Soma Speedster

[xeney]

I never came back to update this. The Speedster is completed and rides like a dream. I don't have any really good photos but here is my current rig:







It's strictly a trailer-hauler ... if I am riding alone I ride my Bianchi. I don't have the vocabulary to describe the differences in how the two bikes ride, but the Bianchi is faster and more fun, particularly through turns, and the Speedster is more comfortable, more of a check out the scenery bike. Which is what I wanted. The tires are beefy enough to handle some gravel.

I have lots of low gears, which I need for the trailer on windy days. I love, love, love the shifting on this bike -- it's newer Campy Veloce than I have on my Bianchi, and shifting is so easy it feels like cheating.

You can't really see the crazy spacers we had to use to get the bars up as high as I wanted them. It was comfortable with the bars lower, but I wanted a very upright ride for pulling the trailer in traffic, etc., and the Soma has a really short head tube for some reason. It looks kind of silly but it is a great fit so I am happy with it.

It is a very pretty bike and gets lots of compliments. The downside is the saddle. I love my Fizik Vitesse but this one is squishier than the one on my Bianchi and it turns out to be really uncomfortable after fifteen miles or so. So I am going to try my Brooks on here if it does not mess up the fit too much.

Oh, yeah: Soma wound up using one of my photos with Penny and the Speedster. She refers to it as her bike, which is something I did not think I'd have to contend with for a few more years!