Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
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.

snip

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.


Heh. We won't be able to resist that. Especially in combination with your
title.
I bet some people would pay more for that kind of treatment, but being a
newlywed you're probably already taken care of in that department.

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 know a couple of people who ride those. Most like them, and one guy broke
his, but he's probably harder on his bikes than you are (except for getting
them run over - but few bikes can survive that).

I remember the front shifting being a big problem due to the design.
Hopefully that's a thing that's been worked out. One of the people I know
with one is the LBS owner's very petite wife and she really likes hers.

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.

One reason is they are made (and owned) by Trek. So that's the kiss of death
for some.
It's definitely not a XC race type of bike, but it doesn't sound like that's
what you need (you can still race on a non-race bike, just not as
"seriously").

I'd go for the XT group, but I'm kind of a snob when it comes to that stuff.

Matt