Three for me.

Winter Bike
Giant TCR alliance 105 equipped composite

Sunday Best
Scott Foil 15

Down and Dirty in the Dark nights
Scott Aspect 29er

and then there was four!
ebay cx bargain bought on a whim the big yins twin!

Nice Bike Alan... I'm really happy with mine - for my own purposes it's ideal - not "full on race" cross geometry (the 56 which I've got is pretty much standard light touring road-bike angles and lengths - 56-square and 73 parallel and with fittings to attach guards if I want, and even a rear rack, it's a great solution for winter riding on the road, or even the odd short lightweight tour. Plus, for summer, I can take it offroad and explore all the bridleways, towpaths and sustrans routes that are just a little too hard on the roadbikes tyres but which aren't in any way "gnarly" enough to require the full blown MTB.

Took me a while to get the disc brakes dialed in to my liking, and they do squeal a little when they get used in the mud/muck/rain but they do stop really well.

It's an indication of how good the bike is, that this winter i did hardly any time on the indoor trainer - choosing to go out on the 'cross bike in whatever weather instead - it really is a good fun bike.

To be honest Mark I hadn't done any research into them as I hadn't been planning to make a purchase for another couple of months, when I seen this one come up I just snapped at it knowing that you would have done plenty

Trek 660 - Dura Ace/Campagnolo Chorus Hubs
Schwinn Prologue - Ultegra
Specialized Stumpjumper Pro
Orbit Track Bike

That looks fast, and a ball ache in crosswinds.... I've always had a soft spot for Time Trial irons though. Not sure if enjoy is quite the right word for a racing rig like that, but I'm sure the PB's will be coming thick and fast once you get it dialled in and you're used to the position on the bike...

One too few.

There is a whole lot going on here....

1" front suspension fork? , V brake , bar end shifters (indexed?) , CX tires, curved seat tube...no seatpost showing , s riser stem , and a giant frame

I like it..

Way before the '80s... Just google 'flying gate bikes' for a design from pre Ww2

I just noticed the seat tube. Wasn't there a trend toward getting the wheelbase shortened as much as possible in the late 80s?

Interesting. What is the advantage? My guess is better traction on climbs as the rider's weight is over the rear wheel more. More important for dirt/gravel than road though. It might handle cornering tighter and be a little more responsive?

mainly BITD with steel frames, it was to shorten the seatstays, and make the frame more responsive / less whippy... When you compare Steel chainstays to todays Massive square section Carbon fibre Boxes, you can see why.

Also, lots of the frames like that were time trial bikes and if you could tuck the back wheel under it'd be a bit more aero (for with disk wheels especially) and allow a shorter wheelbase while still maintaining a reasonable length of top tube.

I used to have a "funny bike" time trial machine that was something similar to this in frame appearance...



(only in dark red metallic, and custom made by Harry Quinn cycles in Reynolds 531 and 753 - built up with a 700c Campag Ghibli disk wheel at the back and a 650c Shamal on the Front, Campag Record throughout, lovely it was...)

Strangely enough, the reason I mentioned "Flying Gates" ^^^up there, was that my Uncle used to have one - he was a bit older than my dad, and I seem to remember being told he spent his Demob Pay on buying it... One of the original Bill Baines ones, built just down the road from us in Bradford.

In case you're google-fu isn't up to it, this is what I mean by a Flying Gate



(and a more modern one - albeit this being the new manufacturer...)

well, put it this way, I quite regularly managed a sub 4h 100mile TT on mine - and that was without the Ghibli Disk in the Back - just a plain 700c Shamal - the disk was just too much of a handful for me on most of the TT courses for 100 milers or the 12 and 24h races.