Your latest bike purchase?

[dkel]

What was the last bike you bought? Why did you buy it?

My last bike purchase was a Cannondale Quick 2 that I got at the end of November. In September I had gotten my old 2001 Trek hybrid out of the back of the garage to start commuting by bike, and after really getting into it, I realized I needed something a little more dialed-in for the rigors of commuting. The Quick was a perfect choice, because it is much nicer than what I had been riding, but similar in style: a hybrid, upright riding position, very stable handling, and generally familiar territory for a newbie like me.

So here’s why I’ve started this thread: five months and 2000 miles after my Quick purchase, I’m starting to think I need another upgrade (I’m really looking at the Surly Straggler, but that’s for another thread…really, really looking hard at the Straggler…with jealous eyes and a covetous heart…). Am I crazy to want a different bike so soon? I’ve learned a lot recently: much from doing all that riding, and at least as much from being involved in this forum. I’d like to think I’m being sensible and purposeful about my needs, based on all I’ve learned, and not just succumbing to n+1 frenzy. So tell me: why did you get your last bike? What did you get?

Topic

[Judd]

I finally completed the build of the sweet Habanero Ti frame that I bought from hozn. I had a ton of analysis paralysis about buying the parts. And then once I got them I put most of it together but was too intimidated by installing the hydraulic brakes and the bike languished in the corner.

Birru convinced me to bring it in to Conte’s in Old Town to finish it up. Just got it last night.

[hozn]

@Judd 180319 wrote:

I finally completed the build of the sweet Habanero Ti frame that I bought from hozn. I had a ton of analysis paralysis about buying the parts. And then once I got them I put most of it together but was too intimidated by installing the hydraulic brakes and the bike languished in the corner.

Birru convinced me to bring it in to Conte’s in Old Town to finish it up. Just got it last night.

Yay!! It lives again!

I really like that bike. And absolutely love the geometry, which is why my new Waltly frame is identical (just with thru axle and 44mm HT).

[Brett L.]

@Judd 180319 wrote:

I finally completed the build of the sweet Habanero Ti frame that I bought from hozn. I had a ton of analysis paralysis about buying the parts. And then once I got them I put most of it together but was too intimidated by installing the hydraulic brakes and the bike languished in the corner.

Birru convinced me to bring it in to Conte’s in Old Town to finish it up. Just got it last night.

Damn, she’s a looker….

[Judd]

@TwoWheelsDC 180043 wrote:

Not really. Harder to take sharp corners, but feels like a regular hybrid. I think it’s shorter than a true longtail. The 2018 model is an aluminum frame, but it’s a smooth ride overall.

Big thanks to TwoWheelsDC for letting me (and multiple people I badgered) into riding his sweet new bike tonight. It was awesome and I totally want one.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Judd]

@Judd 180333 wrote:

Big thanks to TwoWheelsDC for letting me (and multiple people I badgered) into riding his sweet new bike tonight. It was awesome and I totally want one.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sunyata]

@Judd 180319 wrote:

I finally completed the build of the sweet Habanero Ti frame that I bought from hozn. I had a ton of analysis paralysis about buying the parts. And then once I got them I put most of it together but was too intimidated by installing the hydraulic brakes and the bike languished in the corner.

Birru convinced me to bring it in to Conte’s in Old Town to finish it up. Just got it last night.

About freaking time! Now… We should go for a gravel ride!

[huskerdont]

@Judd 180319 wrote:

I finally completed the build of the sweet Habanero Ti frame that I bought from hozn. I had a ton of analysis paralysis about buying the parts. And then once I got them I put most of it together but was too intimidated by installing the hydraulic brakes and the bike languished in the corner.

Birru convinced me to bring it in to Conte’s in Old Town to finish it up. Just got it last night.

Beautiful. All of us who ride 58s rue the day we didn’t pick up that frame.

[Starduster]

Even with the best of care, things wear.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18428[/ATTACH]

This is a story of a near-treasure hunt to refurbish the drivetrain on the Olde Trek (’81 Trek 412 with 90’s Shimano drivetrain). One day I looked at the inner front chainring and declared, “”Man, this is WORN!” That part was a late-90’s replacement from during my Bike Exchange days, and even nickel-plated 7075 aluminum does not last forever. 20 + years, perhaps, but not forever. Off to my home shop (Papillon Cycles) and John Harpold orders up a 38T Sugino chainring. All well and fine. Then we pronounced the chain worn as well. SRAM still lists a full-nickleplate 8 speed chain in their catalog, but *no one* that we order from carries it. Still wanted the little bit of bling that a full nickelplate chain provides, so… Checked with lighting guru Peter White, who says he is the distributor for Wippermann Connex chains. Says they handle big chainring shifts on his bike better than SRAM, so… one Connex 808 deployed. Then I look at the derailleur pulleys. Quick parts run to buy those, and found that 10 tooth pulleys are no longer easy to find, except from Performance.

