Over Memorial Day Weekend -- which day? Sunday? We got to go for a real, change-of-scene bike-ride with No-H and 'the other' -- soon-to-be spouse J, in rur-burban Madison. I hear that turklets were seen en route. I missed them. I never see wildlife unless it's pointed out to me by, like, airport runway-guys with those flashlights. But my goodness what a fun ride that was. 14 miles, I'm told, of uppy-downiness. I got to ride up -- my favorite -- and I got to ride down -- really, really fast! Plus, the landscape is absolutely stunning in that part of Wisconsin.
But man am I slow! So the beloved grippy, anti-skid, nubby tires will be coming off. That change won't make me super-speedy -- it's not a race -- but I don't like it when people have to wait for me to catch up. I have a set of Continental Town & Country tires (who thought of this name?) on my old bike that I'll just move to the new bike. They're not slicks. I'm not too in favor of completely losing what I like most about having a mountain bike. But they have a lot less tread. Being slow was a little frustrating. It's not like I'm not in shape to do that kind of ride. I slept extra well that night, but had no muscle aches, chest pain or shortness of breath afterward. I guess I have to give some credit to the cup of ice cream I ate beforehand. I never bonked, and amazingly I didn't overheat. (I was told it was about 90 degrees F that day.) So. Roadier tires and higher psi for next time.
And more riding in the meantime. Because I love my new bike. It didn't take me long at all to bond with it.
Just heard that here was an accident in La Grange between a pedestrian and an Amtrak train this afternoon. I hate it when that happens. Heartbreaking.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Got the Trek 6000 WSD.
It shows every promise. Have had it for weeks, and have only really ridden it a few times because I had a big paper due for a class which just ended Tuesday.
Spent some time yesterday making adjustments. I had thought I'd want to shorten the handle bars a bit on each side, but now that I've moved the shifters and brake-pulls a bit more toward center, and put my bar-ends on, I'm thinking I may like the feel of it. We'll see. At least I won't wipe out groping for bar-ends that aren't there.
I may still need to switch to grip-shift. Happily, SRAM has that option at all levels. Unhappily, making the switch will cost me a bunch of dough. So I'm going to see if I can live with the pushbutton shifters. As shifters go, I have to say I definitely prefer Shimano's one pushbutton, one pull-lever system. Bike's completely upgradeable, though. I'll be able to make just about any change I like. Other tweaks: put my mud-guard on the down-tube, which is just funny. Because the down tube on this bike is about as wide as my head. I look at the mud guard and wonder why I even bothered. Still, any crud not flying into my eyes is good. I also moved my Hite-Rite onto the seat tube/seat post from my old bike. I still haven't moved my bell (heh-heh. I have a bell...). I also need a rear fender and a rack, and different toeclips before I'll be completely set up. My current toeclips extend too far forward to be permanently useful. For the moment, they are better than trying to ride without.
The rack and fender might help a little with weight distribution; but it could just be that I need to get used to the new bike. The tail feels lighter than the front at this point; but it could really be that the entire bike is just far lighter than the tail on my old bike, and this one's balanced a bit differently. I'm still mucking some with how the saddle is oriented. Height, somewhat, and front-to-back for sure. If the tail really is light, I'll need to be able to easily redistribute my weight on loose stuff by hanging off the back of my saddle.
Have to see how it goes. But it is a good bike, and I believe it is the right bike for me.
Her name's Judy.
Spent some time yesterday making adjustments. I had thought I'd want to shorten the handle bars a bit on each side, but now that I've moved the shifters and brake-pulls a bit more toward center, and put my bar-ends on, I'm thinking I may like the feel of it. We'll see. At least I won't wipe out groping for bar-ends that aren't there.
I may still need to switch to grip-shift. Happily, SRAM has that option at all levels. Unhappily, making the switch will cost me a bunch of dough. So I'm going to see if I can live with the pushbutton shifters. As shifters go, I have to say I definitely prefer Shimano's one pushbutton, one pull-lever system. Bike's completely upgradeable, though. I'll be able to make just about any change I like. Other tweaks: put my mud-guard on the down-tube, which is just funny. Because the down tube on this bike is about as wide as my head. I look at the mud guard and wonder why I even bothered. Still, any crud not flying into my eyes is good. I also moved my Hite-Rite onto the seat tube/seat post from my old bike. I still haven't moved my bell (heh-heh. I have a bell...). I also need a rear fender and a rack, and different toeclips before I'll be completely set up. My current toeclips extend too far forward to be permanently useful. For the moment, they are better than trying to ride without.
