[Closed] a loss of interest in actual bikes?

I have no interest in bikes other than the ones I own.

Or upgrades, kits, bits etc.

Cycling, I love

No, nothing wrong with that. Kind of in the same place myself.

Most of it is being a bit disillusioned with a bike I "fell in love" with. The bike's great, I just have no time at all to ride it. When I do get out to ride I always like seeing a great bike ridden by someone who knows what they're doing with it.

Or perhaps you know it's not about the bike 😉

now see my 2 steel bikes as tools to get out

This is really all you need.

I have lost a love of MTB'S. I have a very lovely 29er hardtails which I see as a tool. I haven't had an urge to look at any other mtbs. I guess it's like a perfect marriage.
I have had my eyes turned by road bikes of late. As such I feel cheap and dirty. Like 2 minutes with a cheap hooker 😀

I like both aspects. In fact, the actual bikes (and parts and stuff), often inspire me to ride when I wouldn't otherwise feel like it.

But I doubt there is anything wrong or odd about not caring so much about the tools themselves. I imagine it would be a bit like a builder who is just happy with his tools and likes to build without having the nerdy need to look at hammer catalogues or whatever.

I have had my eyes turned by road bikes of late. As such I feel cheap and dirty. Like 2 minutes with a cheap hooker

Embrace it, man. 8)

Similar boat here, the bike collection, all of which would come out for an airingregularly is now mostly dusty or even worse the stuck due to the tyres being rotten! Whilst I now ride mostly 'one' bike (a 9sp fully ridged 29ner) which is not a happy one but I now put up with the niggles. It was the ever changing specs, changing wheel/tyre and chain sizes that has put me off anything vaguely new - only thing that catches my eye now is a Jones. The two Jones owners I have spoken to have given up on all others and are going to see out their days on that one.
Still like riding them but a bit bored (at the mo) with the actual bikes and working on them.

Kind of know what you mean. Got a bike fund building for dream bike but can't get too excited about what to get now! Think that mtb just has too much going on to get excited about. Would probably explain why simple rigid bikes seem to be doing so well perhaps?

I'm totally with you Ton. The bikes are a means to an end for me, and I only buy new stuff when what I have is broken or worn out. I don't see any problem with that.

I have absolutely no interest in any new bikes and haven't for a long time in fact the bike I am using most is 25 years old fully rigid.

I used to be a serial swapper and have become jaded with the constant changes. I'm currently looking to sell my hardtail 29er to fund a rigid or dropbar adventure bike type thing. Just want something simple that I can ride more or less anywhere / use daily. Just a simple bike to get out and ride on.

Nah - I love them. Tweeks, improvement, changes - whatever you want to call them - bring a wee bit of added interest. As the CX thread points out, sometimes having the "wrong" bike can add a bit of spice to the ride too.

I mainly ride two bikes (a steel, rigid singlespeed and a 160mm trail bike) and now, at my age, have no desire to change them for anything else. They're not fashionable (one is 26" and the other a 69er) but for me they're as good as I'll ever own.
I still love riding, on a good day anyway, and I still enjoy working on my bikes to keep them running as well as I can.

It's the experiences that they bring me that matters now, not whether they're the latest must-have thing. As long as I have a supply of good 26" tyres and Marzocchi fork spares I'll be happy!

Got to where I want to be. Two road bikes, one set up for winter riding and one fancy summer one, and two MTBs, both 29er hardtails, one set up for foul weather and slop, and one for nicer days.

Along the way I've bought a road bike and sold it on after a year, and spent a fair bit on upgrading what's now the foul weather MTB but started out as a fairly entry level bike (new wheels, fork, brakes, drivetrain)

I feel they suit me and my riding, which is unadventurous and all from the door, and I don't see myself changing any of them until I break one.

Built a road bike, hated it & sold it.
Bought a FS, ridden probably a dozen times in 2 years.
Recently built a fatty, want to love it but not getting it.

The constant through all these though, has been the steel singlespeed. Nothing comes even close to the enjoyment I get from that. It's irreplaceable. If I win the pools I'd have it recreated in stainless.

i now see my 2 steel bikes as tools to get out rather than something to look at and admire and keep bling and clean.

But that's what bikes should be, tools.

I like the aesthetics of bikes, I even like the way mine look (mostly), but lately its more about riding the damn things. It where they get you that's important.

