I like to take pictures. This is taken on Kelly Drive. I call it "Eclipse of the Balloon." The Zoo balloon that is. I will be adding to my collection of photos in the future.
My latest is this Scott Aspect 910. It has everything I need in a city and not too challenging singletrack bike. The air shock has 100mm of travel and besides being adjustable, it gets progressivly more resistant near the end of the travel so it's hard to bottom out. An air fork with similar travel is typically way lighter than a coil fork too. The whole bike is way lighter than my old Specialized. The crank is hollowtech vs. square taper which is lighter and stiffer. The wheels are fairly narrow with 17mm internal rim width, but they too are lighter. The geometry is similar, but it has a shorter reach and the forks are not offset as much. The result is a lighter more maneuverable bike that may not be as comfortable for really long rides. But as I do not do all day epic rides, this is fine. A few final notes on the spec. The brakes are Shimano hydraulic. And the drive train is Shimano Deore 3x10, which is smooth shifting, capable and reliable. I added my own pedals, a super light and comfortable (for me) seat and a dropper post. This was a great deal as well. The previous owner was moving and wanted to unload it in a hurry. He also seems to have leaned it against something very hot. This melted his rear tire, tube and rim strip. I couldn't test ride it, but everything looked good so I bought it. It was cheap and easy to fix. So it was quite a bargin.
Ultimately, I decided the Tallboy was just not good for city streets. It can get thru anything, but I can't put a rack on it and it is too slow in the city. So I bought this on Craig's List. A 2012 Specialized Crosstrail Sport Disc. It is an aluminium fitness bike with MTB geometry and toughness. It has a 75mm Coil spring front shock, a 3x9 speed drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes. This was an extremely comfortable bike. The coil spring really sucked up the uneven terrrain found on the Philadelphia City Streets. The tires are wide, and hydraulic disc brakes are confidence inspiring. However, a coil spring is not really good for singletrack or even just getting a bit roudy on city streets. It is linear which is great for small to middling bumps, but bottoms out on anything big. I did upgrade the wheels to make it tougher, but ultimately I decided to sell it and get a more capable hardtail with an air shock which is more suitable for the kind of riding I like to do.
This is my current full suspension Mountain Bike. A Santa Cruz Tallboy LT (for Long Travel). It has an aluminium frame, a dropper post, and enough suspension for any downhill trail I might be bold enough to attempt, along with plenty of maneuvarability for the tight singletrack of Belmont Plateau. With its 2x10 drivetrain, it can climb the steepest trail and accellerate downhill with vigor when desired. It is not anywhere near as slack as the newer mountain bikes. But it suits me.
My Kona Big Rove ST. This was my everything bike. It is a steel adventure bike with roots going back to pre-suspension mountain bike era. It is a go anywhere, do anything bike that is ultra low maintenance. The perfect urban cruiser with its 2" wide semi-slick Schwalbe Big Apple tires, the ride is very comfortable. Particularly if you keep the air pressure at the low end of the tire's pressure range. I upgraded the wheels to serious MTB quality. There is a handbuilt MTB i23 Team rim with the classic Shimano XT hub in the rear. And in front I bought a Stans ZTR Arch EX i21 rim mated to a Chris King hub via butted spokes. Both of these tires are bomb proof. Which is almost a necessity with Philadelphia's awful streets. Until I got my Santa Cruz Tallboy LT, I equipped these with Maxxis Crossmark IIs and did a lot of singletrack in fantastic Bellmont Plateau trail system. But after I got my Tallboy, I decided to sell it.
My last road bike was a Raleigh Technium Pro. I bought it for less than $100 off of Craig's List. I modified it myself with new brake levers and the drive train components from a Proteus that my friend gave me after he destroyed the front fork.
Another Craig's List find. This Trek Mountain bike had a totally corroded front fork which I replaced with a Surley Krampus ridgid fork. It was my first bike with disk brakes. What a difference disk bkakes make. They are significantly more powerful and the braking power can also be modulated.
My first Mountain Bike. Bought in 1993 before suspension was a thing on Mountain Bikes. After riding it into the ground for 20 years, replacing a couple of cassettes and the middle crank ring, the wheels started going. Spokes were popping. Rims weren't staying true. It was either a new set of wheels or a newer bike. Newer bike won.