“RE: Pictures of the New Bike”

On 4/26/04, steve davis said:

>I remember a great deal of discussion about them.† It looks like you
>got something very "robust". 36 spokes?

Yeah, they're 36-spoke Mavic A719.

My old wheels were 36-spoke, too, but these are nicer.

>I imagine you've ridden it a bunch already.

I haven't ridden it nearly as much as I would like. I got it Friday night, and took it out very early Saturday morning. Remember, this was my first ride in about seven months: I only did eight miles.

I was going to take it out Sunday afternoon, but it turned very cold (49 degrees by the time we got home from meeting, and it kept going down), and I just didn't feel like freezing.

Monday it rained like crazy.

Tuesday I took it out, and felt great. I was going to do twenty, but after eight miles I was screaming down a hill at 45 mph when I hit something in the road and blew my front tire!!! Argh!

Part of that ride was going to include a trip to the bike shop, to pick up the frame pump they ordered for me (I don't have one, and my old mini-pump is broken). So, I had no way to change the flat. Corinne was napping, so I started walking. Found a couple of old guys chatting in a driveway, and asked if I could use the phone. I called the bike shop, and they actually drove out to pick me up, brought me back to the shop, fixed my flat, and gave me a $25 CO2 cartridge "gun" and two cartridges, to hold me over until the frame pump comes in.

That's service. :-)

I have the bike down here with me, in PA, and plan to ride again this afternoon.

>What are your impressions?

It rides like a dream! There's no shake *at all* if I ride with my hands off the bars (the old one shook like crazy). I notice a lot less vibration "in my butt", even with the thinner saddle... the gel-filled seat post works better than I expected.

The bike is really light, too. I haven't weighed it, but I can pick it up with one finger: couldn't do that at all with the old one.

Seth