My new road bike *WARNING* Lotsa pics!

[SalsaMTB]

My dh just got done building my new road bike. It is a BMC Streetfire with SRAM Rival stuff on it. I haven't actually ridden it yet (just around the parking lot) but we are doing a charity ride tomorrow where I'll really get to break it in.

Here are the pics:
Here she is from the side-
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/7268/smsideshotms3.jpg

This is the cockpit. Boy am I excited to try out those new SRAM Rival levers!
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/9477/smbarsch5.jpg

This is a pic of the rear brake. These are the FSA Energy brakes. I also chose the Hutchinson Equinox tires because they were black and red (just like the frame!). Gotta match right?
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8966/smbrakelm8.jpg

Ahhhhhh, a shiny new crankset.
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4076/smcrankcc3.jpg

Check out my colour coordinated water bottle cages. . .White on the white letters and black on the black downtube. NEAT!
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2460/smdowntubecr7.jpg

Another shot of the drivetrain. It's just so clean!
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2463/smdrivetrainix0.jpg

I like this pic because you can really see the shaped top tube.
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5604/smfronttrivn0.jpg

Also gotta show off the Mavic Aksium hubs. . .
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/102/smhubqi1.jpg

WHAT?! Used pedals? They were, but these are a limited edition red Crank Brothers Candy that were only available at Interbike last year. A good match to such a sweet new bike!
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7520/smpedalyt4.jpg

And yet another drivetrain shot-
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/3707/smrearder1yn9.jpg

Inspiring words of wisdom from my friends at BMC. This is on the rear seatstays BTW-
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7910/smseatstayzk7.jpg

I don't even know what this thing is called, but it looks cool!
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2473/smseattubewe0.jpg

Ok, that's it! I'll tell you how it rides after tomorrow. For tonight, there is a new ice cream place that opened across the street from me. I'll be test riding it over to the ice cream place right now!

[colby]

Wow, she's beautiful. She'll have to get some vanilla, dark chocolate, and strawberry ice cream to celebrate. ;) Cheers to riding as well as she looks!

[ridethewind]

Congratulations, Salsa! That's an absolutely gorgeous bike!

[suzieqtwa]

Love the colors............beautiful bike. Have fun at the ride tomorrow.

[Surlygirl]

Wow, Hot hot hot!!!

[KnottedYet]

Wow, that is pretty! I love the way you kept all the colors red/white/black, Even the bottle cages matching the tubes!

(my new bike is all black. It's kinda fun being color-coordinated.)

[gnat23]

Wow, they're so SHINY when they're new! Perfect temptation for getting some road dirt caked on!

Good luck with the charity ride tomorrow! Hopefully everything is set and comfortable for the breaking in.

-- gnat!

[Aggie_Ama]

Sweet! She (he?) is a beauty. Are you wearing red or black tomorrow to coordinate? You need a new helmet as well!

I have those wheels, I find myself mesmerized by the Mavic spinning on the front wheel. :D

[SouthernBelle]

Very pretty. I'll be interested to hear how you like the SRAM group as time goes by.

Let us know when (s)he tells you h(is)er name.

[cosc]

What a super duper bike. Thanks, for letting us have a peek.

[dingster1]

OOOOooooohhhh.... purty.... <Homer Simpson style>

<slurp>

Nice!!!!

[rij73]

Holy Moly! That's a BEAUTIFUL bike!

[mimitabby]

How beautiful! adding something used to the bike is a nice effect really!
enjoy!

[ehirsch83]

Beautiful!! Definitaly jealous! must let us know how she/he(shim?) rides tomorrow!:D

[Popoki_Nui]

:eek: Wow! That bike is hotter than last July. Beauty! The seat cluster is really interesting. Hope you have many happy rides together. :)

[Laterider21958]

Absolutely beautiful bike! Love the colour. Thanks for such detailed pics. Going to show hb when he gets home later.

Definitely need to get shoes to match! :D

[nomummytummy]

Your bike is beautiful - defnitely 5ex on wheels:cool: !!!

[margo49]

Now that is red; Jungian archetypal, ultra-perfect visible-spectrum red.

Tailwinds to you both.

[wannaduacentury]

Lovely- she looks great- Enjoy riding :) Jenn

[pooks]

Fabulous!

[quint41]

Well?!?!! We are all dying to know!!!! Does she ride as sweet as she looks?!

[Bikingmomof3]

Sweet bike. Enjoy her!!!:cool:

[Sheesh]

I don't usually lust after bikes, but wow am I drooling over your new ride! It's beautiful!

[TrekJeni]

Jenn - it's HOT HOT HOT
and I showed Geoff and he gave it a thumbs up.

Don't think we'll be MTB'ing your way any time soon. Getting ready for our trip to the UP for the week of the 4th of July.

Jeni

[Jiffer]

She's beautiful! I'm so jealous! I've been waiting for 4 weeks for my Cannondale to come in! Everyone around me is getting new bikes and I'm sitting around picking my nose waiting. My LBS said it should be in within a week. Maybe tomorrow! I don't know what the hold up is, but I'm going crazy. It's fun to look at pics of other people's bikes since I can't take any of my own!

I'm cracking up at all your comments on the color coordination down to the white bottle holder on the white post and the red on red! Are we so totally girls or what?! I'm the exact same way. My new bike is black and I decided pink will be my accent color. I'm getting pink grip tape, pink bottle holders and bottles, pink tool bag and possibly a pink saddle (if the Terry Damselfly I ordered works out). And, of course, I'm on the look out for pink jerseys to match. I find it's much harder to find pink jersey's than you'd think. :confused: The black cycling shorts will, of course, match the black bike!

