Bike envy - breathe deep!

[sundial]

I can offer no useful advice either as I spent two hours last night looking for a steel frame

LOL! You've been studying the Copenhagen style blog again, haven't you?

I love my Roubaix. I really do. That is until I found one that is *slightly* reduced with super components. I had to leave.

[Zen]

Me? no, I don't need to study style. Where do you think they get their ideas?

No, I want a touring bike. A bike that will do the occasional club ride, charity ride or gravel road ride. Something that feels stable, not a twitchy road bike.
And I want the magic carpet ride of steel.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Do you come up with these pearls of wisdom while riding a custom built Luna, perhaps?

Well, I got my first bike 3 years ago (I have had two bikes during the past 40 years), the Rivendell. I rode it for 2 years, increasing my mileage a great deal, and had fit problems the whole time that we tried unsuccessfully to solve. There was some nasty elbow pain and a constant unbalanced feeling. I tried to 'love what I had"...I certainly love the concept of Rivendell steel country bikes...but the severe elbow pain was ruining it for me, as was the constant feeling of falling on my hands.

It wasn't a feeling of 'bike envy' that made me order a Luna, it was the pain and discomfort in riding I was having. I would have bought ANY bike that fit me really well. I test rode a few other types of bikes including a WSD bike, and wasn't having much luck. I researched for months, because I didn't want to buy the wrong bike again- I wanted a bike that would last me for many years of happy riding. I finally figured that getting a custom bike would greatly increase my chance of having a bike I could ride without pain. Got my Luna (more expensive than most Treks, less than most Sevens), made to my body measurements.
It has been SO comfortable for me, such a huge relief!- and has made bike riding the pain-free joy I was hoping for. I'm not sure all this was falling under the spell of 'bike envy'. Though for sure, for 2 years I did envy women who were riding without pain!

Now, what I would love most at this point in time is to sell my Rivendell and replace it with another identical Luna frame to be used for errands and shopping. Then I could be comfortable all the time when riding. But I resist that urge. Instead I chose the practical route and fixed the Riv up with rack and panniers, etc., to use it for my utility bike for shorter trips. Shorter trips didn't hurt my elbows as much.

I occasionally see great old 1980's lugged steel road bikes in the trash or at garage sales cheap. The urge is to nab them, fix them up...after all, they'd be so cool. But then... I think "Do I really need another bike?" and the answer is NO, I only 'need' a road/pleasure bike, and a shopping/utility bike. I have what I need, and I don't need more. Happily, I don't suffer from uncontrolled Bike Acquisition Syndrome.

Bike envy aside, I do recommend that anyone who rides a bike that is uncomfortable for them get a new bike that fits properly, whatever that might be.

[Zen]

I occasionally see great old 1980's lugged steel road bikes in the trash or at garage sales cheap.

If you happen to find one that's 47cm I will pay a generous finders fee and shipping

Maybe I should stop at some of those garage sales. I always drive by, saying "you don't need anymore STUFF!"

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

If you happen to find one that's 47cm I will pay a generous finders fee and shipping
Maybe I should stop at some of those garage sales. I always drive by, saying "you don't need anymore STUFF!"

I know that any older steel bike is likely going to need way more than just new tires and chain....and that they often need specific French threaded parts.

We're both probably better off driving straight past!

[subengine]

Well I'm glad it's not just me!

Happiness is loving what you have - I like that!

Now I just need to avoid going into bike shops for a 'browse'.

I can't justify it at the moment and I need to use and love the wonderful sub I already have. But maybe I can get a pretty jersey to take my mind off it...

[ZenSojourner]

No problem with Bike Envy here. But I can't take the credit for it.

There's not an off-the-rack bike outside of the Terry I already own that would fit me, so what's to be envious of? LOL!

[fidlfreek]

Don't you think the main unifying factor among TE posters is our varying degrees of mutual bike lust?? We come here to get more of it than we can in the "real world"...

[hilldweller]

Well I'm glad it's not just me!

Happiness is loving what you have - I like that!

Now I just need to avoid going into bike shops for a 'browse'.

I can't justify it at the moment and I need to use and love the wonderful sub I already have. But maybe I can get a pretty jersey to take my mind off it...

Yours is the pretty coral red sub isn't it? Shouldn't be too hard to love LOL

[subengine]

hilldweller - I know, I know, she is loveable. Geez I sound so ungrateful. It's just that her cousin is so cute! But seriously though I willl enjoy little 'Sarah' for awhile before I look at getting another bike.

[crazycanuck]

At my fave bike shop there's a really really cool looking single speed that keeps calling me to drool on it. Ooooo ahhhhhh

[Crankin]

Despite the fact that I have had 3.5 bikes (the last one was just a frame swap, keeping my components) road bikes in 7 years, none were really due to bike lust. My first road bike was an aluminum Cannondale. I don't know what components it had, probably 105s. The shifting sucked and the deur. sucked, too. After trying several fixes, my DH took me to Landry's, where I tested 2 bikes (stupidly, by just riding on the trainer) and got my Trek 5200. I loved that bike, but was having constant neck, back, arm pain. In retrospect, it may have just been my Fibromyalgia or some sports injury that I never treated properly. When a new high end bike store opened in my town, we went for a fitting. He did not press us to buy new bikes, but we were swayed by all of the Italian carbon in the shop. I got a new bike, which really was too big... sometime in the 2 years I had this frame, I was in the shop for something and had the only "lustful" reaction to a bike I have ever had. It was a deep, cobalt blue (get this) Trek 5200. It must have been in there for service, because they don't sell Treks. I knew it was a 47 cm by looking at it... I felt terrible. I wanted my Trek back, but sucked it up.
After 2 years of wrangling, I got a smaller frame, same brand, different model of the bike I bought there. It's definitely sexier looking, red, etc, but so far, no bike "excites" me the way you all are describing. Well, actually I feel much more "fondly" about my Jamis Coda. It's just a cool bike that I use to do errands or have fun on. No pressure type of riding. Since they are not too common around here, I always get compliments on it. I also get compliments on my Kuota, again because it's not a common brand, but I guess I'm not genetically wired for bike envy, which is good.

[tulip]

There's not an off-the-rack bike outside of the Terry I already own that would fit me, so what's to be envious of? LOL!

A Luna, that's what.

[ZenSojourner]

They're not off the rack bikes. They're custom.

Aside from the fact that I can't afford a custom bike, I feel no envy whatsoever.

Maybe it just isn't genetically in me, like Crankin, LOL!

[tulip]

Ah, but mine was "off-the-rack." It was pre-built, and it fit me, and it's marvelous.

But I guess what you don't know won't tempt you.