clear the fork dials which somewhat ruins the bike.Â
the bike i always will regret having sold was my 2002 cannondale F800 in matt black with lefty fork. i loved that bike and did my longest ever ride in a day on it too (205 miles). i sold it in a moment of stupidity and depression.Â
tbh i would still be riding it now if i had it as my riding has been the same places for all my life.Â
i have never had a bike i have actually hated but a 2006 specialized stumpjumper fsr comp is probably the closest bike (it wasn’t a bad bike i must add) i just didn’t gel with it tbh if that makes sense?Â
Specialised tricross – c 2009 – awful bike. Fork judder when braking and bits just broke. Had to cycle home without a seat 10 miles in hilly west Yorks after the seatpost broke. Never had that before with any bike…… repaired it and sold it.
had one, went to the Pyrennees on it. thought i was gonna die on every descent.
I also made the mistake of buying an Ellsworth. An ID. Tried to kill me at every opportunity. Nice welds, though.
Regret selling = none
Regret buyingÂ
Specialized Enduro 2003 (medium, base model)
It was too short for me (reach)
The standard base model fork was rubbish but annoyingly better than the…
The Friday afternoon Marzocchi Z1 that replaced it
Despite an early platform shock it had more Bob than a series of Reeves and Mortimer
The Itch Switch shock ate itselfÂ
I enjoyed it for about 9 months after I fitted some Fox Vanillas in place of the Z1. Then all the parts got put onto my cheap 456 frame and I liked that a LOT more because it fitted.  Â
Saracen Protrax SE 1996
This benighted purple horror show was a source of much misery in the year or so it lasted me at Uni until the parts got rebuilt on a GT frame.Â
The ultimate Trigger’s (mainly warranty) broom. The things that stick. Â
Chainset warped
Front hub flange cracked
Cracked frame (and they lost my headset while it was away being replaced)Â
Saddle rails failed
The posh Pace forks I bought on cheque spread (remember that?) lunched their seals in the Peak District and on the Isle of WightÂ
I had somehow managed to buy a rigid bike that was not suspension corrected for the 75mm normal travel of the day. It was twitchy as hell when rigid and slack and wobbly with the Paces and a long stem. Â
Clearing out a family garage today and there it was … the bike built out of the warranty replacement frame. It was rebuilt as a utility bike for my mum 20 years or more ago and there it was wearing a pair of pale green, tan wall, file tread Michelin Wildgrippers. 🫣
The bikes I regret selling
evil offering I was concerned about it’s longevityÂ
cove hummer
Ones I should have boughtÂ
ibis hd4 Â got it on release and then they brought out the first ripmo a few weeks later
Then a couple of years later they brought this bad boy out – I had the 2006 Elite in green, it was a fabulous bike.Â
every time @Northwind posts a picture of that Ellsworth, it always makes me involuntarily winceÂ
Two bikes I regret buying:
Kona Hoss – heavy, rubbish fork [Dirtjumpers], Igniter tyres were rubbish, PowerSpline cranks.Â
Kona Big Rove – actually a decent bike, but I went a size too large and the top tube has always been overlong and given me wrist and arm ache on long rides because I am too stretched out.Â
Bike I should never have bought (and quickly sold), Offroad Proflex
Bike I wish I hadn’t sold, Independent Fabrication Steel deluxe single speed.
I shouldn’t have sold my 1988 Roberts White spider. In Metallica pink, beautiful Columbus tubing with amazing brazing. Â
Swapped it for a Marin team issue. Tange ridged downtube absolutely harsh ride, continually beat me up. Terrible bike.Â
Oh jeez, how long have got?!!
Just dusted this off for the Summer
I still have the sadly rusty frame and forks of my 1988 White Spider. Mine was a metallic purple to white fade. I swapped all the parts from my 1986 Rockhopper on to it. It felt really good to ride, far more comfortable than the Rockhopper frame and it just seemed to go where you wanted it to go without any input. Think it cost me £400 at the time which amused a colleague who’d paid the same for her car.
I had one of those Klein Palomino, Maverick monolink things, except that they used bushings rather than bearings in the linkage, so died in seconds. Nice paint, but a really underwhelming ride. I sold it and bought an ML7.
That was the one bike I really regret buying. It’s also the bike I regret selling. I still feel guilty at having passed it on to someone else.Â