A bicycle chronology - how neat is that. Thanks for sharing it with us, Rex.
On Friday, August 2, 2013 2:44:29 PM UTC-7, Rex Kerr wrote: > > I suspect that most of us have had bad experiences when we first started > out. > > In my university student days I used to ride a cheap department store > bike. I rode it a lot of miles and did all of the maintenance myself, > though still didn't know much about bikes, just figuring it out as I went. > I remember once taking it into a small bike shop to ask for new bottom > bracket bearings so that I could overhaul the one piece crank. The guy > working there gave me a very long lecture about how it was a piece of junk, > wasn't worth riding, couldn't be overhauled, and -- wait... you're planning > to use automotive grease in those bearings? No, no, no! You want this > super expensive lithium bike specific grease! He didn't believe me that > I'd ridden it as far as 70 miles in a single day and it worked OK for me at > the time. I finally overhauled it (with cheap automotive grease) and > continued to ride it for many years. > > I finally decided one day (once I had a real job) to get a nice bike. It > was kind of a whim... just stopped in at a shop that had signs saying they > were having a sale. I was looking at the cheap hybrid bikes and was > looking at a 22" frame model, but the guy working there kept steering me to > the 20" frame. I have no idea why, especially considering I'm a hair under > 6'4". I took his advice (what did I know? I'd been riding > one-size-fits-few bikes from KMart) and bought the 20" frame. While it was > a big mistake and I now know that even the 22" was too small, it did get me > into cyling -- big time! I got rather excited about it! Over the next few > years I bought an extra long seatpost, new handlebars with more reach, > etc... > > Attempts to make it fit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexkerr/6639222403/ > What the heck, turn it into a MTB: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexkerr/6639161251/ > > A few years later I found a really nice riding but much older Peugeot road > bike. It rode GREAT and fit me really well (it was a BIG ONE), but the > cottered crank didn't go around straight (a common problem with them). I > took it to the same shop, and he basically convinced me to junk the bike. > Oh, how mad I am about that now! Now I'd just stick a new french threaded > cartridge BB in it for $20 or so and some new/used low end cranks and have > it riding like a dream! > > So... without his help, I did find a much larger low end 62cm Nishiki at > Salvation Army for $25... I then moved all of the running gear from the > bike he'd sold me over to the Nishiki and rode it for a long time as my > primary bike! Again, still way too small, but over time I learned about > Nitto Technomic stems and put in a longer seatpost, and it fit OK -- in > fact, I still ride it as my beater bike when I'll be leaving it locked up > somewhere or abusing it. It rides like a dream and I still like it to this > day! > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexkerr/8425223847/ > > During this timeframe I discovered Rivendell and was influenced very much > by them and others who had similar ideas about bike fit and design and > discovered that it completely agreed with what I was discovering on my own, > yet I still wanted a "go fast bike". So, I started again... new shop. > Everybody kept telling me "you don't want a road bike, you want a mountain > bike!" This was during a time around the year 2000 when the road bike was > nearly extinct. (hard to believe now) Anyhow, I managed to find a shop > that had a few road bikes, and they put me on a Specialized Allez > (traditional horizontal TT geometry) w/ 60 cm frame! Again, after years of > trying to make it fit, I finally realized why it would never work. Another > shop that was known to specialize in fit spent a lot of time with me trying > to make it work before just telling me that if I ever wanted a bike that > fit well, I'd have to go full custom. > > ...many more bikes in between... > > I now know that I best fit on a bike with traditional geometry and a frame > size between 67 and 69 cm. I can fit something smaller but I know that > I'm making a compromise. For example, I recently upgraded my small for its > size Trek 520 by replacing the frame with a newly available 64cm Surly LHT > frame, which feel much bigger for any given size -- knowing that it's still > not perfect, but it's the biggest "off the shelf bike" that anybody sells. > > 63 cm Trek 520 still too small: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexkerr/6638127641/ > > I'm very happy with my 67 A Homer Hilsen, though still wonder sometimes if > I should have held out and tried to find a way to test ride a 69 before > making my final decision. > > AHH fits well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexkerr/5934743783/ > > Everywhere I go I see people on undersized bikes that are too small, but > it's really nice to know that there's at least one guy out there promoting > properly fitting bikes. :-) > > -Rex > > > > > On Thu, Aug 1, 2013 at 9:27 AM, LeahFoy <jonasa...