| Bikes |
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| It is here that you can learn about the bikes I own and ride, as well as bikes I have owned and ridden. Bike technology is just about the most fun part of the sport for me, and I think it's really fun that you can own the same equipment the pros ride - then you can go out and ride it way more slowly. |
| Takara Advantage ~1990 |
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| This is the first "real" bike I've had (I'm not going to put in anything about my Huffy dirt bike). My parents bought it for me somewhere around 1990. It was a red 10-speed, had 27" wheels, and the shift levers that were mounted up right by the handlbars. Man, when I got that I thought it was the stuff! I got into cycling by watching Greg LeMond in the 1989 and 1990 Tours de France, and now I had a road bike of my own, very cool. This is the bike I took on my first "long" bike ride, a 13 mile trip to Craig's house, which at the time seemed like an almost impossible test. I have fond memories of this bike, and wish I could find a picture of it to show you. Eventually this bike fell into disrepair. |
| Trek 370 ~1995 |
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Frame Material: Steel Compnent Highlights: Very cool Easton EC-70 Carbon seatpost, along with Carbon fork made for a nice ride. Shimano Dura-Ace crankset and bottom bracket. Selle Italia SLR seat. |
| Fuji Aloha 2002 |
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Frame Material: Aluminium Compnent Highlights: FSA Gossamer crankset, Syntace C-3 Aerobars, Shimano Dura-Ace bar-end shifters. |
| Look KG-241 2002 |
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Frame Material: Carbon Fiber Compnent Highlights: FSA carbon crankset, Shimano Ultegra drivetrain, Weyless 191 Carbon Handlebar, Selle Italia SLR seat. |
| FC - SAC 2003 |
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Frame Material: Aluminium Compnent Highlights: Shimano Dura-Ace Crankset (with special 54 tooth TT chainring), Vision Tech Tri-Max aerobars, Weyless Aero carbon seatpost, Selle Italia Flite Gel seat. |
| LeMond Buenos Aires 2004 |
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Bought this in Spring 2004 when I realized that I could sell my Look frame, and a whole bunch of components off of my Trek and Look, buy an even better frame to build up, and do it all at no cost due to the money I'd get selling parts. Heck, I can only ride one bike at a time so I might as well be a really good bike! The LeMond Buenos Aires uses LeMond's "Spine" concept, which means that the head tube, down tube, and chainstays are steel, while the top tube, seat tube, and seatstays are made from Trek's OCLV 120 carbon fiber. The idea is to make a bike that has the ride qualities of a steel bike with the lightness of carbon. This might all be a bunch of marketing hooey, but the bike does ride like a dream! I've added a Specialize Pave seatpost which further helps smooth things out, and some top-notch components (many from my Look) to round things out. My basic goal was for durability and ride quality first, then looks and light weight second (but a very important second!). I think I've done a good job of acheiving all four qualities. This is a very nice bike. Frame Material: Steel / Carbon Compnent Highlights: FSA carbon crankset, Campagnolo Record rear derailleur & shifters / brake levers, Chorus brake calipers & front derailleur, Specialized Pave seatpost, Weyless carbon stem, Kestral EMS Pro carbon handlebar, Selle Italia SLR seat. |
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After
I got my first job (flipping burgers at Hardee's) I went out and
bought this Trek. It's been a very nice bike. Over the 9 years I
rode it, and as I got more into cycling I replaced every single
component on the bike. This is the first bike I ever raced on when
I rode a six mile Time Trial on it in Clintonville in June 2001.
I think I averaged about 21 mph on it, which was really pretty good.
At 58cm the bike ended up being a bit too small for me (look at
how far back on the seatpost the seat is!). The figures below relate
to it's final state from 2004 (as pictured).
When
I realized that what I really wanted to do is TIme Trial, I figured
it made sense to get a Time Trial bike. I picked the Fuji Aloha
because of its price. The Aloha is actually more of a Triathlon
bike (although TT and Tri bikes are very similar), and was a pretty
nice bike. I raced on it for most of 2 seasons, and it did what
I needed it to do. I was never totally thrilled with the bike, and
sold most of it at the end of the 2003 season. It's smaller wheel
size meant that I couldn't interchange wheels between it and my
road bikes, and it always seemed too tall for me. The bike pictured
is not my bike, but the same model. I had a disc rear and aero front
wheel on mine. Incidentally, in the next model year Fuji changed
everything I didn't like about the bike, if I had waited a year
it would have been perfect.
Built
this up at the end of 2002 from a frame I bought (new) on e-bay
from a bike store in England. This is a really nice ride. I rode
it up to Going-to-the-Sun in Glacier National Park, as well as for
my first century ride, and it performed well. When I got it I planend
on adding more road races to my schedule, but then after participating
in a couple of races and seeing crashes in the pack with people
breaking bones and tearing themselves up, I decided I'd stick to
Individual Time Trials. It's a bit small for me, and a bit too flexable
which causes it to shimmy on fast descents or when a wheel goes
out of true. I've had a lot of fun on this bike...very nice bike.
When
I figured out that my Fuji wasn't what I wanted in a Time Trial
bike, I decided to sell it, along with my Mavic Ksyrium wheels that
I got with my Look, and build up a new, better Time Trial bike.
The result is this beast. FC is a new frame builder in Arizona,
and I was able to get the frame for only $140. From there I picked
out the exact components I wanted, mixing value with perfomance.
This is a pretty nice TT bike. The frame isn't as aero as some out
there, but drag from a frame isn't a very high percentage of overall
drag, and the money I saved on it allowed me to get some very good
components. In my first reaces on this bike I have been very pleased.
It has solved the issues I had with the Fuji, and should be a good
TT bike for some time to come.