Let’s Argue About the Greatest Bikes Ever Made!
Of course, there’s no such thing as “the greatest bike of all time.” Who could choose between the first chain-driven two-wheeler (likely Pierre Lallement’s), or Eddy Merckx’s hour record bike, or the unprecedented porteur that made transport as much a joy as a chore, or the breakthrough uphill off-roader made by Gary Fisher (or whoever the hell actually invented mountain bikes), or a multitude of other worthy contenders?
And, anyway, why spend so much precious time in reverent contemplation of the untouchable bikes of old when we could be riding today’s great bikes? Hence: Our heretical list of 10 bikes that embody the best things cycling has to offer us-and that you can buy today.
Think we got it wrong? Let us know in the polls on the page or in the comments. Like to debate on social? Yell at us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram-let’s argue about it.
Colnago C64
Colnago is to cycling what red is to Ferrari. It patents authority and stamps resilience and has been doing so longer than any other successful bike manufacturer. You either see and appreciate the details or you don’t. It doesn’t matter. And whether or not Ernesto makes the best bike on the market is also irrelevant. What matters is that he believes it. And it is this belief that keeps Colnago aiming for the top of the intelligence in the room.
The C64 has details like a Ferrari has details. The seat cluster has become integrated into the seat tube where before it was a lug of its own. Colnago claims the new design is stiffer and lighter than using a lug. But in using it, Colnago has had to produce seat tubes for each size of the C64. It’s more work, more complications. But it is Colnago in a nutshell.
The brand stands alone in professional cycling, not because of its legacy, but because it continues to aim to perform, whatever the hassle-14 different seat tubes for each size of the C64.
Pegoretti Responsorium
The Responsorium is the clearest distillation of what makes a Pegoretti a Pegoretti. Everything about the Responsorium-the ageless, rustless, futuristic Columbus XCr stainless tubeset; the emphasis on rider comfort we see reflected in road bike design today; the expressive Ciàvete custom paint schemes that Dario introduced on the Responsorium, pushing bikemakers to rethink how their bikes looked-is massively influential, and distinctively Pegoretti.
You can buy more race-oriented Pegs, like the Mxxxxxo or the Big Leg Emma, with their massive chainstays. You can buy classic lugged heritage frames like the Luigino, an homage to Dario’s teacher. But after more than a decade in production, with only a few changes, like the larger D11 head tube and Falz carbon fork, Pegoretti still calls the Responsorium the flagship of its line. It’s both an object of desire and a worthy rival to the highest-performance carbon machines.
There are none like it.
Tern GSD
The bicycle began as a vehicle. Long before Eddy Merckx climbed his first Alp, people rode to get places, haul stuff, and generally make their lives easier.
That’s still a big chunk of the bicycle’s DNA. Bike messengers, delivery riders, and hot dog vendors use bikes for business every day. In the Netherlands, one in four trips are by bicycle. And the proliferation of e-bikes makes it easier than ever to pedal your payload. But one bike outworks and outperforms the rest: the Tern GSD.
A powerful 250-watt Bosch motor helps it haul like a freight train, and the long-and-low frame makes even the biggest loads surprisingly stable. But what elevates it from useful to life-changing are the details. Integrated lights ensure you’re always seen. The handlebar folds in half, and the bike stands up on its back end to save space. The modular rear rack accommodates all manner of cargo. And the GSD gets people excited about bikes, and that’s the most exciting use of all. (Check out more of our favorite cargo bikes right now.)
Evil The Following
At first, this seemed like one weird bike. It was short-travel-120mm-but it had, for its time, really long, low, and slack geometry. And it was a 29er. The 29ers then were mostly fast and light and great for riding all day on-but not for shredding.
But on this short-travel bike, people were riding DH, they were hucking. But they were also just having fun ripping around their everyday trails. And they were becoming 29er converts: Just when it seemed like 27.5 was going to win the wheel size war, The Following made 29ers cool. It dispelled the idea that they were slow to accelerate and hard to muscle around corners.
It’s impossible to quantify The Following’s total influence-mountain bikes were headed toward long-low-slack anyway. Still, today, almost every manufacturer has a trail bike that marries the playful, efficient feel of shorter travel with more aggressive geometry and parts.
Strider Sport
Balance bikes aren’t a new concept-the first-ever bike, in 1817, was designed to be ridden without pedals, and balance bikes have been popular in Europe for years. But it was Strider that introduced the concept to the U.S. in 2007. The brand caught on because the bikes help kids learn to ride quickly and easily, by teaching them how to balance and steer before overwhelming them with propulsion and speed.
