Second Impressions
Now that the brake pads have taken the edge off of the rim, the braking is slowly getting better.
I went for a ride on a bike trail with a couple of friends. One is a hardcore mountain biker. He has a nice Gary Fisher MTB with full suspension and disc brakes. His wife, on the other hand, is not hardcore, and I was pretty sure she'd slow us down. So I thought that'd be the perfect time to get the D3 out for a trail ride.
The three gears on this bike are just perfect for casual biking. Top gear and a decent pedaling rate is about as fast as you'd want to go on 16" wheels. Bottom gear is a good hill-climbing gear. It's low, but not ultra-low.
One thing to watch out for on this bike is that fine pea gravel in the deep spots, where it's kind of like sand. Boy, I almost went for an unplanned flight when the front hit one patch of that on about a 20 mph downhill section. I had to turn a bit, as the path was turning. These tires have street tread, and wanted to wash out quite easily.
All of a sudden, I didn't have first gear any more. It turns out the factory did not tighten the lock nuts on the hub adjustment. So I had to do the whole rest of the ride in 2nd and 3rd gear. It wasn't bad, I just had to stand up and pump.
When I got home, I couldn't get the handlebar telescoped in. I remembered reading something in the manual about lubing that with some anti-seize. So I got some copper grease, and that did the trick. Just a smidge. Since the wheels have broken in a bit, I could tighten up the brakes, and that made it even better.
Then, I got home and put a new inner tube in my wife's front wheel, as she punctured it on a wood-chip trail. I installed the Bell "granny seat" from Wal*Mart, which I'm sure will please her. Went to the LBS and bought her a cage and a nice Nalgene water bottle, and a horn. She's going to be beside herself. I got myself a water bottle and a horn too for my hybrid bike. Now, I'm all sweaty & nasty, and have to pick her up from the train station in a bit, so time to shower up.
I like this little D3 more each time I ride it.
Oh, one other thing. I ordered a Speed P7 for my wife. I figure the fact that the P7 is faster than the D3, and will have less rolling resistance due to the larger wheels, she'll be able to keep up no problem. We're going to really have some good adventures!