Originally Posted by
dbrk
I get the idea of playing this game and that's all good with me but the thought of only one just breaks my heart. I've spent years getting to where I am now. Okay, so that's promiscuous and outlandish, excessive, whatever one might like to call it, though I'm not sure why anyone would need to have an opinion about why a guy like bicycles, owns them, or does whatever he damn well pleases with them, including not ride them. Is there some sort of moral superiority to a certain kind of bike? or treating a bicycle one way (like riding it) or another (like not)? That's all nonsense to me. I'm guilt free, not interested in feeling badly about what I love that's harmless enough.
There are bikes I could part with and I'm not feeling particularly acquisitive these days but...but...why would I not want more than one kind of cycling experience? Is one bike supposed to suit all styles? All moods, all terrain, all kinds of riding? Clearly I don't believe that's my experience. What would I gain from such monogamy? Don't give me that simplicity zen crapmo atmo. I teach Zen yearly and know my way around those arguments well enough to know that there's no superiority in such preferences. I like race bikes, even euro-trash and I like old French five speeds that imhoatmo ride as sweetly as anything in the whole wide world ymmv/tastewhatever.
Let me add one more thing: I value the bikes that evoke a personal relationship way more than, say, my Colnagos or a rare bike that didn't connect me to the builder. When I take my Sachs, I think of RS, the Mariposa Mike Barry, and the Singers or Toei/Ebisu my long connection with those shops and persons (Csuka, Iimura). I can sell the Colnago, buy another one (maybe) but Ernesto and I aren't pals and some bikes are not only great, they are part of a relationship I value.
Prolixity warrants reprimand. I await thee.
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