The New Wheels
In between times today, I fine tuned the new bike. The body moulds to a bike, and if a seat frame slips a couple of milimetres, the rider will feel it immediately. Gavin at AvantiPlus, Salisbury, shifted over my seat, and bar ends, and various other bits from the old Blade 4. He did this by eye, and with a few key measurements by tape. Back home, I could barely tell the difference! I took the seat up by about three mils and set the bar ends a few degrees shallower.
Saddle fore and aft-- I've kept the Selle-- and saddle horizontal, were perfect. This bike does not have a telescopic seat post; my old seat tube is a different diameter. So we will try the big ride next week without the shock absorption; I might take tyre pressures down a bit!
I have my old tyres across on the new bike; they now have over 7,000km without a puncture. Schwalbe Marathon Plus may be a bit heavier, but for communting and touring, they have no peers. Later, I will bring over the old rims across too, as they are heavier duty. There is no foot fouling on the front tyre, although, inevitably, you can snag the mudguard.
I like the disk brakes, which I tested with a few crash stops in the street, and can feel the newness of the frame. Everything is tight. The gear shifters have better mechanical advantage than my old ones. It's all sweet.
Tomorrow will be the first ride; I have about 70km to get to work and back, and may just feel the need to come home up the Linear Park.
The bike is a Scott "Sub 30," which is USA speak for a pushy... Suburban Utility Bike. The downtube has an oblong profile which means I need to rethink how to attach my extra long-distance bidons, but over all, I'm very pleased.
