just bought a new road bike....

[mike_c]

Well, new for me. I found a used Cannondale R1000 Aero in a pawnshop this morning for $800. It's in excellent condition-- almost new except that the stock Mavic rear wheel has been replaced with a Bontrager X-Lite and two spokes have been replaced on the front wheel. I'm pretty tall so I thought it unlikely that it would fit me, but it fits perfectly. It even has pedals that were already compatible with my shoes. I walked away thinking "hmmm, how often would you expect to find such a nice bike at a pawnshop," then went back a couple of hours later and bought it. It's at the bikeshop now having a new chain, rear cassette, and longer rear derailleur installed, tune-up, etc. It had a 12-23 Ultegra rear cluster and that's a bit too much for my 50 year old knees. I haven't ridden it yet. It'll be ready tomorrow afternoon-- I can't wait!

on edit: here's a pic of a new one-- mine looks like this but with a different rear wheel:

[Longhorn]

1. I don't know much about road bikes

but that frame looks so fat! But it looks cool, too! I hope you enjoy your new bike. Were you able to bargain with the pawn shop on the price?

[mike_c]

2. actually, I didn't even try to bargain....

It was a great deal at the price they were asking. The frame is pretty amazing-- the tubes are fat, but very thin-walled, and they're a composite material with carbon fiber on the inside and aluminum on the outside (or at least that's how the newest ones are made- I presume this one is too). The tubes are blade-like rather than round, so they're fat in side view but much narrower from the front. It's shockingly light, especially to someone accustomed to loaded MTBs. I swear I think my Trek's wheels weigh more than this entire bike.

[Longhorn]

3. I'd have a hard time trying to bargain in that situation, too.

If the price is right, it seems dishonest to try to get them to come down more. I have a Lebanese son-in-law (becoming a citizen later this month!) and he's a fantastic bargainer so I try to get him to come help me. He even sold my car for me and got an extra $100 out of the guy when I was ready to take the offer. :)

So the bike looks beefy but is really very light. Very cool! Next we'll be hearing about your amazingly fast average speeds, right? :)

[wtmusic]

4. Love my Bontrager wheels

You will like the Aerolite spoking. It makes a difference--much less wind resistance.

[mike_c]

7. I ended up replacing the front wheel...

...with a Mavic wheel on a Shimano 105 sealed hub. The front wheel on the bike was the stock wheel and was pretty thrashed. Still rideable, but not too dependable in the long run. Our roads are pretty rough out here. The new front wheel is a workhorse compromise-- a nice hand-built wheel but I don't worry about riding it everyday on rough roads. Still have the Bontrager on the back, though.

[Fovea]

5. Sweet!

Bikes like that make me a bit jealous.

I can't quite handle an upright anymore, so I am pretty much recumbent bound, but I still drool when I pick up a light road bike.

[mike_c]

6. I was really on the fence about whether to buy a 'bent...

...or a road bike, and probably would have gone either way for the right deal, which is why I couldn't pass this one up. It's a last bike purchase in the sense that I'll likely never need to upgrade it-- anything better is getting WAY into the price stratosphere. There were some issues that I had to resolve-- it had too big a gear setup for me at my age and on the kinds of roads that I ride-- so I had it regeared and am swapping my Brooks saddle back and forth between the new bike and my commuter bike until a new one arrives. The Selle Italia that was on it is an instrument of torture worthy of Gitmo. But yeah, as long as I can ride a wedgie, this one will be as sweet a bike as I'll ever need. I think I'm still going to look for a recumbent in a year or two, especially for touring.

[Kolesar]

8. So what will be your gearing after you swap the cassette?

I re-geared my stock Bianchi to get lower gears. I spent ~$35 to get a cluster with a 28 low gear instead of 26 and I bought new chainring$ that really soaked my wallet for over $120, I recall. But I achieved 49-39-26 to give me much lower gears. If I had a clamp-on front derailer instead of the brazed-on one, I could have gone for 24 tooth granny gearing. I cannot slide the derailer down any further. Peter White told me: "Just grind the old one off".