An SF Girl Dreams Of Bicycles

Here's what being born and raised in San Francisco gives you, among other things: A love of bicycles. 

I got my current ride in the Bay Area on Craigslist for $35. A beautiful Schwinn that is older than I am. Although she struggles to commit to a gear, preferring to inhabit a limbo land all her own, she has proven herself to be a bruiser, a trooper, and a godsend over the years.

And as I look towards a future without multiple months of expeditioning each year, I am thinking about how to support my health and wellbeing in the outdoors moving forward. One possible answer is adding a spendy road warrior to our current bicycle fleet of two.

Here are some suggestions from the bike gurus in my life:

Surly's Cross-Check costs around $1,200 and is pretty darn multipurpose. Or the Straggler, which has better shifters on the same-ish frame, but costs around $400 more.

Advocate Cycles' Lorax costs around $1,800 with proceeds going to bike advocacy. The motto of this bike is, "any road any time" which seems promising, but I think I find their fat bike more appealing. 

Salsa Cycles' Marrakesh costs around $1,600 and is billed as the world traveler of bicycles. Their Fargo comes highly recommended as a generalist as well, although it seems further along the continuum towards a mountain bike and costs a bit more than the Marrakesh.

All told, Evan and I are really schooling our spring homework assignment (at least the dreaming part of it-- we haven't reached the pragmatic portion of the proceedings yet): 

Our goal is to price out our material dream list (car, skis, home renovations, etc) and see what we can afford to pop for now, what we will save for in the future, and what we will simply cross off the list. 

Time will tell if this bike fantasy makes the cut.