My final bike is my most recent, and the one that has the least romance or history behind him. I named him the Golden Knight, for the silliest of reasons; on the top he says “Ultra CF”, which made me think of UCF, the University of Central Florida, near where I grew up, and their mascot is the Golden Knights. It makes sense though because when I think of a Golden Knight I think of something about too fancy to be useful, and that’s kind of like this bike. It’s an extremely expensive, all Carbon Fiber bike, very very light and with a serious race geometry. I’ve only ridden it a dozen times; it’s kind of waiting for the weather to get better so I can take it out on some serious rides. It’s the kind of bike where you worry about the material of the water bottle cages. I bought it from Decathlon, which is a French department store that has just started to dip its toe into the United States and happened to open a store here in Oakland. I love the Blue and Pink paint job; it’s the official colors of B’Twin, which used to be the Decathlon house brand; it would be recognizable in France or England but is pretty rare out here, which makes it all the more special to me. It’s the one bike of mine that I would never leave locked up outside or get too dirty. The wheels alone are worth about $1200.
It’s more bike than I need, really, and for that I love it.
