"maxo" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 18:51:16 -0600, Earl Bollinger wrote:
The bike actually turned out pretty good
Hey thanks a lot for the follow up.
Most of us cheapskates that post around here aren't discouraged by a
little minor wrenching to save a few hundred bucks. :P
How's the ride? Does it track nicely and does the frame seem straight?
The choice of a 52 big ring does strike me as the only major bad design
decision from what you've mentioned, a 48 probably would have been a
better choice--but with the amount of gearing we have these days--not a
big issue for most riders.
Perhaps it's just me, but I do find it odd that it, and well, most touring
bikes in the US come sans fenders. Fenders are a must for most tourers and
can be a real pita to install if you're not fender whiz like some of us.
:P
From where did you end up buying it?

The bike tracks real well, no problems with handling. The steel frame seems
to flex just right for handling the minor bumps and such.
I had it up to 25.7 mph on a downhill stretch and it did nothing bad. I
haven't tried a really steep road yet, where I have to stand on the pegs and
really power up the hill. So I don't know if and crankset to pedals to frame
flex in a higher power situation will be a problem. There is a one mile long
uphill stretch near my home, but I didn't have to go all the way down to the
lowest gear to get up the hill. But it is fun to climb the hill and zoom
down it fast.
With 27 speeds there is some overlap from the different gear ratios so you
don't really get 27 different speeds, but it does have a rich range of gear
ratios with the 11-32t cassette. The highest ratio with a 52 chainring and a
11 tooth rear sprocket is really optimistic. That would call for a really
long steep hill with a tailwind. With a cadence of 80 that would yield about
a 31-32 mph speed.
The fenders I got a pretty neat, but they come with no screws, so you'll
need to get some. The fenders have an emergency snap out feature; should a
large stick get sucked up into the wheel, the fender supports are supposed
to pop out, helping to avoid a nasty crash. But they snapped in pretty hard,
so I don't know if they'll snap out if it ever happens. I discovered the
wonders of plastic ZIP Ties for mounting the rear fender, where I used two
Zip Ties to hold it onto the bike. It works so well, I think one could use
ZIP Ties completely for this model type of fender, but i did use 5mm screws
on the fender supports. I had a long 5mm bolt and nut already so I used it
on the front fender instead of a ZIP tie.
The bike I bought is the 54cm size model, and the 31 inch standover height
is accurate, as I can barely stand over it. I thought about the 58cm size
(32.5 inch standover) but I was afraid it might be too tall for me. I want
to use the bike for long distance commuting to work once a week or month of
so (Friday casual days). Thus with all the stop lights and street crossings
I felt the bigger 58cm size would have been a problem. Since I have to ride
about 30 miles one way precludes from doing commuting too often, although
maybe they'll let me work at home some in the future.
I bought the bike off an Ebay auction where the Ebay seller had the same
name as http://www.bikesdirect.com.
The shipping was incredibly fast, more like 2 day express for me. I assume
if you live farther away it would take longer,
The bike was packed well, and it had all the parts included. Be extremely
careful cutting the zip ties and plastic to get the bike apart, it is easy
to accididentally cut something you shouldn't. There is a small box inside
with all the extra stuff included, pedals, head quill stem, etc.
The bike is not a department store model where a crescent wrench and a pair
of pliers and screwdriver is all you need, you really need some bike
specific tools for assembly. You need something that can cut hard stainless
steel cables such as a real bike cable cutter tool or use a dremel piano
wire cuttoff disc, regular wire cutters will not work. You also need a good
set of metric allen wrenches, not the cheap monkey brand ones either. A thin
pedal wrench is needed as the regular metric wrench or crescent wrench is
too wide. A good phillips screwdriver for adjsuting the deraileurs is nice
too. A optional spoke wrench is need to true up the wheels more if you want
to go that far.