TCI Friday is a participation game. Read the topic below. Then throw in your two cents. Or ten.
Je ne sais quoi is French for “I don’t know what,” or more colloquially “that special sauce,” and it’s a thing that the best bikes all have. This is part of the reason I urge all my friends to ride a bike before they buy it. Geometry charts only tell you so much. A bike, to me, is like a musical instrument. Each one has its own voice, and little details can make a big difference to how it feels to ride.
The first time I threw a leg over my road bike (a custom Seven), I rolled the pedals over, and suddenly was struck by the perfection of every sensation in my body. Everything seemed to be exactly where it ought to be, and on some terrestrial level I felt as though I was hovering through space. Is that because the top tube is 53.9cm instead of 40cm? I don’t think so. As devoted as I am to the value of custom bikes, there are myriad factors feeding into every ride experience. Something as simple as the right tires or good grip tape can alter your perceptions significantly. It doesn’t make the core magic of any bike unimportant. I’m just saying the special sauce can come from unexpected places.
I built that bike in 2012, if memory serves (it probably doesn’t), and I’ve built and acquired other great bikes since, but no other bike feels like such a natural extension of my body and mind as that one. I don’t ride it as much as I used to, but it never fails to bring a smile to my face, just from the way it feels underneath me, like it’s alive, like we’re only ever going the exact same place.
There are a lot of reasons to get one bike over another. I think, generally, people buy on perceived value, some combination of their sense of the quality of the spec, the look of the bike, and the price. I know I’ve bought the wrong bike before, just because I liked the way it looked. And there is something to the idea that a good-looking bike is a fast bike, but I think, in the long run, tastes change, but quality endures.
Your best bike, your favorite bike, they have that quality, that special sauce, and you just know it. So I wonder, this week, what that bike is, and what you think makes it so great.
These days, the lion’s share of my riding is mountain biking (yay!). I’ve had mountain bikes (hard tails) that definitely had character and I loved them. But with a full suspension bike and wildly varying terrain, there’s much “muting” of a bike’s character, in my opinion. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, it just is. On the road, however, I can really feel the differences. My main road bike for these last dozen plus years has been a custom Serotta Ottrot SE. I call that bike “Old Smoothie”; as you say, riding it is like “hovering through space”. It’s just wonderful, and different than any others I’ve ridden. I’ve not tried a modern carbon road bike. I surely will, probably soon, but I feel no need to rush.
My Serotta CTi disappeared under me some nice 1999. Not custom but I did get a fit and built appropriately. 27 seasons later, I’m not who I was. And while it’s still a beautiful bike, the thought of giving up the Serotta Ti quill stem makes me sad. The look of a quill is so classic and, I’d argue, cleaner than modern headsets. I keep thinking I’m going to regain my flexibility but, at 60, it’s highly unlikely. So, I suspect I will be in the market for my first road machine since ‘99 and I’m hoping for that same experience. I don’t know if I can part with the old one though. So much joy was had…
…some time n 1999…
Dang it!!
I had an Independent Fabrications Deluxe built for me in 2003. I raced it a ton but I’m not sure I really appreciated it fully. Still riding it today, I realize how perfect the bike is when it is under me. When the rides are longer in duration and at a relaxed pace this is the bike I will reach for every time.