What's your "go to" bike right now, and why?

[doctorstewie]

Afternoon all,
I was just exchanging PMs with another member and asked him this, and it occured to me ( being the nosy sort) that I'd be interested to hear from a lot more of us what is the bike that you ride most often, and whether that changes, and why. If it's not a retro bike, what's your "go to" retro as well?

Mine is the Rift Zone: It's gorgeous to ride - I can push it more than any other bike I've ever had and currently it's the only rideable retro I own. It also gets some very nice comments out on the trails and I hope to have the rebuild finished today or tomorrow ( I've been riding it in between working on it )
I have a feeling it's going to stay that way after I have finished the next project too.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

The Hybrid (1989 Bridgestone Radac) as I do 120 miles a week to work and back on it, plus cos I live in that Bloody London I don't get to ride an MTB anywhere near as much as I'd like.

 

[FMJ]

Re:

 

[Bicycle Addict]

A Marin Bolinas Ridge - with a bunch of XT stuff

 

[The History Man]

20" 92 Explosif. Love it even though it's small. Did HONC on it. Will use it for mayhem. Grin factor of 11.

Non retro is a charge cooker 3 in 21" flavour. Just my size and takes me round with no drama.

 

[singletrackmac]

My first ever MTB, 1991 Trek 970 Singletrack, is still to this day my go to ride. Why? Well, it rips, can fit up to 2.5' tires, has great geo and with true temper OXII lugged steel, it's bulletproof. Which being 6'4 240 lbs and riding on Tahoe chunk it needs to be. I have cracked quite a few other frames since I got this bike back in the early 90's, but I can throw anything at this bike and it takes it with ease. I'll even ride this on black diamond portions TRT, but there are a lot of sections that really need full suspension and disc brakes so I usually ride my AM bike on those trails.






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Get out of the gutter and onto the mountain top.

1988 Bridgestone MB1 / 1989 Rockhopper Comp / 1991 Trek 970 Singletrack / 1993 Brave Ti Racer / Proflex 555 / Proflex 856 / 1999 Trek 6000 / 2004 Gary Fisher Cake

 

[firedfromthecircus]

You mean some people actually have a go to bike that's a retro! :shock:

My go to bikes are all modern and which one depends on what I want to do. The retros get wheeled out for special occasions and nostalgia hits.

 

[Minifreak]

My go to is a 97 GT STS-1, nice and light for full sus, just works great for all day cross country and bike parks. Can't help but smile when on it

 

[singletrackmac]

You mean some people actually have a go to bike that's a retro! :shock:

My go to bikes are all modern and which one depends on what I want to do. The retros get wheeled out for special occasions and nostalgia hits.

I would think a lot of people on this site have a go to bike that is retro. For me, the main reason is because of maintenance. I ride almost everyday and if I where to use my "modern" full squish I would need to be performing almost monthly maintenance on the fork and shock and probably pivot maintenance every few months or so. On my retro rides, it's some new brake pads, tires and some wheel truing every once in a while.

I have been thru 4 forks, 2 shocks and can't count how many times I have rebuilt my pivot on my modern bike. Also, since it has full suspension I ride a lot harder on the modern bike and as a consequence I am on my 3rd wheel set. My go to retro ride I ride almost daily and other than brake pads, tires and wheel truing, the only thing I've have replaced since I got the bike in the early 90's is the BB.

-----------------------------------------------------
Get out of the gutter and onto the mountain top.

1988 Bridgestone MB1 / 1989 Rockhopper Comp / 1991 Trek 970 Singletrack / 1993 Brave Ti Racer / Proflex 555 / Proflex 856 / 1999 Trek 6000 / 2004 Gary Fisher Cake

 

[integerspin]

My green Marin. It's what I use to get about.