Full On Balls to the Wall Spring In Action!!!

Well, the Defrost shoes are packed away as are the Sorrel boots and all that other winter stuff. Spring came on early and strong. I started wrenching again at (that bike shop that promised me year round employment only to fire me on election day) in late February with a set schedule starting in March. And as of late, I've been putting in around 50 hour work weeks to keep up with the volume of repairs and assemblies coming down the pike.
Every spring I get back on my beloved '79 Trek 940 Fixie and realize that it is indeed too small a frame for me. I'm 6'4" riding a 58cm frame all over the countryside. It just isn't right! I had hoped my friend Jonathan at Cascadia Bicycles would be building me a custom frame this winter. But Specialized bikes needed him more. He has moved to Morgan Hill, CA to build prototypes and other such projects for the Specialized Bicycle Co.
So I've been looking at what's available for my budget, under $1,000. Now being a shop employee and searching for a brand outside the family is definitely frowned upon. The management wants all employees to represent. But I heart the ride qualities of good chromoly. Specialized has brought in the "retro" steel Langster, trying to corner the hipster fixie market. But the chromed frame and 1" threaded steer is too much. Cinelli already has that market and they're Italian. The Langster would be alright. At least the base model has been tastefully covered in black this year instead of the '09 polished aluminum that reminds me of NEXT bicycles found at the neighborhood WalMart. But the sloping top tube is not asthetically pleasing to me. Looks sort of like a hybrid frame or something.
Cannondale is offering two models of the CAPO this year. Capo 1 is that unflattering polished aluminum. But it does come with Mavic's new Ellipse track clincher wheels! Pretty sweet. And I dig the hidden headset. The fork is gorgeous. But straight blade aluminum blades sound like a precursor to some serious back pain.
I've also looked closely at the Soma RUSH. Not too bad. Really a stripped down no nonsense basic frame. Nothing fancy, nothing shabby. But what is up with the 1" steer tube? There are not many options left for decent carbon forks when it comes to 1" steer tubes. The same is true of the Surly Steamroller, which also suffers from a reputation for super flex and seems almost frumpy these days. I don't need to run a 38cm tire. I just want efficiency, speed, and comfort. Too much to ask?
Apprehensive of the "classic track geometry" manufacturers boast for fear the ride would be too harsh for long distances, I had fit specialist Josh Pierce assist in finding the angles of my Trek 940. Originally a touring frame designed for 27" tires, I swapped the fork for a 700c OCLV fork I found in the garbage. This dropped the front end down thus steepening the angles. Turns out I've been riding on some seriously steep angles: 75.5 deg. seat tube, 74.5 head tube! These are at least a degree steeper than typical track geometry. Before finding those numbers, I was looking at the Gunnar Street Dog, a fixie frame with road geometry. Sweet Tange OX Platnum tubing, pretty slack angles. Another intersting looking bike was the Milwaukee Bicycles Cream City. Again with the 1" head tube, limiting choices for forks.
All this has led me back to home. What is available at the shop? Langster, CAPO, Cinelli, Charge, Pake, Steamroller, Rush. Quite a few options, really. Most offering 1" steer tubes, which I am ready to part with. I think all my bicycles currently have 1" steers, threaded forks. I'm ready to modernize. I'm ready for carbon blades, 1 1/8" Chris King headset, 31.8 handlebar. So now I'm down to the CAPO and the Langster. The CAPO has the style points in spades. The stand over is pretty nuts at 63cm frame size. The more compact Langster would seem to be a stiffer design and comes with a hidden headset, carbon fork.
Where will the money go, what will I be riding into summer? Stay tuned as the saga continues...

Why Buy at a Bike Shop

I've worked in bike shops since the beginning of the Millennium. So I've been around to experience the damage on line stores have had on retailers. It's a cut throat world of commerce out there. Lots of new venues pop up daily vying for the consumer's dollar and trying to under bid the existing competition. Many people succumb to the lure of a cheap deal and purchase their goods online instead of seeking the same product locally. This sends money to communities outside our own, leaving local businesses to wither. This is the moral argument for shopping locally instead of online. Another argument is what you get for your money. Somebody can save $15 per tire if they order their tires online. But what if the casing has some irregularity or the bead is warped or bent. The purchaser will have to send it back and hope the online source is good and quick with their warranty service. But how does the consumer know? They just google searched the item they were looking for, clicked on a result, looked at a shiny pretty web site for a minute and hit 'check out'. The consumer really has no idea who they are buying from and won't have any idea if the seller has their best interest at heart or not. This becomes increasingly troubling with the introduction of many counterfeit fakes entering the market. Cinelli has posted a warning regarding counterfeit seat posts imitating their product that fail dramatically. Chris King has also become aware of counterfeit look alike components on the market. These are leading names in component manufacturing. I won't even get into all the "no name" products flooding the web stores. In a bike shop a consumer will meet the staff and get a sense of their fields of expertise in the bicycling world. The customer can choose a shop that fits their personality and type of riding. From that initial visit to the shop, relationships develop. It's a place where everyone there is into bikes. Otherwise they wouldn't be in a bike shop. Perhaps a consumer purchases their bike components online and then brings their purchases to a bike shop to be installed. Although the customer's business is very welcome anytime, this is the equivalent of bringing your own fish, grains, and vegetables to a restaurant and asking the cooks to make a meal out of it for you. Most restaurants would kick that person out on their ass. Often a person who has purchased their components online, will end up with parts that are not compatible with each other or with the frame in question. Because a web store doesn't have the presence to see the situation and advise on the best combination of components or accessories for the application.
All of this said, I have myself purchased bike related things online. There does come a time when, especially living in rural areas or small communities, the local bike shop doesn't carry or have access to that PINK anodized brake caliper or that leather saddle with the gold plated rivets and magnesium hollow rails. But before you click "Check Out", its always better to check the local shops first. And when purchasing online, one can at least be sure to purchase from a site connected to a retail outlet. That way, the money spent is still supporting a struggling bike shop in a community somewhere.