The rack and fender might help a little with weight distribution; but it could just be that I need to get used to the new bike. The tail feels lighter than the front at this point; but it could really be that the entire bike is just far lighter than the tail on my old bike, and this one's balanced a bit differently. I'm still mucking some with how the saddle is oriented. Height, somewhat, and front-to-back for sure. If the tail really is light, I'll need to be able to easily redistribute my weight on loose stuff by hanging off the back of my saddle.
Have to see how it goes. But it is a good bike, and I believe it is the right bike for me.
Her name's Judy.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Bike Shopping.
Bike shopped. Like, all day.
I test-rode a men's Cannondale at one shop. It was the Trail F5. Very difficult experience to describe, and absolutely the wrong bike for me. It was pretty, though, and the people at the shop were kind of great.
Then we went to a Trek shop. I'd never really test-ridden a Trek. It wasn't too bad. It felt pretty normal compared to the Cannondale, which encouraged me about the process of shopping. I liked the saddle a great deal -- I think it was a Bontrager. But I hated some component-related things about it that are pretty hard to describe. I disliked the crank and the pedals. I'm not super sensitive to differences among shifters & derailleurs, but they didn't respond in a way that suited how I ride. Color does matter. My metallic red Bridgestone cries out 'Ride Me!'; that's certain. Even so, if the Trek ride had been a slam-dunk I'd have gone for it. The people at the shop were great, too. That doesn't happen all that often.
Then I rode a Gary Fisher Tassajara. That frame was too big. The standover height wasn't right and it was quite reach-y. Trek hadn't even been on the list, but the ones I'd been trying were so close to right, I stayed on that path. I rode a 4800 -- still not the one. It fit great, but felt cheap all over. Good for one who rides hardly ever, or maybe a spongey kid who doesn't need to worry about injury; but not the bike for me. The last bike I rode at that shop was from the 6000 series. That one felt 'ok', but wasn't a slam-dunk either. Very possibly I was to the point of burnout on test-riding. That specific 6000-series bike was about to go back for a warranty repair, so that could have had something to do with it.
I didn't make a decision. but the shop gave me the Fisher and Trek catalogs.
We got into the car and went to grab a coffee. Then we did what anyone should do who is burned out on bike-shopping. We went to another bike shop.
It was a shop much closer to home, and it's a funny place. I don't like it, but eventually they get around to doing all the right things. They had a set of bearings we needed last fall when no one else did. We were in last Thursday, but all of the current bikes felt so funny to me after having ridden my Bridgestone for 17 years, that I couldn't really judge. The other complication was that the guy at the shop just kind of assumed that I was looking for a $350 mountain bike. I need more bike than that. My old bike is way more bike than that.
While there I rode the Gary Fisher Wahoo in two different sizes. They were just a little bit wrong; but differently wrong in the two sizes I tried; so I asked about the Gary Fisher women's frames. I learned from the bike shop guy that the only difference between the men's and women's Gary Fishers, is that the women's are painted in girly colors. Wtf!? So I asked about the Trek 6000 WSD.
The closer-to-home shop is ordering 6000 WSD for me to try. Pleaseohplease let this one be the slam-dunk. The Trek-shop guy compared the specs of a few bikes I'd ridden and more or less liked, did a little arithmetic, and figured out that the 16.5" ought to work. That model has better components than any of the others I rode, it's in my price-range (weirdly, everything I've been riding has been hovering about $100-$200 less than my ballpark range for the frame material and component level I want - and has not had the frame material or component level I want); and now that I've had time to get used to the idea of the color it comes in, I'm hopeful, and looking forward to the test-ride. I just want this to be the one.
I have no idea how long the usual bike-quest is; but I can now say that I've ridden pretty much everything I was at all interested in except Jamis (for which there's no nearby dealer), and it looks like in just a few days I will be test-riding what will become my bike.