That said, the road bike is quietly gathering dust, I mean, **** [i]that[/i] shit 8)

Hi. It's a tool mate. A tool to do a job. Some people might keep them immaculate to look at, but like the saying goes look after your bike and your bike will look after you.thats why my bikes are very clean. Out on the trails is what's its all about. Me personally I don't care if I'm out with friends or on my own, makes no difference to me at all , as it's me against the trail.really most of us try to get our bikes to a point where it's at its most capable. To the point where bike and rider are like one, to where in our mind the bike don't exist, you don't think about braking, changing gear, going faster, slower, it just happens. You against the trail. Me I work hard all week ,an all what keeps me going is knowing at weekend be on the trails.to me your at the rawest end not interested in all the fat around the edge ,you just want the meat in the middle.

I've been this way for a while.

Well - I should qualify that. I'm interested in new concepts, like 'gravel' bikes, fatbikes etc. But I no longer hanker after the things like I used to do when I was younger. I don't know my YT Capra from my Commencal Meta from my Giant Trance.

I'm not a serial bike swapper. Only ever swapped two.

See, this is what I'm like with cars. They're simply a tool. I've never really been into different models, makes and fashions. I can still enjoy driving occasionally but the vehicle is pretty irrelevant.

ton - Member
...but, recently or over the last year or so, i find myself with no interest at all in actual bikes.
if i go in a bike shop, it is for spares or clothing items, i subscribe to the comics, but dont read the bike tests, if i look at a full suspension bike, all i see is maintenance issues...

I wouldn't say I have no interest in bikes, but I find much the same when I go into a bike shop.

I see nothing that interests me. Too much fast wearing consumable technology on display.

The one change in recent years that I like is the trend to fatter tyres.

But riding singlespeed does that to you - you realise all else is superfluous.

I still like fiddling around with bikes. Must be time to create another monstrosity. 🙂

It's less interesting now that bikes are good - used to be a bit of a dice roll buying a full sus. Guess that's one reason why folk (anti-) gravitate to the marginal niches, there's more of a battle-ground of ideas over what works.
Mainstream trail bikes are just stowed out - here's a grand son, go out and buy yourself a bad bike. Can't be done.

Ive got the opposite problem, Im always looking for the next bike or upgrade, when I hardly have time to ride them all. Apart from the roadbike that is just a commuting/pain&suffering tool

Just downsize to one bike. You'll have to love it then.

Echoes my feelings, riding a 10 year old hardtail after 25+ years mountain biking. I enjoy planning rides (just finished a lengthy Welsh project and now looking at the next idea), but the bike itself is incidental. I'm quite interested in a bigger wheeled/tyred bikepacker, but not until this one breaks.

For me, the really interesting innovation in recent years has been bikepacking luggage, making it easier and more fun to do the sort of rides I enjoy. It's rejuvenated my interest in mountain biking after a couple of years off.

I used to read all the reviews in magazines, and lust over new ones in shops, but for me it's definitely the money aspect that's made me lose interest. I just can't get excited about bikes costing nine grand and I think it's filtered down to all bikes in my mind? I love my bike but know I couldn't afford a more blingy one so I don't look any more.

It's called growing up. When you've grown up, there are more important things to spend your mind/time/love on.

Just do more 'feeling' of wind in your face, speed under your wheels, breathe in your lungs. That's what's important.

I do have 7 bikes tho' so maybe take all that with a pinch of salt.

I think landmark is right. I think also you realise it is fun to ride no matter what you ride. Perhaps you find your level?

Same, there just a tool, a means to an end I occasionally see one in a nice colour but otherwise I would rather collect money than bikes.

Nope. Not really worried about the latest and the greatest. If something breaks it gets replaced, either individual parts or recently a new bike thanks to cyclescheme, but even then I just went into my LBS and went with his recommendations (big thanks to Jon @ [url= http://www.bicyclesmithy.co.uk/ ]Bicycle Smithy[/url] who does a fab job of selling me bikes - four and definitely not counting so far)

Bikes and technology for its own sake I still find interesting but the desire to spend my own cash is something else.

I bought my first whole new bike for nearly a decade 18 months ago. I'm upgrading and tweeking as bits wear out with a view to better service life and reliability. A £100 part won't make me ride better or make me want to ride it more but it should make it more reliable and serviceable.

I got into MTBing as a teenager. I was interested in bikes then.
I might have even been more interested in tinkering with bikes than actual cycling.
I am 37 as you say I am now interested in cycling not bikes.
When its time for a new bike, I can rekindle my interest going long enough to buy a new bike.
What I'd really be interested in is a bike that requires zero maintenance.

