Ordered my new bike!

[DebW]

When I see it, at first I'll be shocked because it's not exactly as I pictured it in my mind. Then I'll adjust to how it looks and likely find it just beautiful.
Then I'll ride it and at first it will feel strange and all wrong (because it won't be at all like my one bike I've been riding for a year now) Then I'll get used to it and marvel at how wonderful it is. Then I'll hopefully be completely happy and excited again.

Lisa, prepare to find your new custom bike absolutely incredibly perfect from the first ride. That's what happened to me, and I believe to Mimi as well. That's what you get with custom.

[Triskeliongirl]

You said your bike will have a 12/34 durace casette. I am not aware of such a casette, I thought durace only went up to 12/27. Perhaps you mean an XTR casette (comparable to durace but a mountain casette).

I hear you, I love my 9spd gruppo too but I have found it harder to get replacement parts so just thought I'd throw that out there. I do find it surprising you like your bike geared so low, I don't know how I would do without my 50/11 to go fast on a flat (not a descent mind you, but a flat), and I do find my 34/34 takes me up any climb I want. But we are all different so you know what is best for you. The cool thing about gearing is that its easy to change by swapping casettes.

Enjoy her, I am sure she is going to be beautiful! Perhaps you said earlier, but what steel is she going to be made from. I am sure you said its one of the new light weight alloys. Maybe someday I'll go custom to, but not until my kids finish college and are gainfully employed!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

You said your bike will have a 12/34 durace casette. I am not aware of such a casette, I thought durace only went up to 12/27. Perhaps you mean an XTR casette (comparable to durace but a mountain casette).

Yes, it's the XTR....I said "DuraAce level", meaning it was in the same league as DA.

I hear you, I love my 9spd gruppo too but I have found it harder to get replacement parts so just thought I'd throw that out there. I do find it surprising you like your bike geared so low, I don't know how I would do without my 50/11 to go fast on a flat (not a descent mind you, but a flat), and I do find my 34/34 takes me up any climb I want. But we are all different so you know what is best for you. The cool thing about gearing is that its easy to change by swapping casettes.

My DH is pretty adept at finding parts for 9speed.
You might have more and longer "flats" to gain big-ring speed on over there in Texas than here next to the Berkshires and Catskills- our flats don't last more than maybe 1/2 mile or so, then it's on to the next hill. Some of our hills are pretty steep.
Maybe also because I am almost 54 and have only been exercising for 3 years now that is part of the reason I need lower gears on steep hills than a younger rider might need? I use my lowest gear combo several times on any given ride, yet I might typically use my highest gear only once briefly on that same ride.
Maybe a couple years from now I will need to up my gearing if I get stronger. But I sure need those low gears right now!

Enjoy her, I am sure she is going to be beautiful! Perhaps you said earlier, but what steel is she going to be made from. I am sure you said its one of the new light weight alloys. Maybe someday I'll go custom to, but not until my kids finish college and are gainfully employed!

I think the steel tubing will be thinner than the tubing on my current Rivendell (which is a production bike and so necessarily made to withstand a +/- 250 lb male rider). I don't know much about alloys, but she said she would use a lighter weight steel tubing based on my weight and riding conditions, maybe that means thinner or alloy I don't know. I should know I guess! The completed bike with components will probably weigh 17-20 lbs.

And thanks, DebW for the encouragement. I tend to purposely expect less than perfect, that way I'm rarely disappointed!

[mimitabby]

Yes, Deb, absolutely, but like Lisa, i think the 10 speed is overkill and really not necessary (and I bought it used so heck, I'm not going to complain TOO much)

we REALLY don't need all those gears!!!

[Mr. SR500]

Congrats on the new bike, sounds cool!

No a big deal going 9 instead of 10 speed, we have both and although I wish everything was 10. 9 speed stuff will still be around, but 10 is fairly standard now. What a 10 gives you over a 9 is tighter gearing, so the gears are spaced closer together. This then lets you stay in the correct gear for you, the type of riding, etc...

If you are jumping 2+ gears at a time, you are not shifting enough. Maybe because of the bar end shifters that Grant likes to use, but ideally you should shift as need and when needed. I know mashers that will slug up a him in the same gear they started in. I assume you are getting STI shifters, you'll be shifting with ease in no time.

Enjoy the new bike!

