I have a lot of money to spend at REI

[divingbiker]

... for the triathlon I'm doing this summer.

P.S. And how cool are my sisters?

Are you doing the Irongirl triathlon in Columbia?

Your sisters rock!

[sfa]

Are you doing the Irongirl triathlon in Columbia?

Your sisters rock!

Yes. Think I should do it on a pink Townie?

[badger]

Seriously... I'm going to take a picture of my sock chest.

It is literally possible to have too many pairs of merino wool socks.

lol, if they're in good shape I might buy some off you!

[Veronica]

At last year's school talent show two girls did a routine with lemon twists. They were pretty much in sync the whole time and fast. It was really cool.

Veronica

[greycoral]

I would personally just get a bike through a bike shop, it's better than limiting your selection. I guess if you don't have the money, then go that route, but I would do a fair amount of test riding first. As many as you can.

As for REI, that place is like my toy store. I can always find something I want, mostly clothes. Just wander around, you'll be surprised at how many things you didn't realize you needed! My birthday is coming up in about a month, and all I've asked for is REI cards. I'm in the market for some new trekking poles for hiking and hopefully some more wool socks. I just bought new hiking boots last week, and my husband picked up some new cleats/pedals, along with arm warmers with a GC he had.

[HillSlugger]

Yes. Think I should do it on a pink Townie?

Divingbiker, 7Rider, and I will all be at Iron Girl Columbia. If you can ride that course on a Townie then you are one hella strong rider!

[ClockworkOrange]

P.S. And how cool are my sisters?

Your sisters are the BEST!

I love the idea of having 40 little gifts, that's a fun thing to do.

Your must let us all know what you decide to do with the money.

Clock

[emily_in_nc]

You can buy me some Keen Commuter Bike Sandals!

Just kidding, but you might want to look into them for yourself!

Happy 40th!!!!!!!!!!

[Aggie_Ama]

Your must let us all know what you decide to do with the money.

Clock

Yes, please let us all live vicariously through you!

[shootingstar]

Love to hear what you do in the end, with that wonderful, generous gift.

[Cataboo]

There's currently a 20% off your order special going on on reioutlet.com...

Depending on what you're willing to spend or what you were looking for...

This bike goes down to about $1200 for a $2k bike... (I guess it also depends if you have strong feelings shimano vs. sram, but it does have good components)

http://www.rei.com/REI-Outlet/product/780688


But you could also probably find other things that are great deals on reioutlet to use your gift certificate on

[sfa]

There's currently a 20% off your order special going on on reioutlet.com...

Depending on what you're willing to spend or what you were looking for...

This bike goes down to about $1200 for a $2k bike... (I guess it also depends if you have strong feelings shimano vs. sram, but it does have good components)

http://www.rei.com/REI-Outlet/product/780688


But you could also probably find other things that are great deals on reioutlet to use your gift certificate on

I just got that email and saw that bike too, and now I'm hemming and hawing. I know nothing about these bikes, but the discounted price is about what I expected to pay for an entry level bike. I have no strong feeling about components because I'm riding a 20 year old bike with bar end friction shifters, so anything new is going to take some adjustment! So I'm sitting here with the K2 geometry chart (which isn't easy to find on their site), converting everything to centimeters and comparing that to the geometry on the bike I have because the K2 bikes are sold with irritating "small, medium, large" sizes (broken down by gender), so if I'm a woman's medium does that make me a men's small? Why can't they just give number sizing?

Is SRAM versus Shimano kind of like Mac versus PC? I'm a Mac user. Does that help me decide?

Sarah

[HillSlugger]

Is SRAM versus Shimano kind of like Mac versus PC? I'm a Mac user. Does that help me decide?

Sarah

I think SRAM vs Shimano is more like Dell vs Gateway.

[Cataboo]

I just got that email and saw that bike too, and now I'm hemming and hawing. I know nothing about these bikes, but the discounted price is about what I expected to pay for an entry level bike. I have no strong feeling about components because I'm riding a 20 year old bike with bar end friction shifters, so anything new is going to take some adjustment! So I'm sitting here with the K2 geometry chart (which isn't easy to find on their site), converting everything to centimeters and comparing that to the geometry on the bike I have because the K2 bikes are sold with irritating "small, medium, large" sizes (broken down by gender), so if I'm a woman's medium does that make me a men's small? Why can't they just give number sizing?

Is SRAM versus Shimano kind of like Mac versus PC? I'm a Mac user. Does that help me decide?

Sarah

Keep in mind - you can always return it and you can always exchange it if it's the wrong size for the other size.

If you give an idea what height you are and the rest of that, some of us might be able to help you deal with whether to pick a small or a medium.

SRAM vs shimano. I've been really impressed with any SRAM components that I've seen and a lot of the women on here have been really complimentary towards the quality... Shimano's more common, it's a bigger company, so it may be easier to find replacement parts locally if you need it.

But for the price, that bike does have nice components.

[sfa]

I'm about as average as they come. 5'6", 31ish inseam, maybe? My current bike is a 54 and the measurements I have from it seem to match best (barring differences you'd expect between a touring bike and road bike) with the men's medium.

Of course it's way more bike than I ever thought about getting, but man, to only spend $800 of my own money on a bike like this? I'd be bordering on stupid to pass it up.

Sarah