As mentioned in June, my Trek 1420 has a lot of upcoming maintenance needed, and it's old enough that I've been able to rationalize a new bike (still keeping the old one, of course). I've been pondering the decision all year and finally settled on ... a Bike Friday Air Glide.
I ordered the bike in October and was originally going to have it shipped to my home. However, because I had off from work this week, I took the opportunity to drive to the Bike Friday headquarters in Eugene, Oregon, to pick up my bike. Tim Link was generous in giving a facility tour and showed me how to unpack, assemble, disassemble, and repack the bike.
My initial set of requirements seemed pretty simple:
Commuting or long weekend rides -- my commute is around 19 miles each way, all on roads, with about 1,200' of elevation gain. I bike in the rain, but feel it's pointless to do so without fenders. I had some installed on my Trek, but it's a hack. The bike shop had to install a shim on the rear dropout so there was sufficient clearance for the tire.
At the same time, I want to do the longer rides in the summer so the bike needs to be reasonably performant.
Wide enough gearing range -- I go through a lot of hills. On the way home, I have a choice of an 8%, 12% or 18% (literally breathtaking) grade. Unfortunately, I'm also older, and my knees can't drive the large cogs with that kind of load. On my old bike, I found a competent mechanic who was able to do some really cool things with the gearing that technically exceed the specification of the components. I hoped the components changed enough in ten years such that they'd accomodate this sort of thing as I can't be the only one.
Customization -- Since I don't plan to buy another bike for at least ten years, I want to be happy with this one. I have some idea of the components I wanted, but also wanted pretty paint.
I liked the Cannondales, having owned a RS600 prior to the Trek. Cannondale said they don't offer any customization, and my only option was to buy a frame and work with my local bike shop. This seemed like a lot more work than it needed to be.
Trek offers limited customization, but only on the highest end, which are racing bikes. I was being realistic about my needs, and a racing bike doesn't really suit them. Besides, it seems sinful to put fenders on a Trek 5200.
Litespeed offers some exotic bicycles, but they're also geared (pun intended) towards the high end racing segment. The titanium frames (very expensive, beyond my rationalization level) aren't typically painted. Though the bikes are sexy, I had a hard time seeing myself on one.
I also looked at LeMond (steel), Bianchi (great colors), Krestel (really funky frames), Klein (the pioneer of Aluminum frames), and some other brands that didn't hit my first tier. A coworker who I'd consider dangerously obsessed about bikes (e.g., he has a four place tandem among his collection) suggested I look at a Bike Friday and offered me a test ride on his bike. I was intrigued, but not enough to stop looking at the conventional brands.
Fast forward a couple of months, when I was frustrated with the lack of bikes aimed at the non-racing-but-still-demanding segment. I started looking at the Bike Friday models.
I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with the clubbish feel their web site conveys. Specifically, every other bike vendor shows sexy young uber-racers, and I mean this in a manly, respectful kind of way, that ain't me. Bike Friday shows normal people. (I'm not suggesting I'm normal, Tedder.) It wouldn't take a lot of photoshopping to visualize me on one.
It was apparent they offered all the customization I could stand. And the bike could do fenders. I finally contacted Tim Link, who over the next month would patiently and thoroughly answer several dozen questions on all sorts of technicalities.
Initially, the foldingness wasn't that important to me... but with my plane back from its engine overhaul - the subject of a future blog entry in progress, I have optimism that I can go for the hobby trifecta: flying, biking, photography.
So now the bike and I are home, and the weather is sucky, but I'm motivated to work off some of the pumpkin pie I made over Thanksgiving...
(One final note: the stem is a butt-ugly adjustible model that I get to ride around with for 30 days. Once I tweak until I like the positioning, I'll send it back and they'll make me a customized one that they assure me is prettier. )
I ordered the bike in October and was originally going to have it shipped to my home. However, because I had off from work this week, I took the opportunity to drive to the Bike Friday headquarters in Eugene, Oregon, to pick up my bike. Tim Link was generous in giving a facility tour and showed me how to unpack, assemble, disassemble, and repack the bike.
See the Bike Friday facility tour.New bike:
 |
At the same time, I want to do the longer rides in the summer so the bike needs to be reasonably performant.
I liked the Cannondales, having owned a RS600 prior to the Trek. Cannondale said they don't offer any customization, and my only option was to buy a frame and work with my local bike shop. This seemed like a lot more work than it needed to be.
Trek offers limited customization, but only on the highest end, which are racing bikes. I was being realistic about my needs, and a racing bike doesn't really suit them. Besides, it seems sinful to put fenders on a Trek 5200.
Litespeed offers some exotic bicycles, but they're also geared (pun intended) towards the high end racing segment. The titanium frames (very expensive, beyond my rationalization level) aren't typically painted. Though the bikes are sexy, I had a hard time seeing myself on one.
I also looked at LeMond (steel), Bianchi (great colors), Krestel (really funky frames), Klein (the pioneer of Aluminum frames), and some other brands that didn't hit my first tier. A coworker who I'd consider dangerously obsessed about bikes (e.g., he has a four place tandem among his collection) suggested I look at a Bike Friday and offered me a test ride on his bike. I was intrigued, but not enough to stop looking at the conventional brands.
Fast forward a couple of months, when I was frustrated with the lack of bikes aimed at the non-racing-but-still-demanding segment. I started looking at the Bike Friday models.
I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with the clubbish feel their web site conveys. Specifically, every other bike vendor shows sexy young uber-racers, and I mean this in a manly, respectful kind of way, that ain't me. Bike Friday shows normal people. (I'm not suggesting I'm normal, Tedder.) It wouldn't take a lot of photoshopping to visualize me on one.
It was apparent they offered all the customization I could stand. And the bike could do fenders. I finally contacted Tim Link, who over the next month would patiently and thoroughly answer several dozen questions on all sorts of technicalities.
Initially, the foldingness wasn't that important to me... but with my plane back from its engine overhaul - the subject of a future blog entry in progress, I have optimism that I can go for the hobby trifecta: flying, biking, photography.
So now the bike and I are home, and the weather is sucky, but I'm motivated to work off some of the pumpkin pie I made over Thanksgiving...
(One final note: the stem is a butt-ugly adjustible model that I get to ride around with for 30 days. Once I tweak until I like the positioning, I'll send it back and they'll make me a customized one that they assure me is prettier. )
| Venerable Trek 1420 | New wheels in use | |
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