New Bike

[BrumJim]

In just over half an hour, I will be off to pick up my new bike.

I haven't had a new bike since I was in my early teens.

I haven't bought a bike for over 15 years. My last two bikes were both free.

I haven't had a bike with more than 12 gears, or that wasn't made from steel. I've only once had cycle clips.

My last bike had a cheap Carbolite 103 frame, and was seriously heavy. And I cycled in an old pair of trainers.

My new bike will be a Specialized Allez 16. It will have puncture-resistant road tires and one-sided SPDs. Tomorrow looks like another sunny and fairly still day, but not too warm. Am I excited?

Guess!!


Pictures coming up. If you are nice. And I can work out how to do it.

 

[4F]

Nice one

 

[upsidedown]

Very nice, it's not until you get on a new one that you realise how bad your old one was, enjoy.

 

[ianrauk]

excellent stuff.. don't forget to post up some piccies for us to perv over

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Great stuff - well done and if you figure out how to post pictures let me know...

 

[ChrisKH]

Enjoy! You will wish you had sold your body and gone for the Roubaix after a couple of weeks (like me).

 

[jonny jeez]

You're gonna fly so fast, You'll wonder how on earth you managed to make the wheels go around on the old one.

Great stuff...have fun!

 

[potsy]

In just over half an hour, I will be off to pick up my new bike.

I haven't had a new bike since I was in my early teens.

I haven't bought a bike for over 15 years. My last two bikes were both free.

I haven't had a bike with more than 12 gears, or that wasn't made from steel. I've only once had cycle clips.

My last bike had a cheap Carbolite 103 frame, and was seriously heavy. And I cycled in an old pair of trainers.

My new bike will be a Specialized Allez 16. It will have puncture-resistant road tires and one-sided SPDs. Tomorrow looks like another sunny and fairly still day, but not too warm. Am I excited?

Guess!!


Pictures coming up. If you are nice. And I can work out how to do it.

Nice one Jim, had a test ride of that bike last week at my lbs very nice,gonna ride the secteur as well then decide which to go for.
Enjoy

 

[Velorum]

Excellent. Its things like this that lift you from the drab uniformity of life and keep you going.

 

[BrumJim]

Well, here are the pictures. First the old bike:

Pants, isn't it?

And now the new bike, with frame that fits and is shiny:

LBS said that the high seat and low handlebars are all in vogue at the moment. I had to pay extra for the spray-on dirt to make it less attractive to thieves.

Brake cables that are very individual. Had to pay extra for all those levers and all that complex routing, compared to my old one:

you really get what you pay for..

6 gears on the back block - not quite ready for a single speed, yet,

but so much better than the 8 I used to have.

Will submit my user report next....

 

[BrumJim]

It was almost like riding a bike from scratch again. Brakes were different, gears could be changed whenever I felt like it, and I indexed up and down one at a time, rather than randomly guessing where the lever should be for the next stretch, then getting up to speed.

The bike felt so light that it was almost like the front wheel was taking off every time I tried to put any power through my legs. Indicating was very difficult, as when I stuck my arm out, the bike seemed to want to fall over. I guess it was much lighter than my earlier bike.

Also, this may sound strange, but the old bike seemed to have a windward helm, i.e. it naturally seemed to take me to my right. The new one appears to have a lee helm, moving me to my left if I loose concentration.

Hand positions were all different, and my safe stance (hands together-ish near the stem) left me with no brakes at all. The handlebars were higher, but I felt like I was leaning forward more.

On my usual route through the park, my turn-in points for the corners were all different, and I had no confidence that the bike would go where I wanted it to.

So different, and will take a lot of getting used to.

But so light, and so easy to peddle. The new shoes were a dream, and I cant wait to SPD them and use the pedals properly (one-sided SPD). Getting home was so much easier. The hills were still there, but accelerating, and keeping up good speed, even at the end of the run, was so much easier. I peddled hard, but emitted so much less sweat than on my old bike.

It's going to be a steady start, but hopefully in a week or two I should be flying like I have never flown before.