Frannie is a 2019 Salsa Vaya.
Steel frame with a Shimano 105 drivetrain. We roll tubeless. She typically hauls between 20 and 40 pounds of gear depending on the season. I used to ride carbon, but once I hit my 40s every ride started to hurt a little more, so I moved to steel. Unloaded, the frame weighs about 19 lbs, but it handles smooth as silk.
I would spend 8 hours a day on this thing if I didn’t have a job.
Dat azzzz
My partner and I are into gravel, akd she’s been seriously considering a steel frame.
Also, cross post to cycling! Those communities need love.
My brother has a similar type of bike that he uses for almost everything for over the last 25 years.
Granted, it has had lots of maintenance over the years and it’s a little bit a ship of Theseus situation with tires, brakes, chain, sprockets, etc, but the frame and wheels, steering bar etc. are still original.
Good bikes be good bikes for life
I have a 20-year-old Trek 4200 with about 70K miles on it. The thing is fucking immortal and it wasn’t even close to being a top-end bike in 2006 (I think it cost around $500 new). Drivetrain, tires and brakes are the only things I’ve ever replaced, obviously many times over.
Beauty! What kind of handlebar tape do you use?
Thanks! It’s Brooks tape (same brand as the saddle), but I’m not sure I’d recommend it unless you care more about looks than comfort, unfortunately. It’s pretty thin, and doesn’t offer much in the way of cushion or pad. I put it on thinking it’d enable me to ride without gloves, but it ended up having the opposite effect.
Put on some cushion-y foam tape, then put the fancy Brooks leather tape back on over it. (Hopefully you haven’t cut the Brooks tape too short, 'cause that stuff is expensive.)
Or if not the whole bar, get some of those gel pads that cushion key areas:
