I love the formula that bikey people use to describe their obsessive bicycle collecting: that the perfect number of bicycles is n + 1, where n = the number of bikes you currently own. There's always just another bike on the horizon, or at least the idea of such.
Since moving to Alice Springs a little more than a year ago, I've been pondering the qualities that would make the perfect bike for these conditions. I guess I'm thinking along the lines of a 'do anything, go anywhere' kind of bike, that you can jump on to ride to work or the shops, or head out exploring, or take short cuts on rough, sandy tracks, or even scoot along the singletrack on your way home from work.
In my thinking, this perfect bike would need the following qualities:
- tyres that are fast-rolling with enough bitey grip for unexpected off-roading
- thorn-proof tubes (or slime) to ensure that pesky prickles or glass don't slow things down
- flat bars for manoeuvering through traffic or singletrack
- front suspension forks for a little bit of give on the rough surfaces here
- one gear only - it's pretty flat here so no clunky derailleurs required
- wheel size = undecided! 26 inch or 700c or 29 inch or 27.5 inch...eek?!
- funky paint job
- not too flash
- tough enough to withstand being locked up at work or at the shops (or at the pub...)
- needs to be able to ride fast
- also needs to be able to ride slow
So, to narrow it down, kind of a mountain bike/flat bar roadbike/cyclocross-style town bike.
See, you get my problem!
What is your idea of the perfect bike? Is there even such a thing?
Is it this?
Or maybe more like this?
Or perhaps a little like this?
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