Goodbye to Fall

Continuing my theme of getting out while we can, I tried to take advantage of the warm weather while we still had it. After dinner Monday, it was dark but still close to 60 degrees out. I couldn't pass that kind of weather up, so Sam and I mounted up some lights and headed to Kroger on a milk run:

Look closely and you'll see new Schwalbe Big Ben tires on my Camargue. Those just came in that day in my latest order from Rivendell. I'm impressed that I was able to fit the fat 55mm (nominal, about 51mm actually) tires and fenders on my Camargue, although I found I have to deflate the rear tire to get it past the seat tube.

I also have an issue getting the rear brake straddle cable loose when I need to remove a wheel, but I'm working on a fix for this. Possibly this fix will involve a Specialized AWOL disc frameset.

I always like to go shopping with the kids; they love to help at the store:

This was the last ride for the drop bars on the Camargue. Good riddance, I say... I had these set up in a weird spot where the hoods felt too tall, while the drops were a bit low, and I wasn't really happy in any position. Good thing my Riv order also included my much anticipated new Albastache bar, shown here laid over my Soma Oxford for comparison:

Look at all of that lovely width and forward sweep! I quickly got them mounted up on the VO:

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to go for a real ride yet, but from my quick tuning rides up and down the street, I only see one issue so far with these bars: I may have to get another $88 set for my Trek.