I test rode some bikes today. I went to a store believing that they
carried Konas and Yetis, but it turned out they dropped those lines
since last year. They carry Trek, Klein, Fisher, and Cannondale.

I didn't bother to ride the Trek since that's what got busted -- I know
how it rides. For the record, I like the ride and the fit of my Fuel
90, and I never had mech troubles (less than a year old, though). It
had a duke fork that I was already thinking of replacing, not because it
was giving me trouble but because I suspect I could do a lot better.

The Fisher Cake small was rubbing my crotch, and I really didn't want a
bike quite that friendly, so I nixed that one. The women's versions
were respectively way too small and way too large.

The Canondale Jekyll 800 with a lefty was ... okay. Nothing really
impressed me about it, except that it did seem to fit me well in the
cockpit. It felt clunky, somehow.

Which brings me to the one I *did* like ... the Klein Palomino 5.

http://www.kleinbikes.com/us/mountai...o_v/index.html

It was very light -- extremely easy to pick the front up while riding
around. Light compared to what I'm used to, anyway. XT rear,
everything else LX. They actually had a road front der (shimano 105)
and I don't quite understand that ... it has a Fox float 100R as a fork.
One interesting thing about this is that I can comfortably grip this
bike to put it on the car. Many bikes seem to have "stuff" right where
I need to put my hands. This may seem like a minor thing, but it made
an impression on me. Hayes disc brakes (does hayes vs. shimano
matter?).

There's a 15 that also has disc brakes (shimano instead of hayes) and
has full XT. Also a much nicer Fox fork. So if I were thinking of
upgrading to XT, it would probably be smarter to just buy the 15.
Unless, as the owner pointed out, I didn't like the new combo XT thing,
in which case I could upgrade the 5 with the old XT parts. Getting the
15 would be $600 more, though, and past my "hard" limit of $2500.

I understand that the palomino has been reworked a bit this year to
address some of last year's complaints. I've also been told it climbs
surprisingly well. This bicycle store seems competent (the owner was
the one helping me), gives me a discount through my club, has low
prices, and will discount all rental costs (not just one day) from the
purchase price. So I'm tempted to try it out this weekend and see what
I think on my normal terrain.

I understand that I'd do better with a Maverick frame, but looking
around, I don't think I can afford that. Well, maybe the frame, but not
the rest of the bike.

I'm not done looking, obviously, but I really did like this bike. The
seat tube is angled back a tiny bit compared to my Trek, which I think
gives me just a slightly better cockpit fit. (I tend to bend my wrists,
which is probably a combination of poor form and poor fit.)

Thanks for letting me ramble. I'm open to opinions and I know that most
of you will hate it just because it's Klein. But if you could give me
some data points to back up the hatred, that would be of interest.

--
monique