Where is a bike's soul?

[KnottedYet]

A couple years back we had a thread asking where a bike's soul is located.

Can't find it, so I'm asking.

Where is your bike's soul? (If you're the kind of person who assigns a bike a personality)

Is it in the frame? *Where* in the frame?

If you replace the frame (and nothing else) with another frame that has the same geometry, is it still the same bike?

How about if you replace the frame with one of a different style, but the same geometry?

(I'm thinking about replacing a diamond frame with a mixte frame that has nearly the same geometry... is it still the same bike?)

Some folks use bike personality as a short cut for all the characteristics of a bike. How much can you change a bike and still have the same personality?

I have a feeling it is mostly to do with the geometry. Whatever the framebuilder has to do to get you that geometry, it is the geometry that matters. Frame style is just details.

Some days I just want to throw my career to the winds and apprentice myself to Michael Sylvester or Natalie Ramsland. Today is one of those days.

And today's question is: where is a bike's soul? Is it in the frame? In your head? In the geometry?

[PscyclePath]

A bike's soul is pretty evenly distributed on the saddle and on the pedals. It's that driving force that makes the thing go to all sorts of wonderful places, and maybe even a few that aren't so wonderful, but taking the bike there made them better

[Biciclista]

cute, PscyclePath.
I think the soul is the frame... in it, around it. My bike was injured, they fixed the dented tube, repainted it. It's still the same bike for sure.

[TsPoet]

The soul has to be the frame, as everything else is easy to replace and, in fact, often replaced.
Before I thought it through, though, my first thought was the chainrings, as that's the central part of the bike - maybe that's the heart and the frame is the soul.

[zoom-zoom]

The soul has to be the frame, as everything else is easy to replace and, in fact, often replaced.
Before I thought it through, though, my first thought was the chainrings, as that's the central part of the bike - maybe that's the heart and the frame is the soul.

+1 - I like this.

[Susan]

I think the soul of my bikes is in the frame, maybe somewhere around the headbadge.
If a part gets replaced, it's still the same bike, and I often tell my bikes that they will get a shiny new part to put on