ridethecliche

I should be moving my crap right now, but I just got home from my Retul fit and hanging out with Mickey.

Mickey told me to go swap out my pedals so I could ride his bike.

I'm on a 56 CAAD9 with 100 mm stem and about 3.5 cm of spacers. I rode his 54 with a 135mm stem and like 1 cm of spacers. The frame fit. Wtf...

Mickey said it was the seat tube angle, and Al (a Spooky racer) said that he used to run more spacers on his old bike but the geometry of the Skeletor rocks and he's more aero and runs more drop more comfortably. My back has issues, but I was rock solid comfy on it. I did a nice test ride on it and hammered. If something is off in the fit, I know right away because my back kills me within 10 mins.

Nothing.

Back to the bike.

I swapped my CAAD9 to a full carbon fork and have ridden it a bit lately so I can compare apples to apples just a hair more.

I didn't notice any difference in stiffness, and the bike felt freaking awesome in a sprint. It had a little more road 'feel' as Mickey called it, and after my short ride, I'd have to agree. Handling was good, and the bike was rock solid.

To be honest, if I was buying a frameset, it would be this one.

The 9's a great frame, and Mickey will be the first to admit it, but as I left I asked him if he had a 'I wish I was a Spooky' sticker for my 9.

For all those wondering, the crash replacement price for a frame is 400 bucks. Same as a 9. The welds aren't as pretty, but that's because he doesn't go over them with more material and add weight.

I loved my test ride. I was honestly grinning like an idiot during the ride and when I got back into his lair. I asked him if I could trade my bike for his, and he could even keep the SRM. He said he became a lot more happy the day he sold his SRM.

I came home with the 9.

A longer write up later when I get a chance to type up and fix up my interview with him. Though I suppose this is long enough.

He's the man, his road bikes rock, his mtb's rock, his cross frames are awesome. The spooky guys love them, I love how Mickey approaches this stuff, and you guys that have team deals are lucky dummies because I want a skeletor now. I think he was glad when I left because I hung out there for almost half the day and talked to him and did bike crap there. I did buy him lunch.

I might be broke as crap, but I can always spare a few bucks for some good company!

Anyone want to buy my 9?