Ok, I am still testing. I have had good days and bad days since day one. Today was a really good day with 30 minutes both ways. I definitely love the gear shifting. My Cateye Astrale 8 speedometer and cadence meter thingy came Saturday and I've been using that. It is awesome! It would be nice if it had a backlight, this is the only major thing I think it's missing, and maybe an extra line of display, for something like average speed or trip time or something. When on gears 2 and 7 I go 20 mph on flat ground at 90 RPM. This is what I've been shooting for, though it is tough to maintain the whole time still for me. I end up dying for the last couple miles, so I shift down one or two, which is nice. The Matrix also doesn't have mudgaurds, I've been getting a little wet/dirty because of this, not really a problem as I shower when I arrive anyway.
My crotch still gets pretty sore, so I broke in and bought a pair of bike shorts. They should provide less irritation than briefs. I crossed to the dark side! Using a higher cadence like I am now really increases the wear factor. I also almost fell of my bike the otehr day when mounting my bike once a light was about to turn green, but caught my shorts on the back of my saddle...A pair of bike shorts should prevent this.
The Matrix can take curves quickly without scraping the pedals on the ground like it did in my Mariner. I have been experimenting with the fork...It intrigues me. Sometimes I hear some creaking in that area, either in the fork or the stem. This always happened when I put too much weight on my handlebars on my mariner. I can't seem to stop this on the Matrix, it just goes away on its own.
That is a good idea about the ziptie snafu, right now mine is traveling about 50% I think...I don't need a ton of suspension though, just enough for railroad tracks and potholes