What's your favorite part of a bike?

[happyare]

I'm no technician. I'm just asking a simple question. What's your favorite bike part? Personally, I like spokes because they cris-cross and look pretty. That's why I like the traditional 36-spoke wheels better than the fancy new wheels with a few flat spokes.

Your favorite bike part can be anything. It can be what you find most useful, most beautiful, or most unique. Just say what it is and why. Text

that crazy teenager,
Hapward Weird Annoying Dandelion I. Are

[shmel]

I like seat posts. I like riding with just the seat post and no saddle.

Does that answer your question?

[sunfisher]

You deserve a better answer than what you got.

Back when bikes were lugged, I used to really enjoy looking at the
lugwork.  In high school & college, I had the Trek catalog and used to
spend hours drooling over the 720 (the original, lugged Reynolds 531
version - not the more recent welded hybrid) with its astonishing gap
between the rear wheel and the seat tube, the double eyelet braze-ons,
the cantilever brakes...  dead giveaways that this is a serious tool
designed for heavy use, not a toy for an afternoon's ride.

 It made me feel like it really was possible to ride for days on end,
maybe just to get away from our town (and what kid doesn't feel that
way sometimes), maybe more.  The bikes in the catalog were clean, but
in my mind I always saw them with scratched paint leaned up against a
tree, the mud of last week's state starting to crust on the fenders, dirty
panniers casually open, a tent in the background, frozen in time
between here and there.

[Lucky13]

>> You deserve a better answer than what you got.>>

I agree.

I'm partial to the handlebars. They prop me up when I am tired, point me in the right direction, and when combined with a handlebar bag provide quick access to my prized Fig Newton cookies.