Golfing legend Bobby Jones said of the young, dominating Jack Nicklaus, "He plays a game with which I am not familiar." I feel that way about bicycles these days. We are a long, long way from 10-speeds. The Specialized I bought today is, I think, at or very near the bottom of their range of products for "road bikes." It has clips for regular shoes rather than purpose-build cycling shoes. It has midrange componentry. It is not as light as some bikes are these days. The improvement beyond my last experience with bikes, however, is phenomenal. Some cyclists today might be concerned that one derailleur set changes gears slightly faster than others, and weighs 15 grams less. Ha! I'm just amazed that the gears change automatically at the flick of a lever, like the semi-automatic transmissions that have become so trendy in cars lately. This era's cyclists bemoan the extra few grams a titanium frame costs over an equivalent carbon-fiber frame. I'm perfectly happy with the aluminum body (with a c-f front fork), a huge improvement over the steel frames of my cycling days, which are now about 15 years in the past. This bike is freakishly light. It has aerodynamic wheel sections, high pressure tires (you can't get the old, wider kind anymore), and really pretty red paint. I also got a relatively inexpensive trip computer that operates wirelessly. Not only is this bike easily the equal of anything Greg Lemond rode in his day, but there are parts of this package that didn't even exist then. And yet, as I mentioned, I think this was the cheapest bike offered by Specialized, if not the cheapest bike in the entire store (the really excellent Cycle World). Truly, we live in interesting times.
Be sure to check in for my next posts: "Oh My God My Legs Hurt," "Diminished Lung Capacity and You," and "Anybody Want a Slightly Used Road Bike?"
1 comment:
I think it's time for the 5AM bike rides with Bo.
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