Koga Signature (aka Newtonian Motion)

About 20 years ago I bought myself a Koga Signature. I was working in The Netherlands at the time and the government still subsidised the purchase of bicycles. You could trade in some of your vacation days for money to buy a bike. I cannot remember the exact amount you could trade in but as I had too many holidays anyway and me and my wife liked to go on biking trips during our holidays I decided to make use of this government plan and splash out on an expensive Koga trekking bike. Not just the standard configuration but a custom made Signature series. I decided to upgrade on the standard specs and got the Shimano XT shifters for example. The only thing I didn’t go for was the Rohloff gear hub as this added another 30% to the already hefty price. Life happened in the mean time with kids and their hobbies so the bike saw a lot less trekking than originally envisioned. But still it has gone on quite a few trips already and now, almost 20 years later it is still functions like new. It is clear that this bike will outlast me in fitness easily and if I don’t want to I will never have to buy a new trekking bike. The only drawback I have encountered is that the geometry is quite ‘tall’ so with age and reduced flexibility and equilibrium that might be a reason to trade in the bike. And it is built like a tank so quite heavy but when travelling with luggage a lot of extra weight is added anyway and I prefer a heavier but stiff frame over a light but wobbly one. So the other temptation I can see as time moves on would be to go for the ‘old timer’ e bike version they are now offering. The price of the ebike version is not all that tempting and on the other hand, just reducing the average speed and distance travelled per day is probably a solution that is more ‘in sync’ with what vacation is about (for me at least). Looking back I remember hesitating for a long time to buy the bike because of the price. Not anymore today as it is almost 20 years old with nice vacation memories attached to the bike. Riding on your bike packed with luggage you always meet other enthousiasts and many are Koga riders. After all these years my bike is still riding as new, only the rider has aged. One last note : the signature series allows you to put your name or signature on the frame. I chose Newtonian Motion as the signature for my bike.