Well I woke up and really wanted to go for a good ride. Too bad I woke up to thunderstorms and pouring rain. This is not an exaggeration. I dropped the Amy off at work and there were puddles as deep as the wheel wells on the car. Not stoked.
I was going stir crazy so I finally set up my rollers hoping to at least exercise and I was 10 minutes into riding them when the belt to the killer headwind fan snapped. I also snapped.
I jumped on my new Redline 9.2.5 fixed gear. I put the cyclecomputer on it that I had been delaying putting on it, and headed out into the rain. The only thing not stock on the bike are the pedals, I put shimano 525's, and I used cateye cotton bar tape planning on it being a coffee cruiser, I want the tape to last a long time.
The bike has a few flaws. It initially came with too short of a stem. I bought the 52 and the stem was like 80mm, so I replaced it with a 110. The sloping top tube makes me unable to squeeze my frame pump from the bottom bracket going vertically, which would be nice cause there are no bottle mounts on the seat tube. The track dropouts make it kind of hard to get the wheel out with the rear fender atatched, which could be a pain changing a flat.
I did a rolling to hilly 3 hour 15 minute, 58 mile ride. I must say that the Redline moustache bars are actually more comfortable than my Nitto bars. It might be because I a narrow guy and the Nitto's are wide, but these I found better. The stock 42x15 gearing is what I used to have on my first fixed gear, and I didn't find it too bad. For my other fixed gear I now have a 39x15, which is a good city gear. I am not sure what type of hubs redline is using, but they are really really smooth. Same with the cranks and bottom bracket. I hit a maximum cadence of 167 and never really felt sketchy.
This is my first fixed gear with a front and rear brake. I thought it was overkill and that I would take one off when I first got the bike, but I must say that I love it. I was bombing into some hairpins and didn't have to worry about washing out or a sudden animal or car.
The sun came out and I smiled all the way to my skim mocha on my way home.
2 comments:
sweet dude, you owe me for that stem!
i've been riding the fixie to work and back (when i work), i'm loving it too. i have yet to take it up/down walkers mill hill though hahaha
-M
You've got to start blogging your actual routes and such. I have four or so that I cycle between, but could always use more....
That bike looks pretty hot. Usually sloping top tubes bug me, but this one pulls it off somehow.
-Dan
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