My Year in Bikes

Loving the few posts I’ve seen of this already and thought I’d add my list. It’s been quite a year of builds, both successful and unsuccessful!

1. My beloved 1985 Bridgestone 500. I bought this bike about 5 years ago. It got me into gravel and has probably been built up 10 different ways at this point. Currently in all road trim with some nice 38c Pasela PTs and some Crust Towel Racks. Also added a Wald 137 recently.

2. Brand new Salsa Heyday. I just bought this because I wanted a more atb adventure style mountain bike. I’m selling my old polygon hardtail because I wasn’t enjoying it anymore. This is the replacement. Running Jones loop bars.

3. 1994 Trek 930. Still dialing in the build on this one but it’s really close. Crust towel racks, sora flight deck shifters, hodgepodge shimano 2×8 drivetrain. Modified stx front derailleur to work with road shifters. Rides really nicely!

4. Trek 7000. Tried a bunch of different setups for this bike but eventually decided it was too small and sold it.

5. 2009 Rockhopper 29er SS. I tried some corner bars and a 2×8 drivetrain in the hopes of building a monstercross type bike, but it felt super sluggish to ride so I ended up putting it back to SS and selling it.

6. 1995 Diamondback WCF 4.0. I’m sure a lot of y’all recognize this build. I’ve had it for years. It was set up really nicely as a fast gravel bike with corner bars and a Cues 2×9. Unfortunately the bonded carbon frame started failing so I had to retire it. The frame is now enshrined on my living room wall.

7. 1992 Diamondback override. The 2FA roast build! Looked super cool, but was so damn heavy and not all that fun to ride so I sold it.

8. 1985 Ross mt Whitney. Really nice riding frame, not as heavy as people claim they are. I had this built up a few different ways also, but I couldn’t get along with the slack STA, so my brother in law is probably going to be gifted this frameset from me.

It’s been a fun year! I’m happy with where all my bikes are at the moment, minus a few small changes planned. Hopefully next year is more riding and less tinkering! Happy holidays xbiking!