I love all bicycles and enjoy looking at and embrace technological progress as well as low-tech simplicity. I look fondly at my bikes of old, but they are not as good as modern bikes. Sure I could get out and enjoy myself on my old Marin Bear Valley or Saracen Killi Flyer Ultra Elite Pro Mega Max Magura, but I would struggle to ride with the same enjoyment my current bicycles give me.

I appreciate road bikes and road riding, but other than getting places I do struggle with the concept of going for a road ride. Its just so ****ing dull.

However, they are only ever a tool, and like most things that do work, they wear out and need replacing. My bikes have some sparkly bits and some anodised bits, but they are always scratched, rubbed, scraped and well used. Like all good tools though they need to do the job intended, otherwise they are a pointlessly engineered waste.

If you see something you appreciate, as it will suit your riding or what type of riding gives you pleasure then surely there is some interest? I can understand how you can be fulfilled and not need to look at anything else, but like marriage you can still do a bit of window shopping...

I'm feeling the Zen too Ton 🙂

What doesn't bear thinking about is how many thousands it's taken to get to this point 🙂

common factor I think Nigel.......... 😆

I just look at new bikes now and think 'that's been designed to be obsolete in a couple of years'.

Puts you right off your stroke.

My interest in bikes and tech is inversely proportional to the amount of time I have to actually ride my bike.

I know this feeling exactly ton, though I have been lusting after a new bike lately, even that is/was to try and downsize the fleet to one do-it-all machine. I was after a light, efficient, full sus, but I've decided against it, for one because I can't get one to demo, but also, I just can't be arsed, there was a choice on this particular model between this years model and last years at £600 off, but one is 2x10, the other 1x11, one boost back end, the other 142mm etc etc etc - I just got bored of all the choice.

At the moment I have a Zesty full sus with a 1x drivetrain that doesn't really work great and a knackered brake caliper, a Solaris hardtail that needs a major fork service/overhaul at least, and a little DJ/4X bike for messing about on.

Realistically I could do everything I do on all of the above (including bikepacking) on a 26" Soul, and I could build it pretty nicely too. I like the full sus sometimes, but I really miss the directness of a hardtail when I'm on it, and as soon as it starts creaking I just put it in the shed as I can't be doing with the faff of changing bushes and bearings.

I can see the future being a 26"/650b 'hardcore hardtail' and a rigid 29" lightweight XC/bikepacking bike.

I'm at the stage where both my mountain bike and road bike are more than good enough for me, so don't get that excited about new bikes. This is particularly the case with my full susser which - even after 4 years - continues to surprise me in its abilities. It'd cost me a heck of a lot of money to get something better.

I still enjoy reading bike reviews and confess to thinking about a road bike upgrade from time to time, but I'd much rather spend the money on holidays and experiences.

I still love bikes and riding them. But as the years roll on and my free time gets more pressured I must admit I more like the aesthetics of them, rather than the technical details. This does seem to have been further impacted by the changing standards and wider variety of bikes available. I'm almost embarrassed to say I recently bought a bike with a clutch mech, and I don't actually know what the clutch does. I'm loving the riding of the bike, and it changes gear like every other bike I've had, so I can't say I'm to fussed to find out.

I'm another one who's lost interest. Me & Ton were chatting about this on Sunday, I still love riding but when I look at new bikes I just think 'meh'.

One thing which may have leaned me this way is you just know for a fact that loads of 'new innovations' are just well researched fashion changes which will change before you know it.
Marketeers are brilliant at what they do!

when I look at new bikes I just think 'meh'.

^This. Despite my bike being very well scratched and battered, I still love it more than any new bikes I see in the shops or online. I'm like a parent who thinks no kid is as good looking as theirs 😆

Why worry ton - you have reached MTB nirvana

You like riding but cant be ar$ed with the rubbish that is designed to make people buy stuff they dont need. It a natural progression.

I have been through that with golf (how do they still sell magazines on golf??), triathlon and to a lesser extent skiing. Used to love reading about new kit. Now just loving the experience itself.

I have only ever had two MTB - one HT lasted me about 8-9 years, my current FS is 2 years old and have no intention of changing it in the next few years. Riding it, yes....in fact.....is that the time?

I'm at the stage where both my mountain bike and road bike are more than good enough for me, so don't get that excited about new bikes. This is particularly the case with my full susser which - even after 4 years - continues to surprise me in its abilities. It'd cost me a heck of a lot of money to get something better.

I still enjoy reading bike reviews and confess to thinking about a road bike upgrade from time to time, but I'd much rather spend the money on holidays and experiences.

