Time to delurk, new to Alaska and bike choice paralysis

[Catrin]

Will they allow you to take the Kona Sutra out for a longer ride? Some shops do, they know the more you have a chance to feel the bike out the better idea you will have on how it works for you.

[redrhodie]

That Sutra looks sweet (I checked out their website). I got a bike with disc brakes this winter, and I LOVE them. They're really powerful and stop on a dime, no matter what. I have the BB7s (which is what comes on that bike), and they're great, not soggy at all, even when wet .

The Sutra seems to have a lot of the features I wanted in my winter bike. Looks like there's room for studded tires. I assume there will be lots of ice up there, so you might want to consider those at some point, or now, since you're looking. I don't know if you've ever ridden on ice, but studded tires take the fear out of it, and make it safe and fun.

I ended up with a Soma, which you also might want to check out. They're steel, really nice tubing, reasonably priced.

Let us know how the test rides go!

[redrhodie]

So far sounds like the Sutra.

Welcome to delurkdom at TE!

That Fahr... How do pronounce that?...is sweet!

Like Tyler Farrar. JK, I still can't say his name right.

[chryss]

Yup, I got the Sutra. After test-riding a Trek 520, very similar to the Sutra but feeling a bit more hard work and not quite as nice for reasons that escape me.

Here we are! (And no, I didn't ride through the slush. I loaded her into the car and drove out to a trailhead with parking lot, and we spent our first 10 miles together.)



(Let me know if the image doesn't show up...)

[lph]

Oooh, nice bike. And I dig the snow. Welcome to TE!

[redrhodie]

Nice! Good choice! Can't wait to read your ride reports!

[Catrin]

Yup, I got the Sutra. After test-riding a Trek 520, very similar to the Sutra but feeling a bit more hard work and not quite as nice for reasons that escape me.

Here we are! (And no, I didn't ride through the slush. I loaded her into the car and drove out to a trailhead with parking lot, and we spent our first 10 miles together.)

(Let me know if the image doesn't show up...)

Congratulations, she is beautiful indeed! Are you going to name her?

[chryss]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I'm not sure about naming - my inanimate beloved objects usually get something like a moniker more than a name. Like my car (only the second one I've ever owned because living in European capitals in a one-person household you don't really need one), which goes by "Chris's Alaskamobile". We'll see about the Sutra.

I'm thinking of taking off the front rack until I actually need it. The back rack might be useful for my Ortlieb paniers.

The local cycling club for Fairbanks has two women's groups that do weekly road rides. One "easy to moderate", which sounds like just the ticket. They start up this week, and I'm thinking of checking them out. I can feel my sitbones this morning .

The snow's disappearing fast. We'll have a week of slushy mud but then it should be improving at least away from the rivers and ponds. Though mosquitos should only be days away.

[Pax]

Nothing to add bike-wise, but have to say cool about Fairbanks! My folks met and married in AK back in 1956.