Pics of your bike(s)

First mountain bike I've bought new since my rigid Stumpjumper in 1996 or so, and the first bike I've bought new since I got my road bike around 2004. I've been drooling over this thing all year and my local shop and I came to an agreement.

Trek Supercaliber. Carbon everything. 23 lbs. About the fastest XC bike you can get. Climbs like my hardtail - no, really, people say that but I do ride a carbon hardtail - but without the punishment. I'm in love.

First ride was on snow covered trails. I was about 5% faster than normal despite the traction problems on steep climbs.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I test rode that excat model when trek was in town, and boy was I impressed. 

My downhiller friends are making fun of me for not buying a trophy truck of a bike, but I like riding up hills and precision :) It's an amazing machine - the best thing I can say about the rear suspension is that you're totally unaware of it doing anything at all.

Best part of winter rides is that you don't have to share the trails. I met one other rider on a very popular trail. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Congrats on the new bike! Looks like fun. Is this your first 29er?

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Congrats on the new bike! Looks like fun. Is this your first 29er?

I picked up a used Bianchi Methanol 29" a couple of years ago. Carbon race hardtail, a bike that sat in much the same position in the market 10-12 years ago as the Supercaliber does now. That joined a 26" Rocky Mountain ETSX, which is an enduro bike that is pretty efficient. The Bianchi reminded me how much I loved the absolute connection of a hardtail, as I cut my teeth on rigid bikes. It revitalized my love of riding.

But there are enough rocks around here that I found myself avoiding certain areas with the hardtail. The Supercaliber gives me just enough flex to smooth things out while keeping the purity of the hardtail. The front shock is set up pretty stiff, enough that you don't notice it moving - just that the front tire is always in contact with the ground. The biggest change is having to adjust my riding style for the newer riding position, I've always used the old school early 90's fitment of being "over the front of my skis" because that's what I rode for decades. The Bianchi was set up that way, the Supercaliber has a one-piece carbon stem and bar so I don't really have a choice :)

Here's the hardtail in the same area. It's about 20 minutes from my house.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

 Nice! As someone who cut his teeth on early-90's MTBs, the modern geometry changes take some getting used to, but works really well once you wrap your head around it. Have fun!

In reply to ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) :

I'm only showing the currently active bikes :) There's a rigid 1996-ish Stumpjumper (Deore XT, back when that was as good as it gets) in the shed along with a mid-80s Bianchi Campione D'Italia in Celeste with a full Campy gruppo and a Klein Quantum from the same era.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Very cool collection! As a Pacific-NWer, I love anything Klein, and I've had a soft spot for Bianchis since my amazing steel Reparto Corse I bought in '97. I used to work at a Specialized dealer, and one can  throw all kinds of shade, but they are a company staffed by passionate riders who are fully invested in making awesome bikes. I've got a couple of the big red S in my personal stable right now, one analog and one digitally-enhanced with e-bike power! 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

This is interesting.  It looks like about half of the rear suspension is provided through seat stay flex, which is kind of cool, for a hardtail.  The design makes one wonder if the first version was not pivot-less (a design you can actually still buy).  That's also a really long stem, which very directly reminds one of another time . . .

In reply to slowcamaro :

This is berkeleying awesome!  Steel + coil = rules!

rustomatic said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

This is interesting.  It looks like about half of the rear suspension is provided through seat stay flex, which is kind of cool, for a hardtail.  The design makes one wonder if the first version was not pivot-less (a design you can actually still buy).  That's also a really long stem, which very directly reminds one of another time . . .

If you're talking about the Bianchi, it has no pivots. It's a real hardtail, but it does have a bit of give in the rear triangle from engineered carbon flex. There's an evolution of the design that does have rear suspension, but this is not it. Today, this would be a Methanol RS and the rear suspension version would be an FS - but since it was built before there was an FS, it's just a Methanol :) I'm not sure if they've tweaked the geometry over the years, this thing is a decade old.

I already acknowledged my preference for a forward riding position! I put that long stem on because I like being over the front wheel, especially when climbing. I didn't like the shorter one it came with, and even it was unfashionably long for these days. I am fine with that. I also don't put water bottles on my bike, I ride clipped in and I remember the first time Biopace was cool...