More or less where i'm at at the moment.
Will probably get a road/adventure bike over the next 12 months as they are more suited to long distances on poor road surfaces, but whilst I do still like bikes, it'd be daft money to upgrade significantly so sticking with what i've got.
My last 2 bikes have been <£500 singlespeeds to take winter abuse and act as training aids rather than the latest wonder bike.

I'm not so much interested in the materialistic side of it. Whilst I could afford more, all of my bikes are definitely on the budget end of the spectrum. The one I use most set me back £300 5 years ago... (it has had a few upgrades since then to be fair). Mountain bike was £400 almost a decade ago.

Magazines I'll flick through, and very occasionally I might force myself to read a bike review, but in all honesty I just have no interest in what carbon wheelset it has, or expensive handlebars that do the same job as every other handlebar ever made...

There are two sides to this, because I DO like my bikes, and I have a few... But they're most definitely tools. Shiny new bikes in the shop I generally just walk past. However, if there's a bike I want: a niche I feel I'm missing out on: something broken or missing from the toolbox. Then I'll get excited about that. Because I get excited about the prospect of using it and the places it will take me. I don't really get excited about the bike itself. Unless, I think, if I were to build it. In which case it partly becomes the creation process (the journey to get there) that I get excited about.

I get where you are coming from.

I'd like a do it all bike really but enjoy my ridged steel MTB as much as my full suss, but not sure I could do away with one - I'd like to ride the ridged steel all the time, but living next to some good trail centre type stuff and downhill tracks means the full sus is a good bike to own.

The full sus is actually faster even on the road because it's pretty light, but servicing shocks/forks/bearings really annoys me. I took the dropper off it because I couldn't be arsed to pay £100+ to service it!

In the end I just decided to keep them both and not care about new stuff, too many choices!

I think I'm going to get a second hand 26" Cotic Soul frame to keep in the shed - bit odd isn't it that the bike I currently want the most is one I've had before and only sold in the name of 'progress'.....

I'm interested in new bikes from a curiosity perspective, but new and shiny does little for me. I'll always be on the lookout for something to perform better for my chosen riding, but I'm not rabidly consuming the latest greatest thing anymore, and haven't since about 2009.

Like someone once said, it's about the ride.

Yep, I think I'm feeling fairly similar - at least about MTB.
My 7 year old Boardman is totally obsolete (26"/satraight Steerer/9-Speed) which has annoyed me immensely. The constant changing of standards almost feels like 'designed-in obsolescence' which has turned me off.
I also think there are less good looking bikes in the £1k category (my usual hunting ground due to C2W limits)

As for road/everything else - I've got a 2013 Giant Defy which I love, despite the 10-Speed 105 and press-fit BB.
Have no interest in changing it as not seen anything I like in my budget.

Also got a 2016 Arkose 1 - great bike but I don't love it. I see it as a tool to get some wet winter miles in. I'm not convinced it was the right bike to buy, as I've never explored its off-road/adventure capabilities, and the Hydro disc brakes are temperamental.

It is the bike I'm most likely to replace next, despite being the newest.
Not seen anything else that inspires me though.

These days I'm so much more interested in comfort/reliability than cutting edge bling.

butcher - Member
However, if there's a bike I want: a niche I feel I'm missing out on: something broken or missing from the toolbox. Then I'll get excited about that. Because I get excited about the prospect of using it and the places it will take me. I don't really get excited about the bike itself. Unless, I think, if I were to build it. In which case it partly becomes the creation process (the journey to get there) that I get excited about.

The above - in a nutshell. Which is why I've ended up, over the last few years, with two fairly niche bikes, I suppose. Namely a Singular Hummingbird rigid singlespeed and a Liteville 301 Mk10. Now, I'm beginning to think that the Liteville is wasted on the Isle of Man and it should maybe go to live in Greece, where it can be carried up and ridden down big(ish) mountains, where probably no bike has ever been.
But I'll be 65 in July, God willing, and I suppose my days of doing that sort of thing are pretty much over, especially being out there on my own.
To be honest, I'm finding this really hard to come to terms with, for some reason.

But I'll be 65 in July, God willing, and I suppose my days of doing that sort of thing are pretty much over, especially being out there on my own.
To be honest, I'm finding this really hard to come to terms with, for some reason.

offroad touring/rough stuff fellowship. a natural progression for aging mountain bikers.

the bikes I have now are with this in mind.

