I begin this topic with a story of woe and intrique. My forum name is PsuedoTrek. Here's the story. I only tell this story because of the admittedly pathetic nature of it that makes it worth telling. Many moons ago, I wanted a bike [in order to ride with friends]. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money, but I didn't want to get some department store bike like a Roadmaster, or a HUFFY. One day, while coming back from lunch with a co-worker, I came across a yard sale and there was a bike leaning against the tree. It was a full suspension bike, which I thought was a really neat setup. Now, at the time, I didn't know very much about quality bikes, but new that there were some bike shop name brand companies I hadn't heard of before, you know, like Raleigh or Gary Fisher. This bike [at the yard sale] had the name Royce Union on it, and the cost of $80. As some of you laugh, I will continue. Well, I hadn't heard of that brand, so thought it may be from a bike shop. I bought it. When I got back to the office, I did an internet search for Royce Union. Yeah, I should have done that before, but was afraid it would sell before I could get back there. To my my horror, what I saw first was a recall notice about a certain other Royce Union model [the aluminum frame model]. Then, there it was, the words I didn't want to see. For those who don't know, Royce Union was a bike sold BY SEARS, .. . . . . . . . . . . . . made by HUFFY!!!!
The plot thickens. The frame of this bike was yellow. The front and back suspension was red. The decals were yellow, red, and white. I began to realize that if I were Ronald McDonald, I'd be right at home with those colors. Well, because it was only a Royce Union, I stripped the decals off, sanded the frame down, and spray painted it a dark metalic gray.
The plot again thickens to the thickest it can get. One day, while surfing the internet, I was looking at Ebay to see what kind of TREK bikes were out there. I came across an auction for TREK decals, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . several days later, the decals arived and I put them on the newly painted bike. When I told another co-worker about this, he laughed and came up with a name for the bike, TIRAH. That stands for This Is Really A Huffy.
Now to the present. I've been riding this bike for a while now and realized that I'd like to get something more comfortable, as in riding position and bike weight. TIRAH weighs in at about 45 pounds!! I started a thread in the Touring and recreational cycling forum of cyclingforums.com because I have a few options I'm looking at and would like to get some feedback from as many people as I can. Please, if you would like, go to that thread and chime in with your opinion. It is a poll thread, but your words can speak volumns as well.
Thank you all!!
Happy riding!