Umm… unless you are a hamster, I’m going to think that is a typo and you mean 68cm.
Ha! Yes. The 68 isn’t a typo.
How tall are you Sicks Ate? That is a gate of a bike, but if sounds like it feels right.
6’8".
Except apparently the Dr. says I’m 6’7" the last two times I’ve been in. Guess I’m shrinking.
Congrats on the big bike. Let’s see, in two weeks you’ve acquire three bicycles. Hmmm.
Ride lots. Figure out what you like on the Fuji and what you’re not thrilled with. That will give you a good baseline when (if) you go shopping for new. I’m glad the shop guy put you on 28s. There may be room to go bigger which in my opinion is a good thing.
Sicks Even isn’t as a good a username, so I’d keep claiming the extra inch :).
I literally only just picked up on it. Congrats on the new bikes! Enjoy the ride.
Dang, reading back through this thread I found another error on my part…32s! 32. Not 28. Even better.
Anyway, figured I’d update y’all. Down to 2 bikes, technically, because my brother is borrowing the MTB.
Been getting in a couplethree rides a week, on both of the remaining bikes. I love the red Trek road bike. And man, it’s pretty to look at. Really spruces up my garage. I haven’t taken it on road-road, just paved trails. I’m currently trying to decide to give up on removing the pedals; they’re what I imagine are the original toe-clip pedals which have lost the clip and strap. I believe that they are firmly frozen, and I’ll just get new clips/straps for them and ride it like that forever unless I feel like replacing the cranks altogether. But I’m not really looking to upgrade that bike much; I pretty much want to keep it as original as I can since that’s how it came to me.
Now, the huge black Fuji. Or, as it has come to be known, “The Dark Tower.”
I see now what I would have missed out on, buying a new bike. I wouldn’t have had the chance to wrench on a bike, learning in the process. Not that anything was wrong with it, but it wasn’t as cherry as Red and had room for improvement, so I’ve been switching things out.
This one is going to be my gravel bike. Now that I have it, I shudder that I had anticipated treating Red so.
Anyway, what I’ve done so far: New bars (wider and shallower, the originals were very narrow) and tape, stem because the old one wasn’t the right size and didn’t match, new brake levers and cables, new saddle. And the just today, I installed the new cassette that was my birthday present to me. I went from 13-23 to 12-28. I was having prooooblems with hills, and while some of that can be attributed to conditioning, I want a little easier time. (I have 42-52 on the front) I probably would have gone with an even higher tooth count but my RD wouldn’t handle it. New pedals, I got ahold of some used Crank Brothers pedals for cheap at the shop I got the bike from, and found a sweet deal on a pair of shoes.
Anyway, riding the thing. I’ve worked up to 10.5 miles so far, I feel like I have more in me, but I don’t want to push it and get hurt. I have a twinge in my right leg, for example, that I can tell is from pulling my leg up when I’m clipped in. Just not used to it. Also, my butt. Damn, it’s already coming along but I’m looking forward to being comfortable for more than 30-40 minutes.
The friend of my wife I mentioned above invited me on a 50-mile gravel ride in September. Nooo sir, thank you. I probably could grind it out, but I’d also probably get hurt. Definitely something like that on my agenda for the spring though.
Finally, some of you may be wondering “Did he fall over when he started riding clipped in??” Well, kind of. I will tell you, that I have fallen over once, but it was not due to being attached to the bike (though there have been close calls.) Here’s where I expose myself as an idjit.
I had been monkeying with my handlebar adjustment, see. And I had it where I wanted to try, you know. So coincidentally, that ride was also the first one clipped in. So I found a quiet parking lot near the trail, and got clipped in eventually while coasting gently around the lot. I felt like something was weird while I was doing that, but nothing particular stood out.
Then I attempted to make a turn around an island. Nope. Looked down. Bars are left…WTF…front wheel is right. Now it’s more right. Now it’s 90 degreefuck. And before you know it, I’m on the ground with gravel in my hand wondering if I just broke both my freaking wrists.