Blimey ton the enduro wasn't that long ago!! 😉

Blimey ton the enduro wasn't that long ago!!

hence my reason for selling it. I was kidding myself that mountain tops and gnarr were still achievable to me. more surgery has curtailed such dreams....... 😆

I know, I'm sorry about that - and excuse the gentle tease - all meant in good spirit.

I am not far behing - one reason for buying a new bike two years ago was the realisation that there was a limited time left for certain types of riding. Trying to max those know before the bottle/mind and body gives up!

I'm done with bikes mostly too. Genuinely new (to me) concepts like fat bikes and plus have excited me, but the needless changes in bikes (tapered steerers, axle standards, etc) are mostly marketing BS, and improvements like 1 by and 11 speed cost too much to upgrade to for th amount of riding I do.

The main thing that caches my eye these days are bikes from my youth

Def with 'butcher' on this:

'...the creation process (the journey to get there) that I get excited about'

But bike's are too addictive...now lusting after a new cross (type) bike, those Niner RLT's do not help.

It never ends....68 in 3weeks 🙂

Somewhat ironically I found that my increased interest in actual bikes (minutiae, frame materials, kit, even fashion) was often inversely proportionate to my interest in actual active cycling. I've enjoyed times when periods of fitness/health + a simple bike enabled me to go places by bicycle and just keep riding because I was almost obsessed and always exhilarated with the enjoyment of cycling per se.

Then I started looking around..magazines, LBC loitering, Ebay, etc etc ...BOOM, over 25 bikes in a decade and very little actual cycling compared to the prior decade on just a couple of cheap bikes.

Have now shifted all the clutter and bought a simple rigid bike, just waiting/working at my physical health to catch up with this internalised tornado of repressed cycling-ism that now eats me up daily! All I dream about is cycling just for the enjoyment of cycling.

I blame your Jones. I was the same when I had mine, albeit the original one. Would like a Plus but terrified that if I did then that would be all I would ride. Same trails, slower speed but same level of enjoyment. However as my riding is also about catching up with mates, chasing them on a Jones when they're on 150mm full suspension bikes is not so much fun. Marked one down for my 'settling down' bike though.

But that's what bikes should be, tools.

Totally.

But they should look good too. No excuses for mixing tyre brands, or not matching your bottle cages. And as for mix-and-match anodising - go and stand in the corner.

have a road bike (Giant TCR SL) and 29'er (Giant XTC), both are tools for the job

road bike getting to work (30km round trip) and Sunday's out with the missus

mtb for escaping into the woods when the mood takes

working as a bike mechanic, you never see bikes the same way again

with my own bikes its the constant war against entropy / wear, its just more servicing work I have to get through in my own time, set against all the servicing work I get paid to do professionally

I blame your Jones

I think you could be right, it seems to do everything ok rather than excelling at one thing.
with a spare set of narrower wheels, no other bike would be needed.

I like riding bikes but the maintenance side is hell all I see is hassle and expensive bills.

I'm with Ton, time was I'd actually drive around bike shops to look at the shiny stuff on offer, nowadays I can't be arsed, they could remove all the MTBs and replace them with Road Bikes and I'm sure I wouldn't notice for a year.

I hate to say it, but I've become a cynic, I don't see faster, options, better - I see change, obsolescence and expense.

I haven't reached Nirvana yet, but one day I do hope I stop caring about having a 'current' bike and buying speed, it never works, not well anyway – you might buy a few tenths here or there, but it’s daft when you can train a bit, take a course or just think about it rather than cruise and get much faster – even if you want to – I guess as some point, you stop caring about improving if you’re happy, doing what you’re doing.

I wish I understood half the stuff that people debate about bikes - instead it just passes me by and I just get on with riding

Have only ever changed tires once and often forget to change my CTD forks after a climb but before the decent 😳

Ignorance can be bliss

Andy R - Member
...But I'll be 65 in July, God willing, and I suppose my days of doing that sort of thing are pretty much over, especially being out there on my own.
To be honest, I'm finding this really hard to come to terms with, for some reason.

Your days are not over until you're incapacitated, so you should get as much riding in before that happens as you can.

Trust me I'm much older. My wife hates that I prefer being out on my own in the middle of nowhere following non-existent tracks or looking for the likely paths between neolithic settlements in the mountains.

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You just get slower, which means you get to spend longer out on your bike for a given ride. That's a bonus. 🙂

Historically a serial bike swapper I've become disillusioned due to the changes in recent years, mainly wheel sizes and drivetrain changes and not had the chance to keep up so don't bother now.

Part of my problem is the older spec bits are worth nothing so I'm assuming this will be the same for most normal bikers. Wonder if it will ever settle down again ??