My husband and I ride a red Burley and I make sure we coordinate with that as well. Everything is red, black and white. We have matching jerseys and helmets. However, much to my dismay, we only have one set of matching jerseys. Sometimes we don't technically match if one of our jerseys is dirty, but we pretty much always at least coordinate with the red, black and white and on the "important" rides, we make sure we have the correct matching jerseys on! We have matching red jackets, too. Today I was in charge of filling the bottles and ensured they all coordinated. Sometimes he goofs up and we have a blue and yellow bottle on our red bike! What is he THINKING! :eek:

We have tandem friends who never match and I always tease them about it. They wear all sorts of bizarre colors. I tell them they should match and be "really really good looking" like us! :D

[SalsaMTB]

Here is the first ride summary....

Some friends had stopped into the shop on Sunday and told us about the charity ride. I've never done an organized road ride and thought it would be a blast, so we said we would join them. I've never done a ride over 35 miles and this one was 62, so I was really hoping everything on this new bike would be set up properly. There was a lot of pressure on her to perform :)

After only 3 hours of sleep (dh had people over a bit too late) I awoke and got ready for the ride. I was way more motivated than expected due to the new bike. We get to the ride, take out our bikes and my bike was beaming with pride. I couldn't wait to get on! We started the ride and it was perfect. The bike fit like a glove. After 25 miles, it felt like nothing. I felt like I could ride forever on this bike, the miles kept adding up with what felt like very little effort. Everything just came together so well and felt so great underneath me. She responded in the way I wanted her to. The ride was smooth, but a bit stiff in the rear. She plowed through the downhills, and climbed really well. The handling was unbelievable, I really felt like I could shift my weight well and take the corners at a lot more speed than before. Overall a fantastic ride. I couldn't believe after my longest ride on a brand new bike that I had no aches and pains!!

As for the SRAM groupset, I'm impressed. The rear derailluer shifing was spot on. It was extremely easy to use, intuitive, and smooth. There is a solid click when you shift and it's very responsive. The FD, well, that's going to take a little getting used to. To shift from the big chainring to the little is great. It's extremely fast and smooth. Going from the little back up to the big....well, that is a bit difficult. It required a long stroke and quite a bit of effort. That is the only negative I have about the Sram group. Luckily, my area is flat so I don't use the small too often, but for other girls who do use it frequently, I would definitely try it out before you purchase. This was my first ride though, so I'll have to see if there is anything I can do to improve it a bit.

[maillotpois]

Congratulations on your new ride! That is just a great bike! I have been drooling over that bike for about three years. Glad to hear it rides so well, too!


Too many bikes, too little time (and money)! :P

[northstar]

Wow, Hot hot hot!!!

Yeah, what she said!!

[gnat23]

And, of course, I'm on the look out for pink jerseys to match. I find it's much harder to find pink jersey's than you'd think. :confused:

Hah! Tell me about it.

As someone who REALLY gets into the pink, I think the backlash against the color has actually made it more difficult overall!

-- gnat! (you shoulda seen me on the day I had blue/green shorts, blue bike, orange jacket, pink armwarmers, purple gloves...)

[Jo-n-NY]

Sending you warm wishes and best of luck with your beautiful new bike. In addition congratulations on your first long ride and for charity at that!!!!

~ JoAnn

[ShubieGA]

Dang that bike looks sweet! My favorite colors. Makes me think about a road bike purchase!:D

[postiechic]

hey Salsa.....i've just come across your post. I'm considering buying a streetfire .So I was wondering how you've been finding it. Is it comfy on the longer rides? Which saddle did you put on it? I wish I could get a red one - red is the best color ever!...but I have to settle for blue - which is cool too.

cheers
V...

[cwodiva]

WOW!!! Great bike!! You must be so psyched and motivated. You'll have to fill us in on how you like using SRAM. I've been curious. That frame is gorgeous.

[Trekhawk]

Beautiful bike!!!

ENJOY:D

[slmdunc]

SUCH a hot bike!!!! Congrats!

[teawoman]

Wow! That is REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY NICE! :cool:

[sandra]

WOW!!! It is a beauty. I want that handlebar tape! :)

[sundial]

Gorgeous, just GORGEOUS!!!!!!!

Are you a hot roadie chick or WHAT?!

[ehirsch83]

WOW!!! Great bike!! You must be so psyched and motivated. You'll have to fill us in on how you like using SRAM. I've been curious. That frame is gorgeous.



Hey CWODIVA,

I have SRAM Rival on my road bike, I got it in late June(have just under 900 miles so far on it), and so far I absolutely love it. I previously had ultegra on my old bike, and I find the Rival to be much more female friendly. The double tap is amazing for my smaller female hands! I used to have a very hard time getting into and out of the big ring b/c my hands just weren't big enough to get the ultegra shifters all the way over(my old bike was also to long for me, so that was part of the issue...)
My other favorite part(which I fell truly in love with today during my intervals where i spent the majority of the time in my drops) is the ability to pull the shifters/brakes in towards you to use when down in the drops- I see this as a definite benefit while racing.
So far, I am a definite convert from Shimano to SRAM, but it is not for everyone(I bought it my Rival Groupo off of a friend, who has been a Dura-ace fanatic for a lifetime, and he couldn't stand it- he was just too set in his ways with dura-ace)