Road Cycling - Surprise!

My wife has a road bike and tells me that it is at her parent's house. This weekend she went out to her folk's house and brought it home.

IT IS A FREAKING CARBON FIBER BIKE!

What she has is a mid 90s Specialized Epic with a full RX100 setup in red/maroon/red fade metallic and yellow lettering. It is very pretty and light with CF tubes and aluminum lugs.

Can anyone here shed a little light on this? I'm not familiar with road bikes of that era since I was in my "If it ain't a mountain bike it's crap!" phase. I know the current Shimano levels, but where does RX100 fall in the line of things?

Cheers!

Tom

The RX100 fell just below 105, comparable to Tiagra today.

Some surprises are nice - enjoy.

55/Rad

I wish I'd have a surprise like that. It would be really nice if it was your size. I've got 105's on my current (old) bike, but I've road the RX100's & they seemed pretty durable.

I wish it were my size, but she's only 5'6" and I'm just a tad too big at 6'3". I did tune and clean it yesterday and the thing looks brand new. I swear that there is almost no wear on the drivetrain. She says that she didn't ride it much and I sure believe her!

comparable to Tiagra today.

55/Rad

I know what you mean: in it's day it was the fourth rung, but I think most would say that old RX100 SH1TS all over Tiagra, especially for durability. :)

What then was the Shimano pecking order back in the day?

What then was the Shimano pecking order back in the day?

For memory, it was similar to today, except for the cheaper ones:

Dura-Ace
600 (aka "Ultegra")
105
RX100
RSX

I'm 98% sure :)

I wish it were my size, but she's only 5'6" and I'm just a tad too big at 6'3". I did tune and clean it yesterday and the thing looks brand new. I swear that there is almost no wear on the drivetrain. She says that she didn't ride it much and I sure believe her!


Oh baby ... I've got one word for you ... "EBAY!!"

Take the proceeds and buy something nice.

-mark

I would DEFINITELY sell it if she didn't want to ride with me.

Nice surprise... for her! :D

Take her out and show her a love for riding. I bet when she starts getting stronger, she'll appreciate that bike of hers, and she'll thank you for getting her to *remember* she had some bike stashed away at her folks'. Just make sure you don't push her too fast too soon- let her build up a conditioning and aerobic fitness for the bike. And don't try to spend all your time competing with her during the ride- pulling away and leaving her behind so that she's feeling frustrated and gives up because she can't keep up with you. Make the rides enjoyable. Find places to ride that are pleasing and easy on the eyes and get her to enjoy the bike. If she likes cycling, she'll get into it. Cycling is like an addictive drug. Once you take a few hits of it, you'll never get it out of your blood.

For your first ride, I nominate a ride to the Skokie Sculpture Park up north. If you take Lincoln Avenue north to Foster Avenue, then turn right on Foster and head west for about 5 blocks, there is a bike path that heads north. You can take that path to Peterson, then jump the sidewalk and ride the sidewalk west past the McDonald's, and turn right onto the road next to the McDonald's. Head north, enter the Borders parking lot, and ride behind the lot to McCormick Road and Devon. If you cross the street, you enter Skokie Sculpture park bike path, and it heads north for a bit, and it is a fantastic ride (except by the lagoons where it stinks hell to high water!). On a good day, it's one of the best rides I've ever been on in Chicago. Even on a bad day, it's still a top 10 ride!

I hope she has fun on her (not)new bike! :D

Koffee