dksix

My bike came in Tuesday. I put it together and found one bad tube. Went to town and bough 2 new tubes, put it in and did the test and tune type thing. Wednesday I tried again, made it about a mile, had another flat, pushed it back home. Put another new tube in (found my mistake that caused the flat) but was weary of riding much, so pretty much on the road in front of my house. The flat I caused.....I ran to Walmart and bought tubes, 2 Bell for 700C 28-32, mine is 23 wide and when I put the tube down the the rim it did leave enough room for the tire to lock in but I made it and the tire pushed tight on the tube, eventually causing a flat.
Today I got it out, set the MMR for 10 miles and headed up the big hill that starts my rides. It pulls strong, when I smash I can feel the bike lunge forward and on level, pedal input is felt. Overall its obviously more efficient. The bike is a 60CM Scattante R350, one of the 2014 compact frame bikes, completely stock except for the 60mm stem. I suspect, based on physical condition vs the mechanical condition, that the owner put the bike together himself and never got it right. The stops on the FD wouldn't stop the chain from going off top or bottom, the FD was twisted and rubbed the chain one side or the other, front or back on all three rings. Just things like that, nothing I didn't expect. I'm not a bike mechanic but I figure things out pretty quick. Today I did a 10 mile loop, stopping no less than 6 times to tweak things a bit. But the time I got home the rear was pretty good and the front was improving, I did 10.54 miles, averages 12.3 mph and had a 612' gain. The last time I did that look at 14.6 MPH average on my big heavy MTB. I figure all told I spent 6-7 minutes working on the bike and had to take to calls from work during the ride. Taking out that time I would have been about 14.25 MPH, which I'm happy with.
The big thing was that I was very uncomfortable on the bike. The stem is too short, I need a little more set back on the post and I need the bars up higher. I ordered a 120MM x 17 degree stem and seat post with 25mm of set back. I'm pretty sure the frame is the right size for me. (measuring myself for bike measurements I'm 6'2" and my riding inseam is 35. With the 60cm seat tube I ended up with the seat at 31" above the bb center. I just feel cramped on it between the seat and bars and I need (at least for now) the bars up higher.
I was uncomfortable almost the whole ride. it's 18 days since a crashed and broke my wrist, drop bars on a bike that's is cramping you up and a freshly broken wrist is most of the physical discomfort but true be told, I'm not comfortable on it yet. It needs better brakes and brake pads, that will be the first thing I buy when I get it fit and comfortable. It's much different that my comfortable MTB but I think I'll be fine getting used to it.

Is it normal to have a lot of noise coming from the wheels, tires, road? I sounds like the spokes are really tight (it's like a high pitched sound not a squeal or rattle, very tingy sound. I have plenty of questions but right now I'm sleepy.