Thursday, August 20, 2009

maiden voyage

Doubt no longer exists. I had a HUGE confidence boost this morning because of.....

:)

I picked it up yesterday. It was a glass slipper when I got onto it. After a few measurements of my legs, NO adjustments were needed. It fit perfectly! I had the front crank and cassette upgraded to a Dura Ace 53x39 from an FSA compact. This bike is sooooooo light!

I went up to SUNY Purchase as soon as I got up. Felt a bit like Christmas this morning. As soon as I got onto it, I could feel the stiffness of the carbon fiber frame. Now my old TT bike is gonna feel like riding a sponge!

Within 300 yards I was already going up a slight incline. I threw caution to the wind, shifted to a harder gear, stood and hammered it. Man this thing can climb!!! Did I mention that this bike is really light?!?!? Every ounce of energy that goes into the pedals goes right into propelling this thing. It doesnt feel like the frame is absorbing the energy and spitting it out like garbage like on my aluminum TT bike. You put the hammer down, you better hold on to this thing! Just amazing how well this thing climbs!

I finally got to a section where I could get into aero and big ring it with some speed. The bike flew. But that lasted for a whopping 30 seconds before I realized that the cockpit was slipping downwards. The connection from the stem was slightly loose. Booooooo!!!

Oh well. So I had to stop, manually bend it back up and unfortunately I didnt have any tools on me or in the car, so that basically ended the ride. I rode the remaining mile back very cautiously trying not to put too much weight on the bars.

Other than the handlebar incident, the bike is going right back into the shop first thing when I get back. The brakes are way too wide so breaking takes a bit more than it should. The extra bit of front derailer cable @ the end that sticks out of the derailer is too long and is in the way of the pedal stroke. And finally, I cant turn the cockpit more than 20 degrees to the right because the cables are either too short or too tight. However, I can turn the cockpit a full 90 degrees to the left. Im also going to swap out the rear wheel with my DT Swiss with the PowerTap. Oh, and the gear shifting is not right. Even though the rear shifter is indexed, the gears are still not smooth. When I hammered it up that hill the rear gear slipped twice. Just a little unsettleing.

Very exciting though! And the above reasons are why I am NOT riding it this weekend @ Timberman. I don't know the bike yet and I am sure a few more little things are going to show up.

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