Woo!!! Off to (begin to) purchase my Gary Fisher SuperCaliber!!!

[Reesha]

A month or so ago, on uforgot's recommendation, I decided to go down to the Alpine Shop in Kirkwood to talk to Traci Berry, the bike shop manager there. Not only was she totally awesome in helping me find a bike, but she also took me out to demo the SuperCaliber during an all women's mountain bike ride/clinic. It was slimy at SIU Edwardsville, but we had a BLAST.

Anyway, the bike is an '08 model so it's going for half price. The '09 SuperCalibers list at $3849 and this '08 (not a demo) is going for $1900. Everyone with any mountain biking experience on the ride said it was a fantastic deal. I'd actually been planning to construct a Salsa El Kaboing with the shop, but as that would cost me significantly more $$$ for similar componentry, Traci convinced me that the SuperCal was the bike for me.

I'm off to the shop to put my first payment on it. Layaway is a total blessing for those who don't have $2000 hanging around to spare.

I'm so excited!

http://fisherbikes.com/images/fisherbikes/bikes/2008/640x400/hifi_race_supercal.jpg

[Irulan]

holy crap that IS a good deal....oooohhhhhh!!!

Now, ride it like you stole it.

[PscyclePath]

Awesome!!!

I have one of the '07 models, a 29er. It is one sweet ride...

[Reesha]

I can't wait to bring it home http://lesoftparade.com/boards/images/smilies/thinlove.gif

It will be as glorious a day as when I finally brought my road bike home after a few months on layaway.

Ah layaway... the fairy god-mother that makes expensive bikes possible!

[Reesha]

October 1st will be my first day with my Supercaliber :D

Yay!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/femmeke830/thinlove.gif

I already have several people lined up to take me on rides

[fatbottomedgurl]

Great! You will have so much fun and that's a great bike. I can't wait to get back on the mountain bike. Its been road for the last six weeks getting ready for a triathlon. Don't want to crash and ruin my race day!

[Aggie_Ama]

Just got back from riding my GF Hifi and I love her so much!! Watch out this bike may want to go faster than you think you can. :p I can't wait to hear how this bike lives up to your dreams.

[Reesha]

I took my beautiful girl out for her maiden voyage on Saturday morning-- to a fairly easy, straightforward trail system in St. Charles, MO called Lost Valley.

We took it easy-- I had to save as much energy as possible for my 80 mile ride today 8') The bike became just dirty enough, and I was able to identify some details that need to change.

I've heard Avid's Juicy 5 brakes can be noisy and boy were they. If they weren't squeaking a bit, they were making a sort of "ABS" noises when I really clamped down on the brakes. I didn't have this problem when I demoed the same model but a different bike, so I'll have the shop look at it. Also, my friend and I had a really hard time putting the wheels on so that the discs weren't rubbing. There must be some secret to it maybe? I'm new to disc brakes, so I will ask about that too.

The seat is definitely not the best-- I'll have to change the angle and slide forward the rails. If adjusting the angle doesn't help, I'll have to get a seat with a cutaway.

Aside from those things: the bike handles as fabulously as I remember, so light and agile! It performed great on the single track and I loved being able to lock out the shocks.

Yay! She's finally mine :D

Here's a crummy pic I took with my phone:

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs221.snc1/6833_146966733654_511688654_2523677_5713179_n.jpg

[fatbottomedgurl]

You're supposed to break in the pads just like car brakes. Not that it helped mine...

I like the top tube on her- lots of crotch room for those oops dismounts.

[Reesha]

Hahaha 'oops dismounts' indeed.

Hey, does anybody know if WSD models of mountain bikes have narrower handlebars? It could just be that I'm not used to being on a mountain bike after a year and change, but my wrists were hurting yesterday. I suspect it could be because the handlebars are so dang wide. I wonder if the shop could chop them down a little for me or replace the handle bars.

[Irulan]

You might just need a different shape of handlebar, or being a new rider you might have the death grip and not know it. That bar looks pretty flat in teh photo, you might just need something with a bit more rise on the ends

As for width.... the style is now to go wider as wider is much more stable than narrow for handlebars. My four bikes range from 22" to 24". So, if I were you I wouldn't be in a hurry to change the width, but look at other factors first.

