My Bikes

We’ve all seen those old people with the “Ask Me About My Grandchildren” bumper stickers on their cars. Well, I don’t have any grandchildren and probably won’t for a few years. However, if I could find a “Ask Me About My Bicycles” bumper sticker I would proudly put it on my Jeep immediately. People often ask me about the bikes I ride, so I thought I would share a few photos with you.

My new Surly Necromancer Pugsley (formerly known by the much cooler Black Ops name) arrived at the local bike shop on Tuesday, December 13, 2011. I had this Necromancer highly customized—click on the link above to see the modifications. The biggest change was the installation of a Shimano Alfine 8-Speed Internal Hub.

I bought my Trek Madone in July of 2007 on the same day that Alberto Contador won the Tour de France while riding for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. The color of this beautiful bike is listed as Discovery Blue/Titanite Black. This is the bike I spend most of my time on.

Since I live in an area that has some great off-road trails I bought a Gary Fisher Big Sur in August of 2005 to take advantage of them. This bike has a RockShox Duke XC Air front fork, hydraulic disc brakes and an aluminum alloy frame that combines zirconium, magnesium and lithium to create a lightweight, yet incredibly strong, frame. For the past few years most of my off-road rides have been at night. In 2012 I replaced the stock cassette and hub for a Shimano Alfine 8-Speed Internal Hub.

I bought Trek 1200 in April of 2005 and it is usually only taken out of the garage on days when it is raining. I also ride this bike in the winter when the roads are clear, but still covered with salt and sand. To make this a great “all season” bike I had a Shimano Alfine 11 Internal Geared Hub installed and a Cane Creek Thudbuster Seatpost to help smooth the ride out a bit.

This Trek 4300 Alpha Mountain Bike is the oldest bike I have—it was purchased in 2002. In the summer it is equipped with thick knobby tires so I can play in the mud. In the winter I put a pair of steel studded tires on it so I can enjoy playing in the snow and ice. In March of 2012 I rebuilt this bike in my garage—except for the wheel it has all new parts. In case you are wondering, the body of water in the background is Lake Michigan (on a really nasty day).

I use my Topeak Dual Touch Stand in my garage and it almost serves as a wall between my bike repair area and the rest of the garage (we have a two-car garage but half of it is used for bicycle storage and my own private bike repair shop). I also have a couple other bike storage racks as well.

You might think less of me for what I am about to say, but I judge mechanics (at least in part) on the quality of tools they use—if they don’t take pride in their equipment they seldom take pride in their work. As a result, just about every tool in my work area was made by Park Tool.