Originally Posted by
MRT2
You did very well, and once again, a great choice. Appropriate to your size, and the style of riding you do. Durable and versatile but fairly light for what it is. And if you lose weight, you can lighten it up with lighter wheels and tires, or add racks and panniers, or whatever. Gravel grinder, trail bike, commuter, light touring bike. The toughroad can do it all.
I also congratulate you on taking your time and doing things the right way. How many newbie or intro threads start off with, "I am looking to get started and thinking about brand x, model Y, what do you all think?" Then getting all sorts of responses suggesting maybe Model Y isn't the best choice, or have they considered model Z? And we find out a day or so later he or she had, in fact bought brand X, Model Y.
You may have taken longer than some, but it sounds like by riding your old mountain bike a lot and sticking around here, you learned a lot. I consider it a small victory when this forum dissuades someone not looking to do technical single track or downhill to avoid entry level suspension forks.
Enjoy your Toughroad. I have no doubt it will give you years of enjoyment.
Thanks.
I have become obsessed with cycling and so many of the aspects around it, that I now know it will be an important part of my life from here on end.
This forum is such a wonderful source of information and my natural nerdiness lends itself to trying to work out the best solutions not just for biking, but for the various accessories like racks, lights, locks, panniers etc.
Pretty sure a Surly Long Haul Trucker or Disc Trucker will be in my future too, as I want a dedicated grocery shopper that I can really load up and whilst the Toughroad will do well on this too, I think I want it to be my joyride bike.
