Meanwhile, I've gotten about 200 miles on my new bike and I still love it.
For reference. Old bike = $400 Ibex Corrida flat bar road bike bought on line.
What I've noted...
1. I dropped the chain twice on my last ride and the shifting is starting to get a little sloppy. Time to take it in and have everything tweaked. Guess I broke it in pretty good already.
2. I have not documented being measurably faster from my old bike. However, I really haven't been killing myself either. I've been focused on more "easy" riding for the last few weeks. However, I have noticed that it is easier to maintain a 19-20 mph pace on flat stretches that it was on the old bike. Less effort required. I also feel the "potential" to be faster on the bike. We'll see what happens when I actually start pushing harder again and testing. Love the drops.
3. Climbing seems easier on this bike. Even though I had a triple on the ol' flat bar, I haven't been in want for another gear on my new steed. In fact, part of me wishes that I had an 11-26 on the back instead of a 12-27. The bike is abou 6 lbs. lighter than my old bike. I'm sure that helps, but I don't think it's the whole reason. I suspect that better fit and position has a lot to do with it as well. But yeah, climbing has become more fun.
4. This bike is SO much more stable on descents than my old bike. At 40+ mph my old bike would feel a little "floaty". My Giant tracks down these descents so well. I feel very confident on the descents. I'm looking forward to getting up over 50 mph to see how it feels (though that is getting hard to do wearing my too large sail...erm... I mean jacket now that it's gotten cooler). I think this thing will just fly down at 50+ mph.
5. Dang this is a smooth ride. And taking corners is a pleasure. I feel like I can spend all day on the bike. Looking forward to testing this feeling out some day. Don't know when my next "day pass" will be
.
6. It's getting kind of dicey for morning rides now. Still hoping to get some in. But DANG, the one drawback of my new bike is it has made me even less enthusiastic about hopping on my old bike on the trainer. I'm gonna probably have to start this week, but YUCK!
That is all.
P.S.
I really like my new bike (in case you didn't get that).