I am seriously not wedded to the idea of guy-bikes, or girl-bikes per se. As it happens, the Trek that I may end up with this time around will be a women's, on account of the geometry of the women's 6000. Offhand, though, I would say that regardless how Trek slices & dices their different lines, where they have clearly succeeded, is in offering a wide range of frame-sizes, and several different geometries. It had really never crossed my mind that I might one day own a Trek. The only other time I rode one, was when I was out studying (and drinking beer) with my friends Doug and Phil in Milwaukee, and I grabbed Doug's Trek mountain bike and took off. That wasn't a real test ride. It was just me taking off on Doug's bike because I could. We'll see if this happens. I'm knocking wood, because if this isn't it, all I really have left are Giant, Jamis and Fuji. I guess I haven't really *ridden* a Specialized, either.
As I said to a little kid today in one of the shops; bikes are like shoes. You can't buy it if it doesn't fit.
I test-rode a men's Cannondale at one shop. It was the Trail F5. Very difficult experience to describe, and absolutely the wrong bike for me. It was pretty, though, and the people at the shop were kind of great.
Then we went to a Trek shop. I'd never really test-ridden a Trek. It wasn't too bad. It felt pretty normal compared to the Cannondale, which encouraged me about the process of shopping. I liked the saddle a great deal -- I think it was a Bontrager. But I hated some component-related things about it that are pretty hard to describe. I disliked the crank and the pedals. I'm not super sensitive to differences among shifters & derailleurs, but they didn't respond in a way that suited how I ride. Color does matter. My metallic red Bridgestone cries out 'Ride Me!'; that's certain. Even so, if the Trek ride had been a slam-dunk I'd have gone for it. The people at the shop were great, too. That doesn't happen all that often.
Then I rode a Gary Fisher Tassajara. That frame was too big. The standover height wasn't right and it was quite reach-y. Trek hadn't even been on the list, but the ones I'd been trying were so close to right, I stayed on that path. I rode a 4800 -- still not the one. It fit great, but felt cheap all over. Good for one who rides hardly ever, or maybe a spongey kid who doesn't need to worry about injury; but not the bike for me. The last bike I rode at that shop was from the 6000 series. That one felt 'ok', but wasn't a slam-dunk either. Very possibly I was to the point of burnout on test-riding. That specific 6000-series bike was about to go back for a warranty repair, so that could have had something to do with it.
I didn't make a decision. but the shop gave me the Fisher and Trek catalogs.
We got into the car and went to grab a coffee. Then we did what anyone should do who is burned out on bike-shopping. We went to another bike shop.
It was a shop much closer to home, and it's a funny place. I don't like it, but eventually they get around to doing all the right things. They had a set of bearings we needed last fall when no one else did. We were in last Thursday, but all of the current bikes felt so funny to me after having ridden my Bridgestone for 17 years, that I couldn't really judge. The other complication was that the guy at the shop just kind of assumed that I was looking for a $350 mountain bike. I need more bike than that. My old bike is way more bike than that.
While there I rode the Gary Fisher Wahoo in two different sizes. They were just a little bit wrong; but differently wrong in the two sizes I tried; so I asked about the Gary Fisher women's frames. I learned from the bike shop guy that the only difference between the men's and women's Gary Fishers, is that the women's are painted in girly colors. Wtf!? So I asked about the Trek 6000 WSD.
The closer-to-home shop is ordering 6000 WSD for me to try. Pleaseohplease let this one be the slam-dunk. The Trek-shop guy compared the specs of a few bikes I'd ridden and more or less liked, did a little arithmetic, and figured out that the 16.5" ought to work. That model has better components than any of the others I rode, it's in my price-range (weirdly, everything I've been riding has been hovering about $100-$200 less than my ballpark range for the frame material and component level I want - and has not had the frame material or component level I want); and now that I've had time to get used to the idea of the color it comes in, I'm hopeful, and looking forward to the test-ride. I just want this to be the one.
I have no idea how long the usual bike-quest is; but I can now say that I've ridden pretty much everything I was at all interested in except Jamis (for which there's no nearby dealer), and it looks like in just a few days I will be test-riding what will become my bike.
I am seriously not wedded to the idea of guy-bikes, or girl-bikes per se. As it happens, the Trek that I may end up with this time around will be a women's, on account of the geometry of the women's 6000. Offhand, though, I would say that regardless how Trek slices & dices their different lines, where they have clearly succeeded, is in offering a wide range of frame-sizes, and several different geometries. It had really never crossed my mind that I might one day own a Trek. The only other time I rode one, was when I was out studying (and drinking beer) with my friends Doug and Phil in Milwaukee, and I grabbed Doug's Trek mountain bike and took off. That wasn't a real test ride. It was just me taking off on Doug's bike because I could. We'll see if this happens. I'm knocking wood, because if this isn't it, all I really have left are Giant, Jamis and Fuji. I guess I haven't really *ridden* a Specialized, either.
As I said to a little kid today in one of the shops; bikes are like shoes. You can't buy it if it doesn't fit.
New Bike!
Don't get too excited. Still just shopping.
I'd been riding my Bridgestone MB-3 with suspension for 17 years. I guess that's a long time for a bike. The time passed pretty quickly, so I never noticed how old it was getting. (Yeah, I never noticed how old I'm getting, either.)
I still like the bike, but it needs a new set of wheels, new cables, and the suspension fork has always presented problems. The fork has never been quite right for me anyway. It was designed for a huge guy, and I weigh less than 150 lbs. For the first 5 years I had the bike I could never find a tech who knew how to maintain the fork, so I gave up, and if the fork wasn't completely frozen before, it is now.
Since I moved to the Western Suburbs from the Twin Cities in 1998 and had to give up the 15-mile round-trip commute to work, which I'd done pretty faithfully for 5 years when the roads were clear-ish, I've ridden my bike on the Prairie Path a fair amount, and in the rain (which I did even more the first five years I had it), and on some longer rides ... the bike has some miles on it. So it's been figured out that the cost of parts and labor would likely approach the price of a new bike. With all of the newest technology. For which parts are still being manufactured. Which most bike mechanics know how to deal with.
Something that's changed in 17 years, is that the major manufacturers have frames optimized for the fact that women are structured a bit differently than men. For example. Most of us don't carry most of our weight in our torsos. And our arms aren't generally quite as long in proportion to our height.
Back when I bought my MB-3, the only specifically female mountain bike frame was made by Terry. I'm not talking about the so-called 'girls bikes' -- the kind one might like for riding in a skirt. To the grocery store. Or to church. Not that kind. Anyway. The problem with the Terry bikes, was that they were such a small company that they really couldn't benefit from any economies of scale, so while the actual prices compared decently with the rest of the market, the components used were always a step or two down from what you could get on a men's bike that was the same price. Plus, it was impossible to find one to test-ride.
Rule: Never buy a bike you haven't ridden. Ever. If it doesn't fit, you'll never ride it and you'll be wasting your money.
Ok. So back to the present. Major manufacturers make actual mountain bike frames for women. Yay.
None of the dealers have any.
ANY.
So I'm going out to perhaps test-ride a medium guys' Cannondale. It's not going to be easy to extrapolate. I may have to just bug the guy I spent time with yesterday, to get him to order a women's bike for me to try.
Bikes are expensive. I can understand a shop not wanting to order a bike in just for a test-ride. But the shop I was at yesterday had a Specialized Myka. I hated it on so many levels. It felt funny, even without a test-ride (I had all of my cr@p with me, was wearing floppy jeans, it was rush hour, and I was in Chicago). It was ugly, no one could explain to me what that concave-curvy thing Specialized is doing with their tubing is doing for performance, i.e. keeping most of my energy involved with forward motion... and it didn't feel good or stable or tough. And man was it ugly. It had square-ish tubing, was matte brown with turquoise; and to make matters worse, the really nice, excellent bike guy told me it compares favorably with the Hard Rock. A bike I would never have considered. If I buy a Specialized, I want something at the level of Rockhopper, or possibly even Stumpjumper.
So now I think they don't have female Cannondales, maybe because people keep buying them? Meaning, if I didn't buy it, some other female would maybe walk in and snap it up. But they do have that Specialized, maybe because people hate it and won't buy it. I'm not gonna buy it. I don't plan on necessarily keeping this bike for more than ten years. But ten years is a long time, and I want to ride as much as possible. Anyway. I don't have my heart set on the Cannondale. Last year's didn't get such great reviews. But I hated the Myka, and the guy didn't even want to get me down a Rockhopper to sit on. Weirdly, although the shop I was at yesterday is my very favorite, with the smartest people, the local Trek shop is getting a female frame (or two) next week. Because they'd just sold the one they had. I was not impressed with the dude there, but next week we might get a different dude. Actions just might speak louder than words on this one.
Except that the local Trek shop also carries Gary Fisher. Gary Fisher makes a women's frame, and the Trek shop dude didn't even mention Gary Fisher. And he had me sitting on a $300 bike. And he'd never heard of my current bike, which the cooler, more knowledgeable shop guy had.
So here I sit. I have the money to buy a decent bike. This shouldn't be such a hassle. When will I have a new machine? A week from now? Two weeks?
Such silliness.
I'd been riding my Bridgestone MB-3 with suspension for 17 years. I guess that's a long time for a bike. The time passed pretty quickly, so I never noticed how old it was getting. (Yeah, I never noticed how old I'm getting, either.)
I still like the bike, but it needs a new set of wheels, new cables, and the suspension fork has always presented problems. The fork has never been quite right for me anyway. It was designed for a huge guy, and I weigh less than 150 lbs. For the first 5 years I had the bike I could never find a tech who knew how to maintain the fork, so I gave up, and if the fork wasn't completely frozen before, it is now.
Since I moved to the Western Suburbs from the Twin Cities in 1998 and had to give up the 15-mile round-trip commute to work, which I'd done pretty faithfully for 5 years when the roads were clear-ish, I've ridden my bike on the Prairie Path a fair amount, and in the rain (which I did even more the first five years I had it), and on some longer rides ... the bike has some miles on it. So it's been figured out that the cost of parts and labor would likely approach the price of a new bike. With all of the newest technology. For which parts are still being manufactured. Which most bike mechanics know how to deal with.
Something that's changed in 17 years, is that the major manufacturers have frames optimized for the fact that women are structured a bit differently than men. For example. Most of us don't carry most of our weight in our torsos. And our arms aren't generally quite as long in proportion to our height.
Back when I bought my MB-3, the only specifically female mountain bike frame was made by Terry. I'm not talking about the so-called 'girls bikes' -- the kind one might like for riding in a skirt. To the grocery store. Or to church. Not that kind. Anyway. The problem with the Terry bikes, was that they were such a small company that they really couldn't benefit from any economies of scale, so while the actual prices compared decently with the rest of the market, the components used were always a step or two down from what you could get on a men's bike that was the same price. Plus, it was impossible to find one to test-ride.
Rule: Never buy a bike you haven't ridden. Ever. If it doesn't fit, you'll never ride it and you'll be wasting your money.
Ok. So back to the present. Major manufacturers make actual mountain bike frames for women. Yay.
None of the dealers have any.
ANY.
So I'm going out to perhaps test-ride a medium guys' Cannondale. It's not going to be easy to extrapolate. I may have to just bug the guy I spent time with yesterday, to get him to order a women's bike for me to try.
Bikes are expensive. I can understand a shop not wanting to order a bike in just for a test-ride. But the shop I was at yesterday had a Specialized Myka. I hated it on so many levels. It felt funny, even without a test-ride (I had all of my cr@p with me, was wearing floppy jeans, it was rush hour, and I was in Chicago). It was ugly, no one could explain to me what that concave-curvy thing Specialized is doing with their tubing is doing for performance, i.e. keeping most of my energy involved with forward motion... and it didn't feel good or stable or tough. And man was it ugly. It had square-ish tubing, was matte brown with turquoise; and to make matters worse, the really nice, excellent bike guy told me it compares favorably with the Hard Rock. A bike I would never have considered. If I buy a Specialized, I want something at the level of Rockhopper, or possibly even Stumpjumper.
So now I think they don't have female Cannondales, maybe because people keep buying them? Meaning, if I didn't buy it, some other female would maybe walk in and snap it up. But they do have that Specialized, maybe because people hate it and won't buy it. I'm not gonna buy it. I don't plan on necessarily keeping this bike for more than ten years. But ten years is a long time, and I want to ride as much as possible. Anyway. I don't have my heart set on the Cannondale. Last year's didn't get such great reviews. But I hated the Myka, and the guy didn't even want to get me down a Rockhopper to sit on. Weirdly, although the shop I was at yesterday is my very favorite, with the smartest people, the local Trek shop is getting a female frame (or two) next week. Because they'd just sold the one they had. I was not impressed with the dude there, but next week we might get a different dude. Actions just might speak louder than words on this one.
Except that the local Trek shop also carries Gary Fisher. Gary Fisher makes a women's frame, and the Trek shop dude didn't even mention Gary Fisher. And he had me sitting on a $300 bike. And he'd never heard of my current bike, which the cooler, more knowledgeable shop guy had.
So here I sit. I have the money to buy a decent bike. This shouldn't be such a hassle. When will I have a new machine? A week from now? Two weeks?
Such silliness.
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