do i buy a thing

lol

had 500 for three years, never misses a beat.

I have arranged to test ride a thing weekend after next.

Specifically a CDF.

really fancy the idea of the CDF and related models, or something similar - maybe that raleigh gravel thing. neither brand distributed in aus - well raleigh is but they seem to focus on kids and cruiser bikes.

be keen to see what genesis do with the new shimano 105 hydro stuff, seems like they'd be all over that market.

Tested and ordered via CTW. Yum yum yum. Seemed like it would be a lot of fun.

yay new thing!

months ago i bought avid shorty ultimates, i finally have the rear set installed. they are jewel like, easy peasy to adjust, and work beautifully.

so i have new brakes that are state of the art, and obsolete (rim based).

And HR have approved my CTW application; just have to wait for the voucher now. Please come soon, please come soon.

I want my voucher so I can go and pick up my thing!

Finally got my bloody voucher! Pick up the new thing tomorrow.

omg fun

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/bik/4510094436.html

fits great. perfectly turned out.

i currently have zero bikes. should really buy a city bike and a proper road bike. trying to decide if this could be my road bike, or if it would end up being a sweet sweet toy.

it's a few pounds heavier than my late specialized. and the ride isn't quite as mellow as carbon.

but!

i mean, i can always sell it ...

got a few reasons, but i'd vote no. otoh, u can always sell it.

Huh, what are the reasons?

I mean I can imagine a few but maybe you have reasons I hasn't thought of

had not

i didn't scrutinize too closely, but that all looked like 1991 era 8 spd d/a- could you get the replacement chains and cassettes you want? iirc 8 spd dura ace has a weird cassette body, too? with expense, you could swap over to 9, as the cassette width should be the same. might need to get a newer derailler though? how committed are you to riding d/t shifters? if you're thinking of racing, that shifting is really not great, esp for crits. those decals are over the clearcoat, whoever the owner is did a good job keeping them from getting scraped up and trashed.

i guess i just sorta think it's not a very practical ride? i'm a mostly boring practical person. it is beautiful, noteworthy, and i assume it rides very nicely

xp - looks like it's deleted tho.

Yeah cuz I gave him a downpayment.

This will probably end up being unwise, but I saved the text and photos from the listing and I'll try to keep it pristine.

Ok back to being excited about it!

man, i am sure you will enjoy the hell out of it. to me that bike is sort of the high point of the classic columbus era (before some of the crazy shaped stuff like ms and el-os, and well before tig welding). slx was like sl but iirc had extra butting around the bottom bracket to make it stiffer while still being light. that bottom bracket looked beautiful, and the internal routing of the brake cable is pretty sick.

Thanks, yeah, looking forward to seeing what a good example of the form is like to really ride.

Won an unbuilt 2014 Felt AR frame for cheap ($800) on ebay...realized it's electronic only. There goes my plan to keep it cheap.

https://paddle8.com/auction/robin-williams/

coolest bike on that list would be a good poll.

yellow zipp

Funny I was thinkin that too, so fast. Kestrel with no SP another 90s tri icon.

As an iro owner, was quite surprised there.

I think if it was a bike for my riding, it would be the Merlin,tho that's a late-ish one.

oooh man so many

just spent £30 on a park tools cable cutter and it's made just about a ham-fisted shitty job as the random blunt tools i tried previously.

man, that's terrible. i wonder what changed, i've had one for cables, and one for housing, each for like 20+ years, they have always worked perfectly? The housing cutter is so strong I have misused it to cut spokes (not recommended for rim health or long-term cutter health. also can be dangerous to eye health if you have no rim strip).

Do you have to file the housing after cutting? It's so tough I find it hard to imagine you wouldn't but I had high hopes, maybe too high?

I mean it looks so mashed I think I'll be filing for hours.

spiral brake housing, or shifter housing? Yeah the soft spiral stuff tends to mash down a bit if I don't manipulate the cutting process a bit (I sort of bend the housing back, away from the core as I cut. But mine never mashes or messes up that tough shifter stuff. Boom, right through.

Brake housing. I've got plenty to play with so I'll give that a go, ta. I see the park tools website does say some filing will be necessary.