Life is better on a bike!

Category: bike love (Page 3 of 7)

A Chorus Girl

First ride on my “new” bike. New is in quotations because the bike (frame/fork, wheels, seat post, handlebar) are the same. Everything else is different.

Most of all the ride experience.

Astoundingly so, yep, I’m astounded. I really can’t get over the difference. As we were nearing home, I actually had the thought that the bike rides nothing like my old bike – except of course it is my old bike except for the gruppo.

My next thought was what took me so long to do this.

As I posted last week, I’ve upgraded the gruppo on my 2005 Scott CR1 Pro. Since getting the bike in 2006 I’ve ridden the stock components: Campy Centaur 10 speed triple groupset. I’ve wanted to do it and after realizing the cassette, chain and middle chainring needed to be replaced due to wear, I thought (actually Mark thought) get a compact and an upgrade to Chorus.

380754_216403931815356_1189502473_nI upgraded to 2011 Campagnolo Chorus (just call me a Chorus girl 🙂 11 speed compact groupset including the brakes. The compact is a 50×34 and cassette is a 12×27 (12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,23,25,27). The bike shop talked me in to getting the 12×27 over the 11×25 to have a lower gear – which I’ll probably appreciate more than I will miss the top end gear (11), but today I’m not sure. We didn’t take a long ride due to weather, but the riding was so effortless I found myself looking forward to hills to test if I needed the easiest gear but I never did. Granted nothing was steep or long so I won’t really know until I can go east and ride the hills. I did, however miss the top end gear. I’ll just have to see if the tradeoff of that 27 is worth it. Otherwise, I’ll switch to an 11×25.

I’m still stunned by how different the ride is. Of course I knew it would be better but there was no way to know how much better it would be with all the changes combined – most of them significant as a solo change – in a package, simply outstanding.

The changes:

1.      Newer components – from 2005 to 2011. Improvements happen every year, so big difference.

2.      Centaur to Chorus, significant upgrade.

3.      Triple to compact,

4.      The brakes.  

The brakes are incredible. I had read glowing reviews of the brakes but oh, my stopping power! Better than my disc brakes on the Jamis. No kidding. I love the brakes.

As far as the shifting, it was solid and smooth. After I switched to Campagnolo after 15 years of riding only Shimano, I attempted to describe the difference between Campagnolo and Shimano shifting. I likened it to the difference between driving a car with stick shift and an automatic. There’s feedback when you shift with a stick – and Campy. Maybe it’s not better, just different in a better way – at least for me.

I’m glad I didn’t shop for a new bike, I would have spent quite a bit more to get what I now have with these upgrades. Better to improve than replace if the frame/fork is good and fits you. I actually never considered getting a new road bike, I really love the Scott, only more now.

I can’t wait to take our usual ride so I can really compare. Today was an exhilarating first test ride!

Bike Shop Friday

The first day of March brought visits to two local bike shops, known in the bike loving world as a LBS. Mark had a bike fitting on his new Scott so I tagged along.  While he was getting the fit done I talked wheels with one of the other employees. He took me around the shop and showed me a number of options then we looked online and checked weights and specs on several wheelsets. It was heaven.

Talking shop with the guys, and they all were guys, is fun. I can’t speak for other women, but over the past 20+ years I have been riding, generally speaking LBS employees have seemed surprised at my level of bike-speak. Not that many women rode bikes back then, and much less were obsessed with them to the point that they could speak of cycling and bikes ad nauseam just like them.

Now that I am in the advanced area of middle age, it is even more true. I certainly get that. For them it’s like talking shop with their mother and at some point in the not so distant future that should really be fun.

What isn’t funny is when I’m not taken serious as a cyclist and I’ve had several of those experiences. It’s frustrating to say the least. Case in point, a number of years ago Mark and I were fit at different times by the same LBS employee (another shop). Mark had just purchased his first road bike since he was a teenager and was fit in a fairly aerodynamic position (which he changed a short time later because it wasn’t comfortable) especially considering his riding experience and the guy spent considerable time tweaking his fit. I was there and observed the sharp contrast to my fit which had happened a couple of months earlier.

My fit was not only quicker, but my position was not as aggressive – especially considering my riding experience. I was careful to communicate the number of years I had been riding (15) and mileage (2-3,000 a year on average) in hopes that he would see past my gender and age and just treat me like a cyclist. It didn’t happen, when I pushed back about my position he said I should start there and we could always change it later. Same person doing both fits, but completely different experiences. In reality he fit me like he should have fit Mark and vice versa.

Friday’s experience was the antithesis to that experience and it was so nice. Talking about bikes and riding is as natural and enjoyable to me as a young mother talking about her kids. Like that mother, I’ve been known to pull out pictures too, although on this day I just gave them my Love of Bikes business card.

I was impressed with the quality of fit Mark received, so I’m scheduling one soon and will post about it. New gruppo for Rocket and an improved fit should keep me highly motivated to ride this spring.

Cyclegraphy

I recently came across a website 100copies.net with art prints, t-shirts and the like featuring bicycles. Each piece is limited to 100 copies.

I ordered the print below (without the text, I added that to this image because I like the quote the artist featured in the description).

 

Cyclegraphy with text

100copies.net

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