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02-05-05, 07:57 PM
The Fed was nice enough to give me a lot of my money back this year. My deductions could stand to be adjusted a bit, but it gave me a chance to have some extra cash this year. I took my wad of dough down to Veloce Bicycles, off of Hawthorne in PDX to get fit for a track frame and see what I could find. Originally, I was thinking about an IRO or a Surly, but I'm planning on racing this bike more than riding it on the street. Demetri at Veloce really set me up with this ride, and I cannot possibly recommend his shop enough.
The Soma has a bit more agressive geometry and fit me a little better than the other two, from what we measured. Plus, I wanted to add to the East vs. West rivalry. I'm 6'3" and measured out for a 59cm frame. Toe overlap for me isn't bad, but the 55cm frame he had in the shop would probably have problems. The tires have a pretty small gap to the frame on the smaller sizes. The fork is drilled for a brake, and the seat stays have a brake arch for fenders or brakes, depending on your tastes. Stock gearing is 46x17, which is a little slow for the track, but good for street riding.
From what I've heard, this is the first year Soma is doing a complete bike. MSRP is about $750. This gets you all the components sold in the Soma shop, the Somax wheelset with fixed/fixed rear hub, Sugino RD cranks (170mm in my case), Cane Creek threadless headset, Nitto track bars, and a cross lever with Dia-compe caliper for a front brake. The wheels are an excellent deal, with 36H high-flanged hubs, sealed bearings, hollow axles, and laced to semi-aero, machined sidewall rims. It would be nice to get double-butted spokes in the package, but that's a minor nit-pick, for the price. A few things Demetri swapped out for me with some higher-quality used parts were the saddle, stem, brake lever and caliper. He also replaced the stock KMC chain with a Sachs 1/8" chain, and swapped the tires from the Soma Xpress to Conti Gatorskins.
The ride is noticeably steel. The frame takes out road vibration once you get it up to speed. The track geometry guarantees you feel every bump, if you're going slower. Tracking is good. You can sit up and let your hands off the bars without having to worry about the front wheel wandering. The roads were wet today, so I didn't get a chance to test the cornering as well as I would have liked, but it was pretty snappy out of corners. Out of the saddle sprinting was stable, but it didn't launch like I expected it to. This isn't much of a problem for me, as I'm not a strong sprinter, but I'd advise others to make your move earlier than normal.
Overall, I think this is an excellent entry level bike. The frame is good quality and should last anyone for a long time. The components are all very good quality for the price, and comparable to the IRO. I'm going to ride this bike hard over the course of the season, so I'll probably make an update towards the end of it.
I know the photo blows, so bear with me.
The Soma has a bit more agressive geometry and fit me a little better than the other two, from what we measured. Plus, I wanted to add to the East vs. West rivalry. I'm 6'3" and measured out for a 59cm frame. Toe overlap for me isn't bad, but the 55cm frame he had in the shop would probably have problems. The tires have a pretty small gap to the frame on the smaller sizes. The fork is drilled for a brake, and the seat stays have a brake arch for fenders or brakes, depending on your tastes. Stock gearing is 46x17, which is a little slow for the track, but good for street riding.
From what I've heard, this is the first year Soma is doing a complete bike. MSRP is about $750. This gets you all the components sold in the Soma shop, the Somax wheelset with fixed/fixed rear hub, Sugino RD cranks (170mm in my case), Cane Creek threadless headset, Nitto track bars, and a cross lever with Dia-compe caliper for a front brake. The wheels are an excellent deal, with 36H high-flanged hubs, sealed bearings, hollow axles, and laced to semi-aero, machined sidewall rims. It would be nice to get double-butted spokes in the package, but that's a minor nit-pick, for the price. A few things Demetri swapped out for me with some higher-quality used parts were the saddle, stem, brake lever and caliper. He also replaced the stock KMC chain with a Sachs 1/8" chain, and swapped the tires from the Soma Xpress to Conti Gatorskins.
The ride is noticeably steel. The frame takes out road vibration once you get it up to speed. The track geometry guarantees you feel every bump, if you're going slower. Tracking is good. You can sit up and let your hands off the bars without having to worry about the front wheel wandering. The roads were wet today, so I didn't get a chance to test the cornering as well as I would have liked, but it was pretty snappy out of corners. Out of the saddle sprinting was stable, but it didn't launch like I expected it to. This isn't much of a problem for me, as I'm not a strong sprinter, but I'd advise others to make your move earlier than normal.
Overall, I think this is an excellent entry level bike. The frame is good quality and should last anyone for a long time. The components are all very good quality for the price, and comparable to the IRO. I'm going to ride this bike hard over the course of the season, so I'll probably make an update towards the end of it.
I know the photo blows, so bear with me.