The Bikes of 2024

Happy New Year to all! I feel like my bike flipping has been slowing down, but I expect writing this post may disabuse me of that notion. Regardless, here are the changes that happened to my fleet last year:

Jan: I bought a Specialized Expedition frame that I converted from a comfort bike to an adventure bike, mostly as a winter project:

Feb: Quiet.

Mar: I couldn't resist the Jones's spring sale, so I decided to give the SWB model a try. I liked my (two) previous LWB models, but they weren't the perfect match for my riding. If your riding combines pavement, gravel, and singletrack in about equal measures, a Jones would be just about perfect. My local area is not like this, so (spoiler), the SWB had the same issue. Also, the cheaper tubing of the SWB (my frame was from the complete build) didn't have quite the zing of the frameset tubing. In no way am I noting this to justify another LWB in the future. Nope.

I also sold my Brompton in March. It has a great fold, but it's not the best riding bike out there. Though lately I am tossing around the idea of a 20" Brompton clone.

Apr: with the Jones in the house, I moved the Expedition on. The buyer was looking for a comfy 26" bike with fenders and a basket, so it's good we found each other.

May: I joined the iBOB "cheap bike challenge" with this $120 Rockhopper from Facebook. I thought I would suffer through riding it, but it became one of my favorite bikes to ride this summer. I ended up giving it a new drivetrain and brakes:

June: I couldn't pass up a big sale on the Vaast A/1 after reading the positive riding impressions in Bicycle Quarterly. It's a lovely riding bike, but a touch small for me. It's in danger this spring.

I also bought a nearly new Zizzo Liberte off of FB Marketplace in June. From my thoughts on the folding bike continuum, I wondered if this might be the sweet spot between Bike Friday ride quality and Brompton foldability. Spoiler: it wasn't, not quite, but I did have some nice rides on it.

In June, I also sold off the Sequoia frame that I had purchased as another winter project. Too much overlap with my Trek, and the Trek fit a hair better.

No summer break in July, I sold off the NS Eccentric. It was... fine. But if it was white with a black "bike" label on the down tube, that would kind of fit.

In August, I sold my 650b wheelset. I'm hoping I don't go down the 650B conversion rabbit hole again. Weak brakes and low bottom brackets. But here's my Trek when I had it set up that way:

Apparently, I still needed a hardtail, so in September I picked up a used Cotic BFE from PinkBike. I was worried that it would be too beefy for me, but I'm enjoying it so far. It's a nice riding, do everything kind of mountain bike. 

In October, I sold the Jones SWB, for the same reason I've sold all of my other Jones. I'm trying to learn this lesson now. My Vitus Mythique followed it out the garage a month later. It was a tough sign for the Vitus when I stole the parts off of it for the Cotic build.

Also in November, I found a good deal on a Dahon Mu P8 at the bike co-op. It's a useful two inches longer than the Zizzo, so I sold the Zizzo cheap to my friend Marc. Not much time on the Dahon as of now.

And I couldn't let the year end without one more bike, so I grabbed this old, cheap hybrid off of FBM last month. It was almost worth buying it to see the owner's vintage Goldwings. I thought I might keep this Trek 720 stock-ish for a while, but I've already stripped it down to the frame. Good to have a winter project or two.

My Bike Friday Crusoe also got a new drivetrain last month. I had hoped the narrow wide chainring + clutch rear derailer would help keep the chain on when folding, but it didn't work out that way. But at least this setup should prevent the occasional chain jump that I've experienced.

So my current stable is seven, and their status:

- Bike Friday Crusoe: basically safe, but I sometimes think about asking BF to make me a new frame with the unified rear end, folding seat post, and a better color. But I'd still probably keep this frame around. You never see 62cm BFs for sale.

- Dahon Mu: looking at it, it's kind of fat and ugly. I hope it rides well

- Specialized Rockhopper: I spent time bringing this back to stock, thinking I would sell it, but I can't, not quite yet. It's just too nice to look at. My platonic ideal of a mountain bike outline.

- Cotic BFE: I don't mountain bike much these days, but I'll happily pull this off the hook when I do.

- Trek 410:  now set up with Albastache bars, fixed gear, and 700c x 32mm tires. It's a great setup.

- Vaast A/1: a bit small, and a bit too modern for me to tinker with. It's at risk this spring.

- Trek 720: TBD, but I'll likely give it a practical setup--fenders, racks, etc--and see how it does this spring.