I think we do different things with our bikes, but this resonated with me. I've had people comment on my bike before. I have to admit it looks like the jokes

I think we do different things with our bikes, but this resonated with me. I've had people comment on my bike before. I have to admit it looks like the jokes about mechanic's cars. It is what's left of a 2010 Trek hard tail. Simplicity wins every time. I used it for transportation year round - Southern Ontario winters are a salty, slushy mess. Over the years every replacement was thought out. Single speed up front instead of the triple it came with. Cheap squishy fork was replaced with a rigid one. Kept the 8 speed drive train. Lock on grips because they come off easy. Those brake-shifter combos suck, gone, can replace one or the other now. A good expensive derailleur dissolves just as fast in crap conditions. If you have 15 kg in a rack on the back, who cares about saving 300g on a seat post? I can replace the entire drive train for really cheap now. I forgot to mention that disc brakes win every time. Who wants to replace rims? Plus that keeps the braking surface out of the muck.