porsche951

Funny, I've been reading many threads on high mileage and low mileage Corvettes and it occured to me that I must be approaching 200k miles as a competitive cyclist for the past 33 years. I average 6k a year on my bikes(the self propelled ones). I only average a little more than that per year on my 05 coupe.

Cyber Greg

I'm a fanatical mountain biker myself. The kind of riding I do doesn't register the kind of miles you have but I love being on my bike. I love cars but riding my bike is on a whole other level.

porsche951

I mountain bike as well and I'd estimate if all my riding time was spent on the road instead of the woods I'd be averaging 8k miles a year in the saddle. The miles don't accumilate as quickly when you're crawling up a 20% grade hill offroad.

Boomer111

Riding my road bike years which was over 20 good years I averaged around 150 per week. Nothing ever over 30 miles at a time.

Neck discomfort would curtail long saddle time.

So I guess I am about 150,000 miles in the twenty years.

Now I ride the Electra cruiser and get in maybe 50 miles a week. Forward crank and long horn bars make for an upright position. Catch a lot of air but it is not about the miles now just the fun and exercise. Never did the racing thing at all, purely recreational and mostly just for fitness. I try and keep a good pace while spinning with the internal 3 speed hub. Knees will not take the low crank speeds anymore.

This coupled with my 2 rounds twice weekly of golf, while walking, keep me in fair shape for my almost 65 years.

I love cycling just like I enjoy the Vette, they both bring out the little kid in me.

Used to go with a resting pulse of 38 bpm.

Would ride above 150 bmp for my 30 miles often. Between ages 28 to 48. Loved the hills but was a very cautious descender...meaning slooow.

mksz51

Cat 3 Road Cyclist here - just passed 10,000 miles for the year. I know most on this forum wouldn't understand - but if I had to choose between cycling and the Vette the Vette would be history. No contest on that.

Love the Vette - but it can't hold a candle to tech and craftsmanship of this:

ILLUSHN

^^^ Beautiful bike!

MisterMidlifeCrisis

This thread made me realize that both my bike and Corvette went through Montana. I have a custom Carl Strong bike and a Corvette purchased through Ken Fichtner.

I agree with mksz51. There is nothing like the feeling of cranking along in a 52-13 on the flats, tucked down low on the bike with the heart rate pegged. There's a coarseness you can feel through the pedals as the chain meshes with that small rear cog under tension that is indescribably satisfying. It is easily the same thrill as driving a Corvette fast and if I had to give up one or the other, I'd also give up the Vette.

Mad*Max

interesting bikes, I was amazed to see the prices, I guess they must be worth it?

mksz51

Great description - know EXACTLY what you are describing. My "thing" on the bike is primarily time trials - have a Cervelo P3 Carbon for that. Here's the license plate on my truck - people either get it or they don't.

mksz51

If you're deep into cycling the price is easily worth it. You are paying for exotic materials (carbon, titanium), technology, and beautiful finish on materials. It is not unusual for a complete bike today to be in the 14-16 pound range. Frames /forks in this range will be $3-5K and complete bikes will be $7-10K+. I'm happy to own as many as my wife will let me!

Cyber Greg

My favorite bike is a Turner Highline with 8.5" of rear travel and weighing in at a
svelte 42 lbs. Clearly not a road bike but I've pedaled her up some serious hills to get to the good part (The Downhill) and I too if having to make a choice would choose bike over car.

porsche951

I was up to 12 bikes a few years ago but have pared the herd down to 6. Two mountain bikes and 4 road bikes. Love em all. Just ordered a Curt trailer hitch for my C6. I know I'll get a lot of flak for this but I travel quite a bit to get to my cycling events so I might as well enjoy the drive there. With my coupes massive hatch I also have plenty of room for all my racing associated crap as well.

mksz51

Here's another thought - I'll bet none of us are wearing out the side bolster on our Vette's driver seat either!

DustyDan

That is a side bolster ??? So that is why they hit me in the middle of the G. Maximus

Mad*Max

I like biking but I am not as passionate as some others here - the other issue is that I can only do it for 6 months of the year in our climate - it would be nice to pick an American made bike of high quality but paying $7k for a complete bike is beyond my reach. Are there other choices out there as I wouldn't mind looking into this?

Cyber Greg

You might try a pre-owned bike. Buying an American bike company is possible for a lot less but buying an American Made bike will be difficult. But there are some nice bikes out there that have seen very little use that you can usually pick up for a lot less.
If you want a good quality bike from an American company take a look at Trek and Specialized.
You can still get an American made mountain bike complete for 5K, well, the frame at least will be American made. The components are going to be from Japan and Taiwan.

mksz51

Trek and Specialized will give you great value. You won't have much for exclusivity - do any group ride and you're likely to see your same bike but the value is hard to beat. Even so - the only Trek road bikes now made in Wisconsin at the plant are the 7 series Madones - all other Madones and other models are made in China or Taiwan. For components SRAM IS based in Chicago and makes some nice stuff also! My son just built up a 7 series Madone with SRAM Red - about $7500 with a middle of the road wheelset.

porsche951

Excellent point, these Corvette seats were not designed for someone with a 32 inch waistline.

Mad*Max

thanks for the info - pretty soon it might be difficult to get one made in the U.S. at any price...I'm gonna see what sells on this side of the border and the prices

MisterMidlifeCrisis

I purchased my original frame from Anvil Cycles, in Colorado. The owner is actually more of a machine builder of bicycle framebuilding fixtures than anything else, but had an incredible reputation within the industry and I managed to get a custom frame from him. Unfortunately, I crashed that bike hard in the Pacific Crest Duathlon some years back and the brake caliper swung around and dented the headtube, which subsequently cracked. I went back to him and asked for another frame but he said he had a huge backlog and wasn't accepting more orders since he was only doing a frame or two a month, but referred me to Carl Strong.

Carl took the original specs that Anvil cycles had used to build up my first frame, and gave them some tweaks to accommodate my aging body and a couple of other things I wanted to change slightly. Because I'm a larger guy that is more of a sprinter than a long distance cyclist, I put a lot of stress on lightweight bikes and have broken a lot of frames over the years. Steel has a much more forgiving fracture mode than carbon fiber or aluminum, which is why both of these customs are steel.

Anyhow, I got to see my frame in mid-build when I went through Bozeman on a family vacation, and got a picture of me holding the half-completed frame standing with Carl Strong.

It is a FANTASTIC build. Super straight and rideable no-hands at 12-14 MPH, and does everything like I want. I can't recommend a Strong frame any more highly.

On a side note, both my Anvil and my Strong frames were candy apple red. My Corvette is, of course, crystal red metallic. I love that color.