How far have you travelled for a bike?

IdahoBrett

IdahoBrett

Well-Known Member
Wondering if I’m crazy. Driving 360 miles to buy a R500 and R400 today. Making a family adventure out of it; kids, wife, dogs.

That’s only half crazy. Full crazy is that we’re driving back home in the same day.

Some may wonder why? The R500 is a 2004 and it is like new. The 2001 R400 is because it is cheap. And if I’m going to subject myself to a multi-sided endurance test I didn’t want to do it for just one bike.

Pics to follow…
 
B

Biohmmwv

New Member
The farthest I've gone is 45min. It was for a Jeckyll parts bike that I was buying for the swing arm. It turned out to be brand new and loaded with top shelf components.
 
IdahoBrett

IdahoBrett

Well-Known Member
Ok, I returned home with family, truck and bikes in one piece.

I do NOT recommend an out and back trip with a one way distance of 368 miles. At least not with 2 kids under the age of ten and 2 dogs. Our epic journey, starting and finishing in our driveway took 15 hours and 45ish minutes.

My wife is a Saint! My kids were great. And dogs did better than expected. But those things need food, drink and bathroom breaks…:)

I’m tired. But wired.

Pics of bikes:
IMG_0493.jpeg
IMG_0492.jpeg
IMG_0491.jpeg
 
Last edited:
JohnnyD

JohnnyD

Well-Known Member
IdahoBrett said:
Ok, I returned home with family, truck and bikes in one piece.

I do NOT recommend an out and back trip with a one way distance of 368 miles. At least not with 2 kids under the age of ten and 2 dogs. Our epic journey, starting and finishing in our driveway took 15 hours and 45ish minutes.

My wife is a Saint! My kids were great. And dogs did better than expected. But those things need food, drink and bathroom breaks…:)

I’m tired. But wired.

Pics of bikes:
View attachment 10711View attachment 10712View attachment 10713
Click to expand...
I cannot resist teasing you about your growing Cannondale collection
"Houston someone has a problem"
"Bey you can't have just one"
Finally, a small part of the definition of addiction is " strong inclination to do, use, or indulge in something repeatedly"
 
IdahoBrett

IdahoBrett

Well-Known Member
Tease at will @JohnnyD I freely admit I have a problem:)

My wonderful Wife gives me no grief and is supportive…or is she being an enabler? I think supportive. The thing is, I’m 5+ years sober. All my hobbies end up this way. I think it is better for me and my family that it is Cannondale’s that are giving me my “fix” these days, rather than the other thing.

Even though this isn’t a super active forum it is the one I feel like I belong to. There are other bicycles out there and they may be fine specimens. But the build quality of an aluminium Cannondale, handmade in USA is great in my opinion. I work on aluminium stuff that flies 6 miles in the sky for a living and have done it so long that most mechanical things frustrate me if the build quality doesn’t match my biased opinion.

That said I’ve got a minute or two before I go to work. I’m going to go for a pedal up the street and back…..


The ride: exquisite! That voice inside my head from decades ago awoke “ride like the wind boy! Ride like the wind….”
 
Last edited:
JohnnyD

JohnnyD

Well-Known Member
I couldn't agree with you more about using Cannondale bikes as a "fix" to replace other negative habits in our lives. I am doing something similar. I even used to work on aircraft for a living, just the fast zoom and boom type for the Air Force, so I know far too well your frustrations about build quality.

All of which is why I daily "shop" for my next bike!
 
black lightning 1987

black lightning 1987

Moderator
Staff member
Friend and I took the train to Denver (900 miles) for Veloswap one year. I came home with lots of parts but no complete bike. I've purchased many bikes in Madison, WI (180 miles) and Chicago area (100-140 miles). Farther than that I resort to shipping or an enabler. My orange XR800 came from Minneapolis and a cyclist friend from Des Moines picked it up for me. We met for dinner near Iowa City, so I only had to drive120 miles for that one. The silver XR came from Indianapolis and a local cycling friend's son brought it to me when he visited. Farthest I've had a frameset shipped was from Switzerland.
 
kjop

kjop

Well-Known Member
sounds like you had a nice day^^

i wouldn't do that :D the caad3 i could buy 20km away from here. the caad5 was shipped to me by parcel service from 800km away.

but i'm 'in love' with your black/yellow caad3. it's beautiful. can i ask what are the prices at the moment for it in the us? what did you pay for it?

i bought the caad3 years ago for 200€. what was more than cheap... usually caad 3 prizes here are around 350-500€.
 
IdahoBrett

IdahoBrett

Well-Known Member
The 2001 R400 black/yellow CAAD3 cost me $80 USD. The 2004 R500 CAAD4 blue cost me $450 USD.

The black one had a broken rear spoke, old tires, and broken front derailleur. I got the seller down $20 from his asking price. The blue one is like new and the owner read me like a book. He thought I was crazy to travel that far for a bike. He knew I’d pay his full asking price without much thought. I asked once if he had wiggle room. Nope.

So far no regrets. But I wouldn’t travel that far again in one day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top