Why I Love My Purple Bike

This is an ode of sorts to my favorite bike. My Purple bike. There are several reasons why this bike should be at the bottom of my stable:

1) It's way too big for me. The top tube is 54cm with a traditional geometry. Plus, it has a 100mm negative rise stem. I usually ride a 52.5 with a 75mm positive rise stem. While it doesn't feel that bad, I know that I'm majorly supermaning it.

2) It's not a flashy material. It's aluminum. With a steel fork. So it's heavy.

3) It's older, with older components on it.

4) It has a ton of trail to the fork, which makes it a little laggy and unwieldy. Going handless is difficult.

Combined with the above elements is the fact that it's not really "good" for anything. Cross bike? See numbers 1 and 4. Commuter? Possibly, except that it doesn't come with a mount eye to speak of, neither fender nor racks. Which would mean I would have to get one of those weird seatpost mounted things that look a little disembodied or wear a huge backpack all the time.

But while I was riding it this morning for the first time in months through the frigid winter air, the reaction was unmistakable. I adore this bike. I love it. I will never part with it.

Here's why:

1) It is truly one of a kind. It's a Zunow, supposedly. My boss, who is a world class (literally) expert in all things vintage, thinks that it's most likely a real Zunow, though he's never seen one like it. Ever. As far as he can tell, it's probably either a nice frame with fake decals, or a custom CX Zunow made for some rich guy way back in the day.

2) It's purple. I mean. It's purple.

3) It has awesome old components on it. Back in the day, these were Cadillac, and it's obvious that whoever built it put a lot of thought and love into the package.

4) It has bar end shifters. That's just neat.

5) I can fool around with it and not feel like I'm going to break anything. I was able to set the front derailleur's limit screws so it would ride like a single up front, but then was able to easily retool everything for this mornings ride so I would just be able to access the two outer rings, leaving the inner still inert. I love being able to do things like that and not feel like I'm going to mess things up. Even if I do, it's not a huge deal on this bike.

6) With it being heavy, it's actually a great winter bike, since I can go slower=less wind=much warmer while still getting my HR up where it needs to be.

6) It's purple.

So in spite of everything I've listed that's negative, I have to say, just love riding it. I don't mind that it's too big or handles like crap. Whenever I get on it I grin. So while it will never be my Go To bike, it will probably always remain my favorite.