[Triskeliongirl]

We have plenty of hills here, I live in the texas hill country, and I have also taken my bike to the spanish pyrenes. I am 50, so only a little bit younger. Perhaps I am more of a masher than you, but what is important is that the gearing we each choose fits our riding styles. I am surprised that with a wide range casette like a 12/34 you are doing double shifts. In fact, I miss the tightness of my 12/27 but prefer the range of my 12/34 paired with my compact double (50/34). Do you climb out of your saddle? Do you take advantage of descents to gain momentum on ascents (on rollers). If not, that may explain why you prefer lower gears than me. I like climbing out of my saddle, not just to get more power, but as one more position variation, especially when cresting a hill.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We have plenty of hills here, I live in the texas hill country, and I have also taken my bike to the spanish pyrenes. I am 50, so only a little bit younger.

Oh, forgive me, we are more alike than I thought. (except for the Pyrenees part) Good to know others in their 50's here. I forget that there are hills in Texas.

Perhaps I am more of a masher than you, but what is important is that the gearing we each choose fits our riding styles. I am surprised that with a wide range casette like a 12/34 you are doing double shifts....Do you climb out of your saddle? Do you take advantage of descents to gain momentum on ascents (on rollers). If not, that may explain why you prefer lower gears than me.

Oh, just realized the difference when you said this about descents- our favorite riding roads here go through lots of rolling hilly farmland that has plenty of turns and woods on both sides. Many times I cannot take advantage of a descent to get up the next hill because the descent ends in a blind curve that would be very foolish to go into at full speed. There are many twisty wooded back roads that we ride here, and many curves in the highways have poor visibility due to high rocky sides or forest on the sides. Many roads also end in a T on a downhill. We have a handful favorite long screaming descents with high visibility that we love, but they are a big exception in our rides. Some of them just end in a T at another highway, so no taking advantage of descent speed to get up the next hill there. Of course if you are talking small descents followed by a hill, then yes absolutely I do take full advantage of that when it is safe to do so.
I have an inkling that the altitude changes in the roads happen here more quickly back and forth than maybe where you are. (isn't everything bigger in TX?) So two hills that might be the same height could go up and then down in a shorter distance here maybe? Perhaps that's why I need to change gears more rapidly, often 2 at a time.
There is one hill we go up that branches off the flat highway at a right angle to our right and is so steep immediately that it's a real challenge to shift for. There is no running start, no wide swing turn. And there is no time to shift one gear at a time. My goal there is to shift drastically but as smoothly as I can. I like the challenge, and feel great satisfaction when I do it well and can hear only sweet pretty little metallic clucking sounds even though I'm changing a gazillion gears in the space of a few yards.

I like climbing out of my saddle, not just to get more power, but as one more position variation, especially when cresting a hill.

I don't stand in the climbs as much as most riders. I like to do it on the small hills, but not the big long ones. I know I need to stand more, and I am working on that. My legs are getting a bit stronger each month.
I am hoping my new bike will fix my center of gravity problem and lead to my being able to ride no-handed and feeling better able to stand on the climbs.


I think this discussion has gotten to be quite interesting in a bigger scope!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Congrats on the new bike, sounds cool!

No a big deal going 9 instead of 10 speed, we have both and although I wish everything was 10. 9 speed stuff will still be around, but 10 is fairly standard now. What a 10 gives you over a 9 is tighter gearing, so the gears are spaced closer together. This then lets you stay in the correct gear for you, the type of riding, etc...

Well that's a nice description, but I am not having any trouble finding or getting into the "correct gear for me" in any given situation with my current 9 speed setup. You may disagree, but I feel I have plenty of gears spaced plenty close together. I'm glad they will continue to make 9 speed- I know other people who prefer them as well.

If you are jumping 2+ gears at a time, you are not shifting enough. Maybe because of the bar end shifters that Grant likes to use, but ideally you should shift as need and when needed.

And if you had a 20 speed instead of a 10 speed, would you then be shifting gears in tiny increments twice as frequently as you are now?
I believe that it is possible to get too hung up on shifting for every little difference (unless one is racing or competing of course). Sometimes I am going on a flat and in the perfect gear, then there's a small short rise followed by another length of flat. I'm not going to shift for that little rise, to me it seems more streamlined and efficient to just push my legs a bit or else stand up for a few strokes to get over the hump rather than be constantly shifting small increments for every temporary change in the road. I actually enjoy using my body to make adjustments if it enables me to shift a tiny bit less often. It's fun. My goal is not to be shifting constantly to find the perfect gear for the moment while riding my bike.
Mostly I shift one gear, sometimes two, sometimes 3 at a time(!) if the terrain is changing suddenly. Whatever works well.

I know mashers that will slug up a him in the same gear they started in. I assume you are getting STI shifters, you'll be shifting with ease in no time.
Enjoy the new bike!

Thanks, I'm sure I will enjoy it! I know some of those hill mashers too- they seem to have a tendency to get knee problems a lot which then keeps them off their bikes for periods of time.
I feel I must say that I already am shifting with ease with my bar end shifters.