Playing favorites

Posted by Trisha at 07:02 commute diary, Le Peug, the Bat Add comments
Apr 302010

For the last few weeks you may have noticed me riding Le Peug more often.

But I like to be fair (I was the kind of child who worried about stuffed animals being lonely if they didn’t sleep with me every night, which is why I only ever had one), so for the past couple of weeks it’s been the Bat’s turn.

The minute my butt hit the seat, I thought, no wonder I brought this bike back from the UK. Smooth, stylish, sturdy, easy to shift, built-in lights and zero maintenance. Why would I want to ride something else? Why have two bikes, again?

Funny thing is, I know I’ll feel the same way the next time I get back on Le Peug. Light, nimble, sporty and fast. Why would I want to ride something else? Why have two bikes, again?

Anyone else have trouble picking a favorite bike?

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  • http://mplsrad.wordpress.com Tad Salyards

    I completely understand. Three or four weeks ago I finally pulled the trigger and picked up a Bakfiets from Dutch Bike Chicago. My poor Opa has been sitting in the garage ever since.

    Opa hates me at present. I can tell due to his silence.

  • The Tiny Homestead

    I only have 1 bike, but I recently purchased it and choosing just one was really hard! I wanted light and fast, but I also wanted commuter practicallity. 2 bikes would have been great, but ultimately I compromised and got a bike that does very nicely in a wide variety of situations. Good thing, because storing 1 bike in the living room is enough!

  • http://www.portlandize.com Dave

    We have two bikes between my wife and I, a Raleigh Royal Roadster (DL-1), which has big 28″ wheels, long wheelbase, and a nearly completely upright posture, and a Raleigh Sports, which has 26″ wheels, shorter wheelbase, and more of a touring posture, and I find many of the same things between those two that you just mentioned.

    They both have full chaincase, fenders, internal gears, dynamo lighting, etc, but they feel so much different. The Raleigh Sports has a 4-speed wide range hub, and the difference between it and the 3-speed on the Roadster is notable, plus the posture on the Sports just makes it speedier and more maneuverable. The Roadster definitely feels more chill and relaxed, and I love riding both bikes, for all of the advantages they each have.

    Currently my Sports is sidelined due to some ongoing cotter/crank issues, and I can tell he’s been really bored lately. He keeps tapping his foot and looking sideways at me in an impatient manner.

    Fix me, you bastard!… he seems to say :)

    I can’t wait to get him back on the road.

  • http://knittinglemonade.blogspot.com Kara

    Thank you for the post Trishia. It is very timely. I have been eyeing a mixte seriously now ( a 62 Betty Foy), and feeling a little guilty about my Pashley. I don’t want her to feel any less loved, but I love the idea of having a sportier bike in addition to her.

  • Andrew Duthie

    I’ve always been pretty good at not having favorites. Cars, motorcycles, bicycles… It’s fun having a reasonably specific purpose for each one. That said, it’s also fun sometimes to use one for the “wrong” purpose, like taking the road bike out for a leisurely ramble around the neighborhood, or the folding bike when there will be no reason during the trip to fold it even once.

  • Tinker

    It must be nice to have a problem like that. My choices are a wreck of a 1972 Raleigh, and my Big Bright Green, Pleasure Machine (Torker Cargo T).

    Don’t mind me, I’ll just sit here in the dark.

  • http://www.bike-bliss.com/ Cherilyn

    Three bikes, no apologies! All have a specific purpose and get plenty of time on the road, so I’m not worried about them getting jealous. I love having the differences because it keeps me aware and tuned in to my riding. I have to think about the shifting, brakes, traction, so I don’t just numb out and go into automatic pilot. Life’s too beautiful to check out!

  • Jim

    Cherilyn make a great point. I have two bikes, a Works Cycle Opa and a Raleigh Soujourn. Both bikes work great for their specific purposes, but neither is ideal as an all arounder. The Opa is my errand runner and pleasure rider around our village. We live at the base of the Niagara Escarpment and the first 2.5 miles of my commute is straight up the side of the escarpment. So when I head out to the wicked city for work, the Sojourn with it’s wide range gearing and disc brakes is my choice. Both are ridden regularly and enjoyed immensely.

