On getting rid of bikes, and not building the same bike again and again

Schwinn Heavy Duti at Laurelhurst Park, 1 Sept 2021 Camera: Minolta SR-T 101. Film: Fuji Velvia 50 (expired) It's springtime, the season to sell a bike. I tried to sell my Schwinn Heavy Duti right around Christmas. I knew that it would be a tough sell for winter, but I hoped that maybe someone wanted...

A state of the bike fleet at the end of 2021, and what the future might bring

The current fleet What a year for my bicycles. What an unexpected year. When I filed my "Looking ahead to 2021" post at the end of last year, my take on the fleet was this: My fleet of bikes is as good as it’ll ever be, so no major upgrades. And probably no new bikes...

On the number of bikes I own

You may have noticed that over the past few months I reduced the number of bikes in the stable by two. First, realizing that after almost nine years of tweaking, my Raleigh Crested Butte was never going to fit, so I sold it. Then the issues of using a "donor" frame bore bad fruit with...

Raleigh Crested Butte: The exit interview (of sorts)

The Raleigh Crested Butte has left the stable. This top-of-the-line in 1984 mountain bike served me (mostly) well for almost nine years. It was the bike that made me love vintage mountain bikes and plush 26" tires. It's also been the bike that I personalized and modified the most over the years, though its last...

Still for sale: Raleigh Crested Butte

UPDATE 16 JUNE 2021: This bike has been SOLD. Hello friends. My 1984 Raleigh Crested Butte is still available. I'd really rather sell this bike through Instagram/tumblr/my blog than go the Craigslist route, so I'm relisting it again in the hope that happens. Otherwise, I'll be putting it up on Ye Old Craigslist next week....

For Sale: Raleigh Crested Butte

UPDATE 16 JUNE 2021: This bike has been SOLD. Hello friends. After almost nine years of service, it is time for me to sell my Raleigh Crested Butte. This Crested Butte dates from 1984, one of the early American production mountain bikes. It was designed to be a "top of the line" offering by Raleigh,...

Raleigh Crested Butte: Yet more tweaks to the endless tweaking bike

My Raleigh Crested Butte is my longest-lived bike. October will mark nine years of ownership. It's the bike that really got me in love with vintage mountain bikes and 26 inch wheels with chonky tires. It also has become a "proving ground" of a bike: I've tried out several different configurations over the years as...

The season of the dynamo

I mentioned earlier this year that I have dynamo lighting on all the bikes in my fleet. The ability to generate power for lights by moving is amazing. What's more amazing is never having to worry about whether you remembered to bring your lights and are they charged. (Not to mention "Did I forget my...