My bikes in order"
Trek 412 around 1981. It had a rather strange accident that somehow didn't kill me. I was going about 30 MPH [strong tail wind] and turned into a parking lot of a water park that was being built. I saw a car in the exit lane but didn't notice that there was still a gate in the entrance which I smacked at full speed. Didn't break any bones but it did put a ding in my top tube.
Ciocc - hand made Italian beauty. 1982. It was a dream to ride but I got a frame way too big for me. Columbus SL
Shogun Kaze time trial bike because I lived in the land of flat [Kansas] and went to college in the land of flat [OK].
Peugeot - I seem to remember Reynolds 531 tubing. That time trial bike was too much work with its weird 24 inch sew ups on the front [I.E expensive to find spares]
Cannondale SR600. Even though it had these weird fat downtubes, and was known for being a bone breaker in terms of stiffness, I saw the benefits of having a light weight bike. Oh, and I discovered these also weird things call hills.
Trek 2300 Pro Composite - my first carbon bike. Then I had a daughter and cobwebs formed.
Motobecane - I found my bike passion again. A light weight aluminum frame with some good parts.
Fuji. Once I was meeting my daughter in a town 120 miles away and as usual, I drove to fast to get there so I stopped by a bike shop and took a picture of a cool bike and sent it to my wife. A few months later, my wife talks me into going to a musical in that city but here was the glitch that I didn't pick up on. Step son took her SUV on a trip which left us with my MX-5, a car that I have taken many times back and forth on that trip. She rents a car for us to take. I didn't know that she had called the shop, bought me the bike for a birthday present and knew that if she asked for me to put the bike rack on my MX-5, it would be a dead giveaway.
I was on this bike, coming down a hill at 35 miles an hour when the last thing that went through my head was "I wonder how I'm going to get around this cat in the middle of the road" The next few weeks are fuzzy but plenty of bones were broken this time and I spent 3 nights at the hospital.
But the bike was OK.
It has gone through some wheels, replaced some parts that are more to my liking but everything else is the same. Still in my bibs waiting for the shower to warm up after another ride
My bikes in order...........................
After I'd gotten divorced, my motorcycle broke down, and I didn't have the money to fix it. So, just happened by a bike shop a couple of days after getting my tax refund (300 bucks), and came across a Univega Aeropace SIS. I thought to myself, what the hell, I used to ride bikes as a kid, an 7 miles ain't that far to commute, so I bought the bike.
A year later, the same bike shop started to get in higher quality bikes, and the owner told me that since I had taken such good care of my Aeropace, he'd be willing to let me get 150 trade in value on a new bike, so I got a Univega Neuvotech 450 aluminum.
6 months after that, the bike shop started to carry Trek, and I saw a Trek 2300 composite (same as yours probably), and had to have it because of the neon green and yellow front and back. I like loud colors when riding, because it helps you to be seen.
Rode the hell out of the 2300 until some idiot made a left hand turn in front of me on base (Cecil Field FL in the late 80's), and screwed up my bike pretty bad. Cracked the carbon fiber main tubes pretty badly, and the frame was unrideable. He jumped out of his car and told me it was his fault, and his insurance would be more than happy to pay for a new bike. Little did he know that bikes like that are a pretty penny. When he found out how much it would cost to replace, he tried to get out of paying for it, so I took him to base court. When he told the judge he never saw me, I showed the judge pics of my bike and the neon yellow front with the neon green rear triangle, and the judge told him he had to buy me a new bike, because missing something like that on the road made it DEFINITELY his fault for not paying attention.
That's how I got the Trek 5200 all carbon bike. Rode the hell out of that one for the next several years, but had to replace the frame every year or so because the bottom bracket kept cracking. Found out later that it was because Trek used the wrong glue when they first started building the frames. The bike shop replaced 2 of them, but after the 3rd frame cracked, they pulled out the Lemond Zurich (also made by Trek), and asked me if I'd be interested in an even trade. Well, the group on the Lemond was Campagnolo Athena, and my 5200 had Shimano 600, so I jumped at the swap (always wanted a Campy groupset). Around 5 or 6 months later, I came across a Campagnolo Chorus ergo power groupset for only 650.00 (yeah, a steal at the time), so I swapped out the Athena and put the Chorus on it.
Today, I still have the Lemond with the Chorus ergopower group (9 speed cassette), Mavic Cosmic aero rims with Mavic hubset and bladed spokes (clincher tires), with Speedplay pedals (the kind that are nicknamed "lollipop pedals" because that's what they look like), and a Selle Italia titanium saddle with Modolo anatomic handlebars. By today's bike tech, it's considered a dinosaur, but it works for me, and still rides great. Haven't been on the bike in a couple of years, but am now getting serious again about riding, because I'm 58, getting a spare tire, and wanna get back to close to what I was in my late 30's/early 40's.
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