New Bike - I need an intervention!
I am not sure what the bike equivalent of AA is, but I need it. I have fallen off the wagon!:o
I have avoided buying a bike myself for almost two years now. I have achieved this mostly through the vicarious buying of bikes for others. I help them work out what they want and then hold their hand while they go and buy them, help them set them up, encourage them to buy gadgets and go clipless and generally bask in the spending of their money on "bike stuff.":D
I have even basked in the TE forum members' purchases of glorious bikes....
But today I bought a new bike. I am not sure if I should be celebrating or confessing! It is a Scott Speedster S20 FB and I'm going to love it!
You see, I already have four bikes. Four and a half if you count my half of the tandem I ride with DD. I have a very old roadie, a newish roadie, a hardtail MTB and a nice dual suspension MTB. The hardtail MTB now sports slick tyres and does commute and general hack duties.
So, it transpired that I "influenced" one of my workmates to buy a flatbar roadie the other week because that was what she needed. This was no big deal at the time, since I had no need for such a thing. But then I discovered a need!:eek:
I usually go on a 9 day tour around Queensland called Cycle Queensland (CQ). The last two years I have taken DD on the tandem and DH on his own bike. This year they have decided they would prefer not to come. I gave this some thought and decided I would still go. It is after all my base training for the year. When else do I get the freedom to spend 9 days in a row riding 100km give or take with somebody else feeding me and no work to go to?:)
So I decided to go and take my roadie - rather looking forward to release from the tandem! Then I looked at the profile for the road. Urghhh!:eek: Some pretty big hills there! Some pretty rough rural roads there! Better re-think taking the roadie since I can't see me getting up some of those hills on it and don't fancy walking up them thar hills in roadie walk-like-a-duck shoes!
So I decided to take the hardtail on slicks. Shortly thereafter I rode it to work (a pretty decent sort of a commute) and remembered that I keep running out of gears at the top end, that the fork annoys me when I'm just commuting, that while it is terrific when your butt is only on the seat half the time in the forest, it is just not comfy to sit down on for a prolonged period. In short - just NOT a bike you look forward to pushing out a huge bunch of miles for 9 days in a row!
It was then that the workmate showed me her new flatbar roadie. And it was nice.:) And as I looked at that nice roadie triple, and those nice big 700c wheels, and.... I suddenly realised that this was the sort of thing (if it just had a carbon fork) that I would like to ride for touring and commuting!
I then spent a fruitless night on the computer comparing specs of all the well-known and -sold bikes in Oz, looking for something to meet my requirements (at least 105, road triple, carbon fork, nice wheelset, room for a bit more tyre width, braze-ons for a rack). It was a fruitless search. Sellers of WSD FB road bikes easily available down here seem to think women don't need nicer spec gear. There was nothing available with anything above Tiagra. Even in the nicer-specced men's bikes they seemed to favour a compact double on the nicer bikes (I HATE compact gearing) or a MTB range of gearing that would ensure I was back to running out of gears at the top.:confused:
I consoled myself that there was nothing I could buy (DH was very happy) and resigned myself to looking at some steeper gearing for my hardtail. But then I wandered into a LBS and the gal there had already solved this predicament for another female customer. She pointed to the Scott in a catalogue.:) I googled.:):) It really was exactly what I wanted (as long as i could get it to fit me).:D I dithered for almost a week, measured my bikes, compared the measurements to the sizing charts, and finally caved in today. I went back and bought it. It will arrive next week and I just can't wait!!!:D:D
Thank God it's not just me...
You don't know how good it is to hear there are others going through the same phenomena!
I currently have 3 bikes: a 1990 Univega Alpina (mountain bike), a 2009 Specialized Dolce Elite road bike (bought September, 2008) and most recently, a 2009 Jamis Coda Sport hybrid. In between, I bought and sold two Specialized Expedition Sport comfort bikes-one was a little too large (we gave it to DBF's father). Its replacement was instrumental in turning me into a bike-aholic. I 'outgrew' it within a few months and sold it to buy the Jamis, which I felt fit the hybrid slot perfectly.
I thought that I was all set, but came across a CraigsList ad in late February for a (local) 2008 Jamis Aurora Elite at an attractive price...and the wheels started turning again.
This isn't a done deal; the bike is not available for viewing until later this month and other respondents are ahead of me. Hard to say how many are serious.
I figure whatever is meant to be, will be. If it is sold before I can look at it, I will not be heartbroken; I obviously have bikes to ride. If I do see it and happen to fall in love again...it will be a tough decision.
There are worse hobbies, I suppose. (At least it doesn't need to be fed, right?)