Turns out, I never tightened the stem down hard once I got it where I wanted it. Lesson learned. Do a pre-trip.
Anyway, bikes are cool.
If you do try to remove the pedals, note one very important thing: the left pedal screws in backwards. That is, clockwise to loosen, counterclockwise to tighten. This is so that the pedal doesn’t unscrew during riding.
Easy on increasing the mileage. Your butt and knees won’t like the saddle time. Have an experienced rider check your cadence (revs per minute). Quicker, 60+, is better than lugging a high gear - knee strain. Even when I was a big distance rider; I didn’t increase distance more than 20% a week. Your butt takes time. Adjust your saddle back and forth or change the tip angle depending on where it hurts. :DMy belief was that I killed the nerve endings rather than got used to the mileage:D Chubbier section tires - 35mm to 40mm help with the shocks without noticeable drag at the beginner level.
The newer pedals that allow some degree of foot/knee angle movement helped a lot. The old clip/strap/cleat system made your knee adapt to the rotation. Watch other cyclists from behind - the knee definitely does NOT go up and down - there’s this whole rotation/swivel thing going on.
Have fun, ride with others, it’s addicting.
I done a bad thing today.
My giant black bike, The Dark Tower, was not going to work out. Besides the fact that I kept wanting to dump money in to it, it was just really precarious. I did put a lot of miles on it when the weather was nice, but I just found myself not looking forward to riding it. It’s hard to explain, but I just didn’t ever feel really secure on it. You can imagine, it’s a very tall bike and then I’m pretty high up on it.
I’ve been researching and reading and stuff, and decided that a hardtail MTB would be a better option. I did my research, and the most encouraging thing was how long the wheelbase is on the ones I was looking at. Read lots of reviews of a half-dozen I was considering in my price range, including some from guys as tall as me.
I decided on one, but wasn’t going to (you see where this is going, don’t you) get it until it warmed up since I won’t get much riding in the near term anyway. Buuuut I figured on the way to the gym this afternoon I’d stop by the Trek store and just check one out, to see if it was going to be the right fit or not.
I went in and told them the bike I wanted to look at, but it TURNS OUT they also had a 2018 model on the floor. Marked down to get rid of, natch.
Got on that bad boy, and damn, it was like night and day from my current bike. So comfy. One of the first things I noticed was how much bike there was in front of and behind me. Dark Tower felt like a goddamn unicycle in comparison.
Well, I hemmed and hawed, and so the guy knocked another $50 off. Well shit. Now I kinda gotta, don’t I?
So, I had him bag it up, and drove home with this bike.
My wife wasn’t thrilled, but she still kissed me goodbye when she left for Krav Maga tonight, so I guess she’s gonna let me live.
Go away, snow, I wanna go for a bike ride!!
I like that bike, it looks like something I’d get if I decided to take up cycling. So what color is it? 
The matte black/red 
I likey. Good bike. Last spring I got a similar Giant Talon 2 on a sale (27.5 wheels). I had been wanting to get back into MTB activity for a while, since I converted my late 80s steel MTB to a touring bike. Man, the technology has evolved a lot with these new MTBs. Yes, way more comfortable, and loaded with new technology. I love the bike, and it has opened-up many new miles I had been bypassing on my road bike. So much fun - look forward to spring and enjoy the ride!!
Unless it was a kiss of death. She was going to Krav Maga lessons, after all…
Checking back in on this thread, with bike updates…
I still have both the old Trek and the new Trek. I have tweaked the new one to make it more gravel-friendly rather than a trail/mountain bike, and just finally finished a tear down and rebuild of the '85 460.
Anyway, here’s my main bike: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p5Vjfn4dH78vuFGyCaVrBqTm0ZdWxLaI/view?usp=sharing
And here is the other one I just got done with. Yes, I went over the top, but it was fun: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XSBMnWuGrX5OfUPTrZvPZTdYIqYR4dTV/view?usp=sharing