When Did It Get So Complicated?
I love to ride my bikes, any one of them, each for different reasons.
I love the mountain bike for the feeling of invincibility and the ability to bounce and roll over anything (at least the memory of that. I don't have the rhythm and flow I used to cause I haven't had an mtb for a while.)
I love the Pake. My dear brother-in-law hooked me up with his old box of parts (he switched to Record, and I got the old DA and Ultegra), and the Lemond never quite fit, so I came up with a project. The Pake is heavy, but it rides light. So responsive, so comfortable. I look forward to getting up the next day so I can ride it to work. When I get on it, it's like the first time, each time. I would buy a second one of these just to put clips and straps on it and singlespeed it up.
I love the Diamondback conversion. I bought this used from this cat Saul (who's now a rabbi in the Bronx) at Turin my freshman year at Northwestern. The conversion is fun to ride, because there's nothing to think about. It's my GAT, so I don't care if I leave it locked in the rain in front of the Farragut West station, or ride it home very slowly and deliberately after last call at Solly's.
I want to replace the Diamondback. It's an obsession almost. I won't, I don't think, because I can't justify replacing the beater. It's a beater, fer crying out loud. Sure it's totally too small, but I don't put miles on it.
It comes down to two things: clips and straps vs clipless and leaving the bike out.
Clipless, for those that don't know, is a pedal and shoe combination, like ski bindings and boots. In theory more efficient (and I think safer) than the alternative, but it requires wearing the shoes. Without the shoes, you're not attaches, and you're pushing on smaller, rounded metal objects. Less control and contact, in my opinion, so you risk slipping off, or not being able to pull the bike over an obstacle.
Leaving the bike out is just making it available to thieving and adding to the wear and tear...rust and scratches.
I fully acknowledge I'm whining. I don't need more than one of the bikes. But at some point, one bike stopped being enough. It stopped being about riding and became about the options... road ride, off-road ride or errands and joyriding.
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