I know nothing about bicycles. We had a pair of $75 Craigslist mountain bikes and used them sparingly, but I wanted to get a road bike. A fellow autocrosser put one up for sale and I picked up this Schwinn Prelude on the way to Nationals one year. I forget what I paid for it, but it wasn't much.

It's a good bike. I have no idea where it fits on the scale of "good for beginners" to "for elite athletes" but it gets the job done for me. A little more than a year ago I got back into biking regularly, going to the local rail trail and going the 13 miles out and 13 miles back once a week. I've put nearly 1100 miles on it this year and it's been pretty much trouble-free. I replaced both tires and tubes this year (I got sticker shock when I saw these tires are $75 each), and had to adjust both derailleurs once or twice, and I still haven't quite gotten the seat where I like it, but that's it.

I usually stick to the local rail trail because it's nice and flat. I took the bike along on a visit to mom & dad's near Pittsfield MA and tried that local trail and it was also nice and flat. Then the next day I got a wild idea and biked Mount Greylock. The ride up took forEVER (my first stop to catch my breath was less than a quarter-mile in), and the ride down was harrowing. But I'd do it again.

My bike kinda looks like a Tinkertoy compared to the multi-thou$and dollar $tuff in other posts in this thread, but it works for me.

The best bike is the bike that makes you want to ride. That's all that matters. 

In reply to myf16n :

I love 2 stroke GP bikes, this is me (322) giving my wife's 1994 RS125 a shakedown. The whole time I was singing "Fat guy on a little bike"

Got to ride with my dad on Christmas at Baker creek for his 62nd birthday. 

Very Gurney 'Gatorish...

In reply to RoHorn :

Wild! Is that home built? Does it have rear suspension? How does it ride? Definitely reminds me of a Gurney Gator. Would love to learn more.

Got all the supermotos running and moved from the shop to home...ready to ride in the new year! Still 'trying' to sell one, and by that I mean no significant effort put into selling, mostly trying to convince myself that three fancy European supermotos (two of them rare, discontinued, and so-so for parts supply) is ridiculous overkill. The data is all there, but somehow I can recognize it, and still not recognize it.

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to RoHorn :

Wild! Is that home built? Does it have rear suspension? How does it ride? Definitely reminds me of a Gurney Gator. Would love to learn more.

Yes: Homebuilt -  rear suspension as well. It handled well and was a blast to ride, but it was too under-tired and over-weight to be competitive - got a lot of good experience and useful information from it.  Lots more here: https://www.odd-bike.com/2019/07/guest-post-robert-horns-rohorn-two.html

I picked this guy up a couple months ago. I wanted something more suited for bike parks than my Intense Primer. On paper it's pretty similar, but the riding experience is entirely different. Ibis Ripmo AF with a 170mm DVO Onyx fork and DVO Jade rear coil.  Have about 300 miles on it so far. It pedals far better than a bike with this much travel or heft should ride, but it's noticeable more work than my Intense.  But on the super chunky DH runs, it's spectacular. Also makes for a great backup bike, or for the parks that are more freeride and less XC.

At the other end of the spectrum, I had this old 26er that's lived many lives. Initially it was a 22lb weight weenie XC build with a SID fork. From there, it was my gravel bike complete with drop bars, rigid fork and Dura Ace bar end shifters. Most recently, it's my parts bin bike for messing around when I take my kids riding. Also benefited from some parts taken off of my Devinci Dexter after it's untimely demise.

I want a better fork though. The SID stanchions were too flexy and would shudder under braking. I have 2 nice forks without a home, but both have tapered steer tubes. So, fine, I'll put the boat anchor Suntour fork on for now. Headtube angle is sitting at 66.4 deg. Gotta stick a spare dropper on it next.

Memory lane..

First life:

Gravel mode:

New year new bust my ass at a wet skate park. 

Fresh set of Maxxis Minions and a seat were my Christmas presents- one picture with my expert helper before they get all muddy:

My '06 SV650 Wrecked Bike Rebuild

Starting point

As it sits now,ready to come back apart to clean, service and do final assembly