I used to lust after big travel bikes and even owned a few that were too much for my local rolls. Slowly but surely I've been paring down the stable so that each bike is more jack of all, master of none with the outlier being the DJ. The Wolverine makes a fine CX race bike (at Cat5 at least), roadie, gravel, touring, and in the right place a decent singletrack ripper. My Trance X is big enough for most all big bike trails with a wheel swap, and the Seargent sees summer and winter duties with a fork and wheel swap. Each one is a compromise, certainly, and I definitely feel the inequity when I ride with fast friends on more terrain appropriate rigs. But so be it. The Merckx Maxim of it not getting any easier, you just get stronger applies in those times. I've found having a smaller stable allows for more meaningful tinkering and thinking.
Oct. 6, 2022, 10:35 a.m. - JT
I used to lust after big travel bikes and even owned a few that were too much for my local rolls. Slowly but surely I've been paring down the stable so that each bike is more jack of all, master of none with the outlier being the DJ. The Wolverine makes a fine CX race bike (at Cat5 at least), roadie, gravel, touring, and in the right place a decent singletrack ripper. My Trance X is big enough for most all big bike trails with a wheel swap, and the Seargent sees summer and winter duties with a fork and wheel swap. Each one is a compromise, certainly, and I definitely feel the inequity when I ride with fast friends on more terrain appropriate rigs. But so be it. The Merckx Maxim of it not getting any easier, you just get stronger applies in those times. I've found having a smaller stable allows for more meaningful tinkering and thinking.