[Becky]

What's the width on those bars? My MTB is a men's model, and the stock bar was 26" wide- way too wide for me. I was hooking it on trees left and right! I've since replaced it with one that's more like 23.5" wide, and it feels much more natural.

I agree with Irulan- I would want something with a little more rise to it.

[Reesha]

You might just need a different shape of handlebar, or being a new rider you might have the death grip and not know it. That bar looks pretty flat in teh photo, you might just need something with a bit more rise on the ends

As for width.... the style is now to go wider as wider is much more stable than narrow for handlebars. My four bikes range from 22" to 24". So, if I were you I wouldn't be in a hurry to change the width, but look at other factors first.

I'm not a new rider ;) I sold my old mountain bike that was a simple hardtail with old fashioned mechanical v-brakes over a year ago and have been mtb-less for a while :( . These new bikes and all their new fangled technologies! Tubeless tires! It'll all take some getting used to :D Anyway, death grip was definitely not the problem-- the trails were pretty easy-intermediate so nothing that would make me grab on inadvertently in fear. What I suspect it might have been is just getting used to that flat bar geometry again after riding road exclusively and often in the last year and a half since I sold my last bike. And also the width.

Measured the handlebars-- they're indeed 26" and my shoulder width is a mere 16-17" :o

I will call my shop and ask about swapping the handle bars.

[Becky]

Measured the handlebars-- they're indeed 26" and my shoulder width is a mere 16-17" :o

I will call my shop and ask about swapping the handle bars.

You could also chop a little off each side, and move the shifters and brake levers inboard. Depending on how much width you need to lose... OS bars/stem can complicate things a little too, because you can only move stuff in so far before you hit the bulge for the stem. When I was bar-hunting, I found that had limited choices of narrow riser bars with an OS clamp. I ended up with a BBB LiteBar (600 mm wide).

[fastdogs]

wow, nice bike. I've wanted a gary fisher hi fi for a long time, but haven't been able to get out and ride enough to really justify one to myself.
But recently I hurt my lower back, and I haven't been able to ride yet. I may have to justify it for my back (I'm getting old). I like the idea of the layaway program at the alpine shop.
I was on that muddy ride at SIUE too! I arrived late and we only found you guys near the end. But it was a lot of fun.
vickie

[Reesha]

Oh really? Neato! It's always nice to meet someone else from around here.

If you'd ever like to do a nice easy day at Lost Valley, let me know! I really liked that place :)

[Irulan]

wow 26" FWIW I'm 5"3 and 24" feels fine for me.. that's on my bike that I use for the most techhy trails.

[Reesha]

Yeah, I'm going to give the shop a buzz today and ask them about it. Hopefully they'll swap out the handlebars-- it is a 2000 dollar purchase regardless of the sale.

I imagine shoulder width has a lot to do with comfort level. My shoulders are inordinately narrow (I think anyway) and I think having them either resized or replaced would be a good thing.

[fastdogs]

I would like to ride lost valley some day, it's one of the trails I haven't been to yet. I am usually riding alone, so some of the more remote places I don't attempt (plus I live way south of st louis, so it's over and hour to get to the chesterfield area). This summer I have been a golf widow, with lots of tournaments and stuff, so it was me and the 5 year old every weekend. That's over pretty much for the winter at least, so once my back improved enough I hope to get back out on my bike.
At SIUE, I was the one that caught up to you guys near the end of the ride, with Traci from the Alpine shop. I was the fat older lady on a brown gary fisher hardtail.
vickie

[snowroo]

Hi! I'm new. This is my maiden post!

I was having trouble with my wrists as well. I had my bike fitted just yesterday.

Turns out by mounting the cleats further back, this brought my weight back off my arms (try standing on your toes and leaning forward - all your weight goes on your arms). By raising the seat, and moving my seat back, brought my centre of gravity back, and now my wrists are in neutral position, instead of being "cocked up." Too much weight (from being forward) and at the wrong angle was really messing me up.

Fixed now. Feels much better.

[~J~]

I had my bike fitted just yesterday.



I have to do this. I've been getting really bad pains on the top of my knees after getting my bike back in Sept, and even though I raised up the seat, I believe I have to get it professionally fitted to me.