I picked up my new Bianchi Veloche yesterday. She is just beautiful. The bike I ordered was a 53cm The fitting was an interesting experience. On the bike (on a trainer in front of a big mirror) off the bike, on the bike , off the bike, repete. The guy doing the fitting did a lot of holding a plumb bob by my legs and used some kind of an odd shaped plastic ruler thingy. I know that the shop had a sign on the wall that said that a fitting fee was $150.00 but it was included in the price of a new bike.
I learned that I had a long femur. and narrow shoulders. I ended up with the seat quite high, narrower handle bars and a Salsa stem that placed my arms at the right angle. The shop swapped the look peddles that came with the bike for SPD ones so I could use my new Cannondale shoes. The peddles are the same beautiful celiste green as the rest of the bike, very cool! I don't know if all of this was done right, but they sure seemed to know what they were doing.
I was suprised to find when I got home and checked my bill that there was an extra charge for the stem and a $20.00 charge to install the new computer I pruchased there and had them add to the bike. I still would have purchased these items if I would have known about the charges but it seemed strange to me that these charges were not brought to my attention. I guess I just assumed that these were included in the price of my new bike.
I took my first ride this afternoon. I can't believe how much easier it is to ride this road bike than my old Trek 850 mountian bike. I was flying up hills (well, small ones) that took much more effort on the old bike. Only an eight mile ride today as the bike and I are still getting aquainted with each other. So far, so good. I felt really good after the ride, no aches and pains. I did reach 21 miles an hour at on point on the flat and really didn't feel as if I was working all that hard. Hubby and I averager 10 to 12 miles an hour last summer. It will take some time to get used to the more bent over position I'll be using on this bike as compared with my more upright mountian bike. I am still learning about the campy gearing system and I did have a little trouble finding the sweet spot to clip in, but all of that will come in time. It's too soon to tell about the saddle comfort, but it was pretty good for today's short ride. At least I didn't do something stupid like tip over or run into something. I did miss not having my mirror. Where do I mount one on a road bike?
A strange thing happened. I went to get my helmet out of my car and found one that did not belong to me, but luckily was the right size. All I can figure is the day I test rode bikes and ordered mine, I must have been so excited that I accidently left mine on the counter and picked up one from someone else. I have no idea if I got the better deal in the trade of if they did. Neither were new or fancy. I think I also left a pair of gloves with my helmet though.
I sure am looking forward to getting back on that bike tomorrow. Happy biking to all and to all a good night.