I'm surprised you'd be bothered about this in the slightest OP.

I was amazed when I first found singletrackworld that it was a forum dedicated to bikes rather than riding. At first I assumed people were taking the piss when they asked what tyres for this and whether a particular bike looked good. I just couldn't understand it. How could a bike look anything, it's just a bike.

Loads of people on here aren't really into cycling, they're just tremendous gear freaks. Coming from a rock climbing background, it's amazing how much people obsess about mountain bike kit. It's just weird, like stamp collecting, but more expensive.

The fact that the bike industry has got away with such bullshit in the last few years reflects amazingly poorly on MTBers in general. It's amazing what crap people obsess with in terms of kit. Will this 27.5" wheel run faster/better that this 26" wheel.

I'm with Grannyjone and TeamHurtMore. The rear shock on my Ibis has three settings and I guess that something changes when you switch it. Every now and again I fiddle with it, but have no idea what has changed if anything. likewise the front fork appears to have seized up again so it's only got half a suspension. I'll have to fix it at some point if I go to the alps in summer, but apart from that I couldn't really care.

And I genuinely find it tricky to understand why anyone else would (unless they're competing against people with better kit)

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with my bikes. I enjoy riding them all but I am lucky if I have one of them fully functional at any one time. Many components are way over priced, often don't perform as advertised and I find myself getting a kind of 'maintenance fear'. I'm capable of doing my own maintenance but everything is designed to make this as difficult and as expensive as possible. I think I have had an unlucky year with my bikes though. Lots of things have broken.

Think i ve gone full circle too from latching onto every new developement, discovering it doesnt really make you any better, i m now getting back into cycle touring which is where i started 30 years ago. I now look at my touring bike, atlas and smile.

im about as far from that as it's possible to get. I love my bikes as much as the riding, I love the technology involved and the juxtaposition against the simplicity of the bicycle. I've had budget bikes in the past and can definitely say it's much easier to swing a leg over the nicest bike I can get to go for a ride on a wet cold miserable day, than one I'm decidedly 'meh' about.

That said, I'm not a serial bike swapper. When I buy a bike, I buy the best I can that's available. If then a new standard comes out the day after, I know my best bike yesterday is still amazing and that a 6mm wider hub isn't going to change that, so I'm not going to go straight out and upgrade just so I have the latest whizzbang. When I come to replace the bike (when it becomes uneconomical to repair/catastrophic frame failure out of warranty) then again I'll go for whatever the latest thing is that day, and marvel at how much better it is than the old one.

Apart from my 5010. I'll be buried with that.

Ignorance can be bliss

TBH I deliberately spec'd non-'on the fly'-adjustable fork and shock on my latest suss bike. Less to think about, which suits me.

epicyclo - Member
Andy R - Member
Your days are not over until you're incapacitated, so you should get as much riding in before that happens as you can.

Trust me I'm much older. My wife hates that I prefer being out on my own in the middle of nowhere following non-existent tracks or looking for the likely paths between neolithic settlements in the mountains.

You're right, of course, epicyclo and that's what I try to do - I always feel more negative at this time of year, it's bad enough having to work in wet, shitty weather without riding in it too.

I'm longing for the warm, dry Greek summer and rocky, technical singletrack in big mountains. I've had enough of claggy, sloppy northness.

I think it's a testament to freemarket capitalism that something so essentially simple and affordable can be made into something so wearyingly complex and expensive.

I always felt I was missing out somehow by not getting excited about bikes, even as a young'un.

I bought a bike, nursed it along until it completely failed, then bought another (usually 2nd hand) bike.

These days, like a few others in the thread, I mostly ride one bike - a modified, fully rigid, 26" wheeled Kona with cantis brakes. I do have other bikes but use them only when necessary.

Gotama you're right to worry. Loved my Spaceframe but the Plus really is the one bike for all seasons. You might not be able to stay on the tails of the 150mn guys and gals but youll be a lot closer than they expect and be having as much fun with less maintenance

I'm the opposite, I have 12 built up bikes and a few more in the process of being built up. I love mucking about with "old tat" or riding inappropriate bikes. I rode the old Bikefest course yesterday on a fixed gear 26" wheeled old Kona and despite the comedy rain / wind and mud, I had a hoot....it's nice to either choose a bike and then make up a ride or know where I want to go and choose whatever bike I fancy riding depending on weather, mud or road and solo or with peeps....

to my mind it's only a phase. i had something of the kind with fishing. but in a year or so it all came back to normal