circa 1980 -- '79 Schwinn Varsity 10 speed. Extremely heavy, lousy bearings, but not bad overall. Frame was strong.

circa 1983 -- '80 Schwinn LeTour III -- a nice bike. Heavy, but it shifted well, and rode nicely. Vastly improved by lightweight aluminum wheelset.

1983 -- Murray Mountain. Heavy Hi-Ten frame, stamped dropouts with tubes crimped and spot-welded to dropouts. We broke the frame repeatedly, snapped handlebars, broke pedal spindles, bent seatposts and seat rails on this department-store bike. The caliper brakes were nearly worthless and the Ashtabula crank was a nightmare. Relaxed angles made it a good downhiller. ~20 kg.

1985 -- '85 Schwinn Sierra. Dark blue steel frame with a Suntour/Sakai mix. This was a huge improvement on its predecessor. Mix of Shimano and Suntour was fairly strong and reliable. Steel frame allowed me to repair the first couple of trashed derailleurs without much problem. Climbing fair, descending good, not particularly inspiring even for the time. Relaxed frame angles. A fine bike for thrashing or commuting. ~15 kg.

1986 -- '81 Gios Torino 12-speed. Classic Imron blue, Campy Super Record. HUGE change, huge improvement. This was and is the single best frameset I've ever ridden. The frame is insanely stiff and sprints wonderfully. The chainstays are the shortest in the business, and enable it to climb spectacularly, despite the somewhat heavy frame. The fork is compliant and sucks up road variations; riding a serious climber bike on centuries isn't normally fun, but on this bike it was wonderful. It went well over 100,000 kilometers without difficulty. The Campy components were still in perfect condition when I wrapped it around a Ford. Head and seat angles were in the vicinity of 75 degrees on the 56-cm frame, which gave it a very twitchy feel, but it wasn't actually squirrely; it easily outhandled the Lotus I tested at the same time I got the Gios. I would buy another unhesitatingly. ~9 kg. (Colorado Cyclist, $800 frame/fork)

1990 -- '63 Schwinn Continental. First year this bike (or any other US bike) had a shift-lever-controlled front derailleur. The previous year, the front derailleur was shifted by hand, by actually moving a rod connected to the cage. The Continental has the typical castering feel of the '50's bikes, where it is at the same time a heavy bike to steer and it feels uncertain, twitchy. The overweight, massively raked fork has a lot of the blame for this. The bike was originally a 10-speed, but was converted to 15 speeds in the mid-'70's and to an 18-speed in the late '70's. It has the dubious but cool honor of being probably the first bike to ever have a cycle computer on it, and certainly it was the predecessor of the modern cycle computer, serving as the prototype bike for the Pacer computer, which inspired Avocet and Cateye. The angles make it difficult to ride, and the Ashtabula crank dooms it in terms of upgrading. With light wheels and the generator system, it's a fair commuter bike. ~18 kg.

1992 -- '93 Cannondale M700. Massively oversized aluminum, powder blue, mix of mostly Shimano LX and a few XT components, heavily modified over time to minimize Shimano interference, with Grip Shifts, Nuke Proof hubs, CODA brakeset, Onza pedals. VERY light frame and fork, but amazingly stiff. Like riding a jackhammer; an incredibly precise bike in trials riding and descending. This is one of the best cross-country bikes I've ridden, although I prefer the Slingshot for comfort. Frame dented easily. Angles were typical NORBA hardtail, and handling reflected that. Replaceable derailleur hanger came in very handy twice; Force 40 braking system bites. The frame cracked after four years, at the down tube/head tube joint, and Cannondale immediately warranteed it. I unhesitatingly recommend Cannondale rigid bikes for this reason, as well as for thinking that they're the most bike for the dollar, in terms of frame performance, that you can buy. Find out more at The Cannondale website. ~10.5 kg ($399 frame/fork)

1994 -- '92 Trek 7000. Aluminum, black and neon green (UGLY) and Shimano LX, surprisingly heavy for being aluminum. Trek gets a cool point for providing it with replaceable canti mounts, but let's be serious -- how many times have you scragged a canti that badly? Compare it to how many times you've gikked a derailleur hangar, and on this Trek, if that goes you have a big problem. On any bike aside from steel ones, use of non-replaceable hangars is a big minus, in my opinion. I got this bike used, to bide me over a nasty time in my life where the Cannondale was gone on warranty (fork tube) and it served the same purpose when the Cannondale frame broke. There is no comparison in climbing, cornering, or general cross- country. The Trek's slightly more relaxed handling makes it a slightly more stable downhill bike, but the frame is reminiscent of an Alan or Vitus 979, in terms of whip and flex. I don't understand Trek -- if you're going to make a frame from aluminum, what point is there in using 1 1/8" tubing, leaving you with a heavy, flexy bike? Cannondale and Klein know their stuff. There is nothing wrong with this bike, but there isn't much right, either. It's a good backup bike and commuter. ~11.5 kg

1995 -- '95 Cannondale 2.8 with Campy Chorus/Record. Bright sapphire blue, massive tapered aluminum tubing. I ride with Onza pedals because I like them, and they compliment this bike beautifully. The frame is tiny (44 cm) because I purchased it when I was unable to straighten my knee fully, and this was the only bike I could ride at that point. This means it is incredibly stiff, and the steel fork gives a similar feeling to the Gios. But, it isn't as precise- feeling and it's a whole lot more harsh on the small ripples in pavement. It's exciting -- it accellerates as quickly as any bike with full 700 wheels, and on a long downhill, it allows much greater aerodynamic posturing because of its smallness. The 4 cm toe-wheel crossover makes sharp turns very interesting. The frame prep was excellent from the factory, and needed no refacing for true headset and bb alignment. Replaceable derailleur hangar is comforting. I like this bike, and it's strong, fun, but it doesn't inspire the sort of devotion that an Italian bike does. ~9.5 kg ($399 frame/fork)