  • http://www.sheridesabike.com Karen

    I have the Specialized Expedition and the Breezer Uptown 8, both great bike and it’s hard to choose. However, if I get a Dahon (I’d like to have something that I could easily take on an airplane or use on a city bus)I decided I’d sell the Expedition. The Breezer just has everything I want – internal hub, LED lights, enclosed chainguard, and of course the upright position. And it is just so gosh darm pretty. Last week I pedaled everyday on the Expedition though, so who knows. If I find a deal on a Dahon, maybe I’ll have three bikes.

  • http://www.evoluer.me eva

    It seems like i can never have enough bikes! I have my Schwinn Collegiate for cruising and cargo missions. A 3-speed Surly for longer distance and city touring. A 1960 Rabeneick i brought home from Germany to look at and marvel at it’s beauty. A Felt Cafe bike because they are so dang cute and functional. & a fancy pants carbon fiber Felt ZW1 machine [for racing and climbing ridiculously steep hills]. Maybe I have a problem…hahaha

  • http://www.bikecommuters.com Ghost Rider

    My wife jokes that it is harder for me to decide which bike to ride to work than it is for me to choose what I’m going to wear!

    They’re ALL my favorites.

  • Scott

    Hey Trisha, are you drowning down there in Nashville? I heard the rain was serious business. Are the roads still ridable?

  • http://letsgorideabike.com/blog Trisha

    Hi Scott! Yeah, poor Dottie, Greg and I had a wet weekend here in Nashville, complete with a power outage all day yesterday. But no significant damage to my home or workplace. Sorry to say that can’t be said for everyone in Nashville — there were a few fatalities and a LOT of property damage. It’s crazy. Now they’re telling us to use water only for cooking & drinking until the end of the week, since the treatment facilities aren’t working at full capacity.

  • http://freckleddiaries.typepad.com Catherine

    Because I have one normal bike and one electric bike and I use them for very different and well-defined purposes, I don’t really have this issue.

    The e-bike is for the commute, the occasional heavy-haul and those farther-away (5+ miles) social events to which I don’t want to run the risk of arriving sweaty. Everything else (errands, around-town stuff, friend’s houses, to/from Metro etc) which is the majority of my trips (but probably a minority of miles because my commute is nearly 20 miles/day) is the territory of the Amsterdam.

  • David

    Wish I had that problem. I can’t afford to import bikes from Europe. It’s whatever used bike fits and I can afford. I have a 300 dollar Raleigh, and it does just great for the 100+ miles I put on it every week, all year round.

    I do have six guitars though. And I try to get around to playing all of them.

    • http://letsgorideabike.com Dottie

      Must be hard for you to pick a favorite guitar! :)

      I’m not sure that having a choice of favorite bikes has much to do with the amount one spends on the bikes. Trisha’s situation demonstrates this point, as her $150 vintage bike competes for top billing with her Batavus. And the Batavus was actually half off at a shop in England, which is why Trisha brought it over from there.

  • Scott

    Trisha, did you ever post about whether the modern Bats like yours are available in Chicago? I still haven’t seen them in any shops. My friend who was interested ended up going with a Gazelle.

    Importing euro bikes is a real pain. It cost $400 to get my Azor over here (totally worth it).

    • http://letsgorideabike.com Trisha

      I haven’t made a comprehensive enough survey of Chicago bike shops to be sure, but I have only seen the Old Dutch there (since it seems to be lower quality than the other Batavus builds I have ridden, I think it’s a shame it’s the most widely distributed stateside).

      I don’t think the Entrada Spirit is available in the US in general, though. Batavus launched two new models last year for the US market and one of them is our version of the Entrada.

      Adrienne of CYLRAB, if you’re there, did you get your Soccoro in the US, and do you know if they’re still sold here?

    • http://letsgorideabike.com Trisha

      p.s. if you take the bike as checked baggage, airline peeps *might* be too astonished to charge you the oversized luggage fees.

  • http://www.fullhandsx3.blogspot.com sara

    Totally understand this. I’ve become addicted. A bike for every occasion– riding by myself, riding with one kid, riding with multiple kids, etc. Made my husband stop at our local bike shop today to test out a cute red 1970′s tandem. Friends from school didn’t understand. “You guys already have a number of perfectly good bikes,” they said. But hey– we don’t have a perfect Date Night Bike yet!

  • http://inadvertentlydomesticated.com Inadvertently Domesticated

    It’s been years since I rode a bike. I’m thinking of buying one to keep myself fit. Let’s see if it’s true what they say…that riding a bike is something you can never unlearn.

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