@gmail.com <javascript:> > > wrote: > >> In reading the thread about bike fit, I was reminded about another >> closely related topic: choosing a bike. >> >> I was in the market for a new bike, and after a lifetime of Target >> bikes, a REAL bike from an LBS seemed like a lofty goal. I hit the only LBS >> with a brand name I recognized - Trek. Though my money was as good as >> anyone else's, I was treated like a nuisance and not a paying customer. The >> guys in lycra with carbon drop-bar bikes were revered and respected as they >> clicked their way through the store. I was immediately steered to their >> basic 1.0 model of the comfort Navigator line in a remote corner of the >> store. They quoted me a price of several hundred dollars and left me to >> think it over. I left the shop feeling confused. I was willing to spend >> several hundred bucks but had only been given a curt introduction to the >> bike. I had no idea why they felt it was 'the' bike for me, and I wasn't >> even sure I liked how the bike felt. Was it really an improvement over my >> Target Schwinn? I hit Craigslist and found a Trek 7.6FX for sale. I bought >> it, and it was the nicest riding bike I'd ever had. But I was left with >> this nagging annoyance at being leaned forward with too much weight on my >> hands. i couldn't look up at the gorgeous bike path scenery. I was also >> very limited in my terrain, due to the skinny, high pressure tires on the >> bike. I had to tell my boys 'no' every time they asked to take a dirt road. >> I hit the internet, specifically a women's biking forum, who insisted that >> flat bars were horrid and drop bars were what I needed. I kept thinking >> (almost shamefully) that my upright bars on my old Target bike would be >> more comfortable, but I banished the thought because one isn't taken >> seriously when one prefers upright bars. The Specialized Ruby was being >> recommended over and over again. Its relaxed geometry and those comfortable >> drop bars were repeated like a mantra to me. I visited the Specialized LBS, >> who raved about the comfort of the Ruby. I wanted a bike that would pull a >> tag-along, and that I could put a rack on so I could haul stuff. People >> looked at me funny. They didn't know how any of that would jive with the >> bike. But they still sung the praises of the carbon Ruby. >> >> By now, I had gotten addicted to riding all over town to my son's school, >> on errands, and for pleasure. As the bike became more and more important to >> me, I got ready to make a purchase. I was THIS CLOSE to buying the carbon >> drop-bar bike because I believed the "experts" that this was a fantastic >> and comfortable bike that I would just LOVE. They knew what I wanted the >> bike for, and of my complaints of weight on hands, etc, and yet they >> arrived at this conclusion. They were totally ok with me shelling out >> almost 2k for a bike that would be ill-suited to my needs. >> >> One night I did an Amazon search of books on cycling. Grant Petersen's >> book lit up my screen. I saw a bike with upright bars on the cover. I saw >> lots of stars in the book reviews. I bought the book. Suddenly, the heavens >> opened and choirs of angels began to sing! He was talking about RACKS, and >> upright bars, and kickstands, and all manner of practical things that would >> aid me in using the bike around town! I went to his website, and as a lover >> of literature/writing myself, I was totally taken with him and his brand. I >> knew gold when I found it; and it was Rivendell. >> >> Shortly after, I cut some household expenses, sold the Trek (for more >> than I bought it for, BTW), and asked Keven if he had a Betty for me. He >> found one, had it built within a week, and my family jumped in the van to >> make the 5 hour trek to Riv HQ. >> >> I love my bike. It's exactly what I needed, and even what I WANTED. It's >> pretty, it's useful, and it's reliable. I shudder when I think of the >> nightmare that would have been pulling a tag-along on a drop bar carbon >> Ruby. Maybe some of you do that, but it would have been all wrong for me. >> And the point of my story is that nobody in the LBS stores cared that it >> was. I was excruciatingly specific in what kind of cyclist I was, but they >> still recommended a bike that was ill-suited for me. >> >> I'm so glad I have my Rivendell Betty Foy. Anyone else have a similar >> story? >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >> To post to this group, send email to >> rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com<javascript:> >> . >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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