State of the stable
Commuter/tourer. Main ride to work, also main machine for light/credit-card touring. 1994 Shogun Alpine GT, converted to 650B. Fork by Joe Cosgrove. Downtube logo says 'Sholto' in memory of a friend. Love this bike and ride it just about every work day. This bike has so much "story" with me. Some of it is here.
Road bike. Frezoni made by Joe Cosgrove, a framebuilder who lives about 2 km from me in Brisbane Australia. Joe's primarily known for doing the paintwork on Llewellyn bikes. He built the frame for me in 2004, for my 40th birthday. Seeing that I just turned 60, I've had this bike for 20 years. My requirement at the time was we designed the bike to accommodate wider tyres than was popular at the time. Back then a road bike mostly had 700x23 tyres. This bike takes up to 700x30, mostly as a result of designing for "long reach" caliper brakes.
Cyclocross/gravel bike. 2011 Cannondale CAAD-X. Just a couple of years before cyclocross bikes switched to discs. I now run a 1x Sensah setup, and it has mini-V brakes rather than cantis. My favourite tyres for this bike at the moment are 700x40 slicks (Maxxis Velocita). 40s are the biggest tyres which fit this bike, but bigger is better.
Bikepacking bike. Based on a 2011 Specialized Carve aluminium frame. Currently has a Trifox carbon fork. Fantastic device for long steady days on the trails. The carbon fork with its extra carrying capacity on the forks, and the Jack's Rack upfront for the Buffalo Bag (it's a Big Buffalo, size small, ha) work super well. Also love the Vittoria Mezcal tyres in 29 x 2.1. On a recent overnight trip (the Jimna Escape weekend) I experimented with a different handlebar, an aluminium AliExpress knock-off of the Surly Corner Bar. That was not a success. The SQ Labs trekking bar will go back onto the bike before its next outing. The Carve is the machine of choice for my next big adventure, the Munda Biddi Trail in Western Australia in September/October 2024.
Mountain bike. 2016 Kona Precept. 27.5 wheels, dual suspension. Cos singletrack is the best fun. I hunted around for ages when I wanted to buy a "new" mountain bike. Geometry for mountain bikes has changed so much, and these days really focusses on the downhill experience. For that purpose, the dropper post is an integral part of what makes the geo effective, cos when you are descending you're off the saddle but still in the middle of the bike. This bike is a few years old, and slightly out of date geometry wise. Which probably makes it perfect for me. It goes great on the trails I ride in SEQ.
Folding bike. Brompton. Cos every home needs a Brompton. Not every day, but when you have a Brompton, it makes the suburban train network so much more useful! Any destination within 5km of a train station is now somewhere I can get to under my own steam.