A Bike I Ride

All these posts about a bike I'm not riding are annoying me. Here, let's talk about a bike that isn't broke, has all its parts and a nice finish.

Just your basic singlespeed 'cross bike. Or, a comfort bike with delusions if my riding style is how it is judged. IRO offered a group buy for the Bikeforums.com cyclocross crowd. This got me a pretty darn decent steel frameset for a pretty darn decent price. Once I had the frame, I found a great sale on Bontrager Satellite carbon fiber forks, so picked one of those up. Even better, I was able to sell the original fork to recover most of the upgrade cost.

The wheelset is one I'd picked up on ebay ages ago when I was running 8s Shimano for 'cross. It's a 1988 Dura/Ace hubset with Matrix Iso C rims. Not the lightest things in the world, but very rugged and not all that heavy. These are pretty good, except when compared to my tubular wheelsets.

Tektro Drop V levers and mini V brakes do the stopping and a Sugino crank with an all-terrain friendly 39 x 18 gear set do the going. All of this works well and smoothly and requires absolutely no attention or worry on my part. All together this bike weighs 21.5 pounds and rides sweet and smooth on all surfaces including cobbles .

Yes, I got the fork with the bungs for a front lowrider rack. Why? In case it ever becomes necessary to lace up an internal geared hub and go touring on it. This bike is about options and possibilities. I can race SS on it, add racks for toting things, and having the long distance travel potential just makes it the ultimate. For now, it's the fun and fitness bike. Rides around the neighborhood or through the woods are it's main activities, though it's done a few short commutes as well.