Then comes the *almost* treasure hunt… the Olde Trek was originally a 6 speed freewheel setup. When I went to a 700C wheelset, it became a 7 speed…freewheel, still. The no longer young moi wanted and needed a 32 or 34 tooth low gear. The incumbent Shimano HG40-something was just worn enough to do something about. The problem- better-quality freewheels are becoming harder to find- the direct replacement in that gear range from Shimano is now only available in the entry-level Tourney group. I wanted better. Much from Shimano has been declared obsolete and discontinued, including a freewheel called the Mega 7, which Sheldon Brown raved about years ago. I saw one or two of those at Phoenix Bikes. But that was then, not now. Darn. So John and I looked, and found the SunRace 13-34 you see here. It is the same configuration as the Shimano, but to be fair to SunRace, their own design. We ordered, decided this was more than good enough, and I went home to install. Came right back to the shop when I found I just didn’t have enough leverage to break it loose. Borrowed the vise and Bailey Garfield to “do the needful”. *His* wheel build, after all. One last bit of concern verging on panic when we looked at how close the outer lockring was to the axle end. John was concerned it wouldn’t fit. Turns out it did. The Shimano HG40 was a tight fit for the chain at the outermost sprocket. This is even tighter, but it *clears*. It really does. We will call that a precision fit and run like hell with it.

As expected, it shifts like new, including the 14 tooth chainring shift, even without a pinned/ramped outer ring. The bonus? I can climb easily out of saddle again. I was having trouble with out of saddle climbing, and I thought it was *me*. No skipping, but the very worn teeth were causing it to *slip*, which messed with power delivery and the bike’s ability to climb.

Happiness is a warm gun, er, refurbished drivetrain.

[LhasaCM]

Since I’ll be out of town in the near future at a place where there isn’t a bikeshare system, won’t have time to do the whole “bike tourist” thing we’ve done elsewhere, and the old “take a test drive at a LBS” trick won’t work (since there aren’t any), and I want to keep my illogical “ride every day” streak going, I mulled over my options. Do I buy/rent/borrow a nice travel case to bring my bike with me, paying the $75/each way for the privilege of Southwest hopefully not destroying it plus dealing with the headache of whatever disassembly/reassembly process would be required, or do I buy a cheap folding bike? The answer:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18540[/ATTACH]

It’s a Citizen Rome bike. From what I could tell online, Citizen has a reputation for semi-decent cheap folding bikes with lots of flashy marketing that attempts to gloss over their cheapness. Visiting their website enough and raising questions via e-mail got me a decent discount code to bring the price down from the regular $389. The bike has 16 inch wheels, is a single speed, and has a cheap belt drive. It also came with its own suitcase (usually an optional extra) that is within most airlines’ dimensional weight limits to be checked as just normal luggage. I did pay for the optional cable lock attached to the seat and a quick-release rear rack. Here’s what it looks like haphazardly packed.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18541[/ATTACH]

At 5’10”, I’m probably at the max of what would be reasonable for this to fit; moving the handlebars or seatpost up any higher does not seem advisable. So far, having only ridden it around in the alley, it appears adequate. I should be able to go out Sunday for more of a real test ride to see how it handles something fierce like the MBT.

[LhasaCM]

@LhasaCM 182386 wrote:

At 5’10”, I’m probably at the max of what would be reasonable for this to fit; moving the handlebars or seatpost up any higher does not seem advisable. So far, having only ridden it around in the alley, it appears adequate. I should be able to go out Sunday for more of a real test ride to see how it handles something fierce like the MBT.

Yep – “adequate” is an appropriate word to describe the bike. Yesterday, I took it on a quick ride down the MBT to REI (to get spare tubes) and back home – about 4 miles total round trip. The folding mechanism is OK. The included/tethered cable lock is fine, the seatpost and “handlebar post” quick-release clamps are cheap but worked once I tightened them a lot more than originally setup (by the time I got to REI the handlebars were all the way down), the pedals are smaller than I’d like but OK, the saddle itself serviceable. The gear ratio was a bit lower than I’d have liked but not terrible; I’d spin out going “only” 13 MPH downhill on the MBT, but managed to do pretty reasonably going home overall (for the stretch of the MBT between R Street and Franklin, my time was on par with a “reasonably quick” ride home with an occupied trailercycle on my regular bike).

Were I to use this more regularly, I definitely would’ve wanted to have spent a bit more on something a bit nicer/with gears/etc., but for a “fits in a suitcase to be able to ride around in random places” bike it seems fine.

[pmf]

Winter project direct from Belgium

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[KWL]

@pmf 182602 wrote:

Winter project direct from Belgium

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Nice. Is that a 58cm? Asking for a friend.

[pmf]

@KWL 182613 wrote:

Nice. Is that a 58cm? Asking for a friend.

It’s a 56 c-c. Corsa 01. I think these are the nicest frames that came out of Merckx’s factory. Made in 1996 with Deda zero uno tubes. I have another one that’s built up, but I couldn’t resist buying this frame. The one I have has been repainted and has a carbon fork. This one has original paint and a chrome fork. I’ve got an 11-speed Athena group to put on it. The ride equality of this frame is incredible and it’s as light as my titanium bike.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18563[/ATTACH]

I couldn’t resist this Colnago a few years ago. It’s beautiful and soon no one will be making stuff like this. I do think that the Merckx is the nicer riding frame.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18564[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18565[/ATTACH]

[KWL]

@pmf 182624 wrote:

It’s a 56 c-c. Corsa 01. …

Thank goodness. The envy is a little less painful when the really sweet bike/frame that someone just got is not my size.

[EasyRider]

My Crust Clydesdale fork arrived and has rejuvenated the Trek 800 I bought 25 years ago! The double-wide milk crate is sized almost perfectly for two paper grocery bags. I think it could pretty easily fit four or five 12-packs of La Croix.

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[Author]

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