Today, Strider-style bikes have all but replaced training wheels, and more and more kids are developing two-wheeled confidence years before entering kindergarten. The classic Strider is a simple affair: one thick down tube on two 12-inch foam-rubber tires under a flat handlebar. The world a Strider opens up to a kid, however, is vast and complicated, full of adventure, risk, and victory. It is a first glimpse at cycling’s freedom-the entry level to an entry-level bike.
State Core-Line
At $300, the State Core-Line embodies many of the best aspects of the fixed-gear ethos. It’s cheap, yet it comes from a real bike company, not a retail behemoth, and you can easily order one online if you’re 100 miles from a bike shop.
It’s stylish, but it’s not at all garish like the ridiculous bikes of Peak Fixie. You can use the State Core as the basis for experimentation or customization, you can enhance its practicality with fenders and racks (it’s got the clearance and the mounting points), or you can simply ride it as is without changing a thing-it rides quite nicely that way.
Single-speed bikes still make a fantastic entry point into cycling, whether you run them fixed or freewheel, and the State is ready for either right out of the box (with minor assembly). When it comes to agents of change, few are more powerful than the bicycle, which makes the ready accessibility of a bike as solid as the State nothing short of revolutionary.
Citi Bike
Citi Bike breaks down almost all the barriers to riding: There’s no need to buy a bike, for starters, or lights, a lock, or special clothes. Not having to a store a bike in a tiny apartment is a huge perk, and in New York, where thieves descend on unwatched bikes like vultures, the docking system eliminates bike-theft worries. Citi Bike’s employees handle maintenance, so riders don’t need to think about upkeep or service fees, either.
Citi Bike’s greatest victory, however, may be how it’s changed the Big Apple’s perceptions of bike commuting. Seeing blue-framed bikes on streets city-wide makes two-wheeled transportation feel accepted and convenient. The ubiquitous bikes are both tacit endorsement and approval, rubber-stamped by the city itself: “Here’s a bike, go ride it. You have every right to pedal these streets.” For urbanites, this helps make bikes an integral part of daily life. For New York City, it creates a transit solution that sets a precedent for the country: Bike shares work.
Open U.P.P.E.R
Cyclists were riding down dirt roads, old railroad beds, and “wonder where this goes” trails well before there were bikes designed specifically for this purpose. But with clearance for huge tires, disc brakes, and extra mounts, gravel and all-road bikes have made this style of riding more approachable and enjoyable for the masses.
Still, on a ride involving mixed surfaces, there’s usually some scenario in which the rider would be having more fun on a purpose-built rig (like paved roads, where a road bike would be more efficient).
Not so on the Open U.P.P.E.R. It displays the unique ability to be fun regardless of where you’re riding, seeming to transform to whatever bike you need: On pavement it feels like a fast, sporty road bike. On a dirt road it becomes a raceworthy gravel bike. On easy singletrack it morphs into a rigid mountain bike.
No other gravel bike matches this shape-shifting versatility. The U.P.P.E.R. is always the right bike. That’s why it’s the best.
Marin Hawk Hill
From jumping plywood ramps in the street to a spontaneous brewery-to-brewery crosstown pedal on a summer evening with friends, bikes inspire us to play. Perhaps the purest form of this is mountain biking in the woods with friends, scraping and skidding and smiling till it hurts. The Marin Hawk Hill is the best example of the accessible, high-performance toy that makes such play possible for anyone and everyone.
There are many decent, inexpensive mountain bikes that work for new riders as their skills are building. But those bikes have a ceiling that prevents you from riding harder-a bouncy suspension, or a flexy frame, or clunky shifting. The Hawk Hill’s limit is much higher than any other affordable bike we’ve tested. That’s why the best mountain bike is the Marin Hawk Hill, a full-suspension bike that costs $1,600. It is a pure mountain bike that would make our sport’s founders smile, and you can shred it, hard.
Specialized Tarmac
Few bikes match the Tarmac’s combination of innovation and a ride that any enthusiast cyclist can enjoy. Most impressively, the Tarmac has done this consistently: It’s won Bicycling’s Editors’ Choice award eight times.
Not only that: It’s won grand tours, cobbled classics, and world championships. Riders as different as Tom Boonen and Alberto Contador heavily influenced its evolution. It was the first pure race bike offered with disc brakes, and the current disc version comes in right at the UCI limit of 6.8kg. It’s a climbing bike that’s more aero than some aero bikes and smoother over the cobbles than some endurance bikes.
Specialized may split a lot of opinions in the cycling world; dominance will do that. But there’s no getting around the fact that the company’s latest S-Works Tarmac represents the pinnacle of all-around racing performance. And the Tarmac has been in the discussions of ultimate race bikes since it debuted 16 years ago.
('You Might Also Like',)