New Bike: Old Trek

I found the urge to buy a big old Trek road bike, again, my third. My 612 was a nice, but old enough that it still had an oddball collection of braze ones (one bottle cage, no shifter bosses, lots of nutted fasteners). I did a 650B conversion with it, but the Pacenti rims were awful. My 510 that followed it had nicely thinned lugs, but the frame wasn't straight. Since I recently sold my Soma--it just didn't excite me--I've been without a road bike this summer. Unless you consider the Dahon, which I've been riding--and enjoying--during this time.

But I felt the urge for another big old Trek. Some CL trawling led me to this bike in Dayton:

It was cheap, but not local, but a trip to Dayton is a good excuse to go out to Cici's pizza, which means I had some company on this trip:

S24O With The Boys

After a summer of relentless rain, we finally had a nice forecast to head out for some camping. After selling my Burley Picolo earlier in the spring, this would be Sam's first trip riding his own bike (and only Henry's second trip). I was also trying to get the boys more self-sufficient, so I had them packing up their own gear for this trip. After some quick omelets for dinner on Saturday night, we headed out.

New Bike: Soma Wolverine

I've been in a fleet reduction phase lately. Again. Despite my longstanding appreciation of Rivendell's values, I can never seem to keep their bikes around very long. Both the Quickbeam and the Clem left the garage, rolled into one Soma Wolverine as an all-rounder:

This is the V3 frame, purchased a bit impulsively (after several months of hemming and hawing) when Soma had a 20% off sale, AND finally offered free shipping on their frames. The build didn't go as easily as the ordering, though.

Karate Monkey Drop Bar

I tried to make my KM into a townie, but it didn't take. It never does. It's meant to be a rigid, single speed mountain bike:

And because I was worried about seeing myself coming and going on the trail in this setup, I recently added my Thudbuster as well. Just to make it a bit different.

Travels with Dahon, and Sam

I've been riding my Dahon quite a bit this spring. It's actually my most ridden bicycle at this point. Besides it's easy "grab 'n go" nature, it's fun to toss it in the trunk for quick adventures. For instance, a few weekends ago, I was planning to drive Henry down to Dayton to stay overnight with his cousins. My first thought was to throw my Jones in the car to ride at MOMBA in Dayton after dropping Henry off, but the trails were too wet in this soggy spring. Instead, I tossed the Dahon in the trunk, and rode some rails-to-trails near Dayton.

I started at the Beavercreek trailhead at the 9/11 memorial:

Rivendell Quickbeam vs. Surly Cross Check vs. Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross

My typical road bike is a steel cyclocross bike. Fat tires, strong brakes, and provisions for some useful braze ones make these attractive all-rounders. Today's post covers only my longest serving 'crossy road bikes, I've also had a Soma DoubleCross, a Velo Orange Camargue, and others. But for today, let's focus on these three and see how they compare.

I'll start with subjective stuff

Looks
1. Quickbeam (64cm)

Fleet Update VIII

Here's the latest on my fleet, as (almost) always, most to least favorite at this moment in time:

1. Jones LWB

I haven't been riding my Jones too much lately. The trails are much too soggy this spring for any serious mountain biking, so it's just been the occasional jaunt around the neighborhood.

I am trying out my new Donut Sack bag that I picked up that Ohio swap meet back in March. It's locally sewn by a fellow in Westerville, and looks to be a nice size to carry my wallet, tools, etc and let me ditch the Camelback. My only issue so far is that I wish it had an internal pocket to protect my phone from the tools, etc. that are also in the bag. Maybe an old sock will do the trick.

2. Dahon Speed 7

This little guy has moved up my charts in a big way. I didn't like it all at first, but some new tires transformed it: