tulip

My Matrix is my winterbike, and we have not hit winter yet. I'll be getting it out this weekend to set it up for the winter days that are coming. Ireland sounds delightful.

dynaryder

I hated the Bontragers on my 7200. Too much rolling resistance. I'm now running Vittoria Randonneurs,which are much nicer. Also,the only flat I've gotten so far,on all my bikes,with all my riding,has been a sliver of glass in the rear Bontrager of the 7200.

StalkerZERO

Those Jamis Coda's look ultra cool. Do you live in new york? I mean, how much do they go for? If they are like $400.00 for the entry level coda then I would consider getting one for sure.

dynaryder

Codas rock. I did a Google search and you can find Sports for under $500. I got my Comp on sale for $600,and it's worth every penny.

boydbl

I just logged on today and noticed I was still getting advice. I ended up purchasing the Jamis Coda Sport and LOVE it. It's so fast that my friends on other bikes have trouble keeping up on rides. If the weather holds up for the weekend I'm going on the Comet Trail for a long ride. It's been the best purchase! I can't belive I haven't been on a bike in twenty years.

Savas

Jamis threads take on a life of their own. People who own them realize they have something that is at the road end of the spectrum, yet still comfortable. Mine is so peppy its wonderful. Yet, when I load it for bear like during commuting and light touring, it sustains all the added weight no problem. Jamis is under-represented with not that large production quantity and many models sell out fast. That is how I wound up with the Elite model. I didn't want to wait six weeks for 06's to come out and got a great deal on one of the few 05's left, which happened to be the Elite model. I will be enjoying the disc brakes during winter riding.

EricDJ

Us Jamis lovers have gotten you. Ride on.

Theresadog

For the record, the `06 Trek bikes should be out now. The 7500FX is now the 7.5FX. It's essentially the same bike though. They did introduce the 7.6fx to fill the gap between the 7.5fx and the 7.7fx. Both the 7.7fx and 7.6fx have now a road drivetrain, and the 7.5fx still has a mtb drivetrain. That being said, I just bought a 7500fx a couple months ago and so far I like it a lot.

billallbritten

I'll second that about the tires. 700x32's on my 7500FX (05) . While my commute is short and on good quality asphalt, my fitness riding out into the county takes me over some of what we call double seal, others, chip and seal, tertiary roads. Lots of gravel. Also lots of fragments from large nuts this season. Nary a problem. I'd tried these roads on my once upon a time Motobecane Grand Record and sew-ups, even the Wolber (Not)Invulnerables wouldn't stand up to those roads and the nuts.

I've even hit glass a couple of times with the hardcase tires - no problems except a sharp intake of breath on my part. The tires have a max PSI recommendation of 110lbs, very low rolling resistance even with my weight.

Downside, if that, of the Bontragers: A bit heavy (but thickness does matter in durability) and maybe a bit big - roughly equiv. to 1.25" ers from the old days. I've seen other posts from folks who work around the weight somewhat by using very light tubes; the posters said that after much riding, and inspecting the inner surface of the tires, they found no compromises that would have damaged the tube. For my part, at over 200lbs but coming down pretty fast, a few hundred grams saved on tires or tubes doesn't do much.

Bike impressions: Reasonably light and responsive, actually very much so. On the rough tertiaries though I'm off the saddle a bit to smooth the ride when I can. The fit is good; I do tend to ride with saddle a bit higher, just a tad, than the bars, most people don't on this type of bike. The seatpost tilt adjustment works but is very coarse and doesn't allow really fine tuning, saving up for a Thomson, I think. Shift train works fine, took a bit of fine tuning to get the drop from the middle to granny chainring smooth.

Saddle: Comes with something called a Race Luxe. The "luxe" means, from the Bontrager site, double the padding of the non "luxe" saddles. My Grand Record had a Brooks Pro; I don't like soft saddles. I did get the stock saddle fairly comfortable but the thickness of the padding caused pressure where it's not good to have pressure. Also, one sinks through the padding and ends up on a hard saddle, what's the point? Also, has a rough fabric on the side - baggy riding shorts and business slacks tend to catch and ride up and bunch up on the upper thigh.

I'm trying out two saddles that are worlds apart in design. My LBS owner recommended (and I'm trying) a Serfas Terrazo. Having a saddle named after a type of paving substance is either cool or very unauspicious, to say the least. He uses one but is smaller and lighter than I am. It's flat, no flipped up tail. I like that - any pressure on coccyx means real pain for me. Padding is minimal, just enough to take the edge off. The ride feel is funny. I think I should be uncomfortable or in pain - I am aware of the saddle under the sit bones but nothing ever ends up hurting. My sit bones are appropriately positioned on the saddle, it's not too narrow. No numbness, either. I set it up pretty much dead level across the ends of the saddle, at least as close as the seat post allows. Much less of the aforementioned feeling when riding in padded cycling shorts than in my business suit. Also, when pedalling hard I unweight off the saddle a tad more and the odd feeling disappears. I'm thinking it's going to be more comfortable with a lighter me.

Second saddle I'm trying is an old favorite - Brooks Team Pro (Wallinginford Bicycle Parts in New Orleans is back up and shipping). As always, it tends to "disappear" beneath my bottom even though it's far from broken in. I have noticed some numbness where it's not good to have it. I'm also noticing something that feels like outward pressure on my inner thighs that's causing me to angle my legs out a bit. I set it up slightly nose up to prevent a "sliding down" feeling that causes me to push back with my arms.

I'll continue to experiment - Wallingford's 6 mos. money back/exchange policy can't be beat. I notice that a Ti Pro is coming out. Also may trade up to the Ti Swift, less rise in rear of saddle.

Have a great day.

Bill