Well after all that last week about How To Buy a New Bike, and with the mechanical issues I've been having with Tachikoma, I couldn't help it--I bought a new bike. A beautiful red-and-white carbon Lemond Buenos Aires.
I'd been vaguely on the look-out for a new bike for a while. I only had the one bike, but a bicycle is a serious investment; I've spent a long time not-seriously looking. In the end it was the non-antagonistic but knowledgeable expertise of Gus' Bike Shop mechanics that got me. And the test ride I took. I'm embarrassed to say that I'd never ridden a full carbon bike before--and wow. It's nice.
When I mounted up and turned the pedals, it just took off. I didn't really feel like I was in control of it, it just went as if of its own volition. When I tapped the brakes, it almost tossed me off, it was so responsive. It's really smooth, too. The pedaling is smooth, not mushy like my old bike. The frame's geometry makes the steering really twitchy and kind of terrifying. I felt like I was riding an untamed horse, bred for speed and performance, that really didn't care if its rider knew what was going on. It was pretty awesome.
If I wasn't sure I wanted it already, the fact that it was red and white--to match my team kit--sealed it. Plus, due to Greg Lemond's public speculation about Lance Armstong's possible usage of illegal performance-enhancers, Trek, Lemond's Distributer, put Lemond-branded bikes on clearance, and I got the bike for about $450 less than the MSRP. This is my perfect bike, fitting my priorities in buying a bicycle: speed, style, and price.
As I've said before, naming your bicycle is fairly important. With a model name like Buenos Aires and this sexy glimmering red paint job, I was thinking something Spanish, like roja. Then I realized that was stupid and not nearly nerdy enough. Taking the 'untamed horse' angle from the first impression I had when I first rode it, I'm naming my new bike after the region of middle earth ruled by the Rohirrim cavalry: Rohan.
Rohan. It has a nice ring to it. I'm psyched.
Monday, June 2
My New Bike
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3 comments:
I think you made a wise decision, looks really nice.
The following is not a knock which looks like a nice one and was obviously an absurdly good deal...
...but what's the point of a twitchy, carbon Lemond? I mean, the thing that made a Lemond a Lemond was that they were steel and had Greg's nice and slack geometry, which made them stable and smooth handling?
No wonder Trek dropped the brand -- which, with all the carbon and new geometry, must have been in direct competition with their own flagship product. Seems to me that Lemond's comments about Lance were just a pretext for a business decision they would have made anyway.
Good point on the branding issues, thanks for pointing that out.
However, I haven't ridden a huge array of bikes, so when I say it's twitchy, that's compared to old, aluminum bike, and that just as a first impression.
Maybe someone with more experience could tell me how this bike rates on the twitchiness scale--I was just a little thrown off the first time I rode it.
But well put, thanks.
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