Meet my new bike, the 2013 Charge Filter Apex.
Here he is before our first ride:
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Please excuse the lack of bottle cages. They're on their way. Couldn't waste the 60-degree day in January over some bottle cages!
Sizing was a little tricky with this, and after some deliberation, went with the small. Fits nearly perfectly. I might need a slightly shorter stem, or maybe I need to get back to work on my core. :o
It rides very nicely--not that I ever doubted steel. ;) (I am running a lower-pressure tire, though. Riding on pavement with knobblies is weird!) It's not as fast as my road bike, but I didn't buy it for that. I'm still getting used to the SRAM shifters. I find the rear almost intuitive. The front...not so much. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. The hoods are very comfortable, though! The disc brakes are awesome, and given that it was somewhat wet and muddy, even on the paved path, I'm glad I had them. I even experimented a little with going off-road...although that was mostly in the grass next to the trail. If I'm going to ride with my CX-racing work buddies, I have some serious work to do!
Some post-ride pictures. The trail was pretty messy in places, so my shiny new bike isn't quite so shiny any more.
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