Raketmensch

YOWZA!! I just got a call from the LBS, and The Bike has arrived, two full weeks ahead of schedule. The guy from the shop told me it's just about the sweetest bike he's ever seen in his life. I am beyond excited!

So that's the good news. The bad news is that The Bike is in upstate New York and I'm in Wisconsin. (Only about fifty miles from Waterloo, believe it or not... how's that for irony?!?) I'm here on business until tomorrow morning. I get home Saturday night, and the LBS is closed Sunday. I was half tempted to ask them to put it in the window just so I could go by on Sunday and press my nose against the glass.

And the really bad news is that late Monday morning I have to leave town again for another week... Arizona, California, Florida (good cycling places all). No way I can take The Bike with me, of course. So even though I'm going to pick it up Monday morning (they're going to open the shop early for me), the best case is that my first test ride on it is still eleven days from now.

I promise to post pictures and provide a full ride report just as soon as I can... probably the week of the 20th. Until then, I'm just gonna do my best to savor the anticipation. I haven't been this excited about a new toy in about forty years!

Old Hammer Boy

Isn't it fun to be a kid again? Bet you're not gonna sleep much the next few nights. Sweet dreams.

stapfam

Christmas again? Get them to put it in the window, and then phone them up on monday morning and tell them its the wrong colour.

Why is it that work gets in the way of our pleasure? Just think though- you have 11 days to imagine what that bike is going to ride like. Then 3 months of setting up to get it to ride like that. Then the rest of the year to get the rides in to prove how good it is. Double century by August?

jppe

Can't wait to see the pics and hear your bike review.

GrannyGear

Ahhhh....the sweet pain of anticipation, the neurosis of dialing it in, the anxiety over the first scratch, the pride of showing it off.

This sounds like expectant parenthood.........pics, ride reports, and a cigar!

The cool part is, we all get to vicariously get a new bike along with you. Congrats.

KeithA

I'm tired tonight, so maybe my weary eyes missed it, but what bike did you get?

In any regard, I too offer my congratulations on your new-found buddy!!!

Somehow, I almost get as excited when someone posts about a new bike as if I were getting one myself. Vicarious joy, I guess.

Raketmensch

A sweet carbon rocket, waaaaay over my head. Picture a Formula One race car with a lawnmower engine under the hood:

Trek Madone 110 OCLV carbon frame (with the Project One "Sabreline" paint job)
Dura-Ace drivetrain (modified with a Truvativ 50-36 compact up front)
Mostly Bontrager Race X Lite components
Chris King headset
Speedplay Zero titanium pedals

So it's basically a Madone 5.9 SL with a few mods and a custom paint job. I'll probably fiddle with the component set a little bit more once I've put some miles on it. Fully tricked out, it comes in a whisker over 16 pounds. I think it weighs less than my cat does.

KeithA

Well, dang then, you should be excited!!!

Isn't that the one that's supposed to be close to what Lance rode in the tour, with extra stiffness built in using a new material in parts of the frame? In any regard, wow!!!

p8rider

Raketmensch- It sound like a great bike. Can't wait to see pictures of the custom paint job.

I will also be travelling in FLA this coming week. Perhaps we can meet at a bike shop and have a beer.

Raketmensch

Sounds like fun -- and a ride would be even better. Unfortunately, the Florida stop is just a quickie, to meet up with the family in Orlando for a day at an awards banquet my daughter is going to. Then it's back to the snow belt again.

Raketmensch

So the guy from the LBS is a joker. He knows how bad I want to see The Bike, so he emails me a picture of it while I'm on the road. I click on it in my hotel room with heart a-flutterin', the image pops up, and... he's messin' with me. The image proves that The Bike exists, but that's about all it does.

Herewith... everything I currently know about what my new bike looks like:

GrannyGear

LOL............Nashbar wouldn't toy with you like this ....maybe you'll get a cable hanger tomorrow...or, if lucky, an artsy shot of a seat stay. Like a geisha showing a bit of ankle and igniting lust.

Raketmensch

Hey, it's workin' for me!

TaosWoman

Let's see the bike is 2 weeks early and you're on the road for the next eleven, if my math is right you're still getting the bike 3 days earlier than planned.

It will be a sweet first ride. Can't wait for the pictures.
Enjoy

Raketmensch

Your math is exactly right... but it's still hard to wait! At least I'll get to bring it home tomorrow. Near as I can figure, I'll have it home for about fifteen minutes before I have to head for the airport. I'll probably spend that time wheeling it around the living room and making wind-whooshing noises.

Digital Gee

stuarts4

hope you have a great time when you finely get your hands on your new machine. Weather here in england makeing it hard to get out will persist though having withdrall symtems at the moment have not touched the bike[scott s4] for 4 days

TaosWoman

Yeah just like when we were kids having to wait for Christmas morning!

TaosWoman

Did you get snow today? I was talking to a friend on the CT coast and she told me 24 inches. And here I sit wanting snow looking at a brown mountain top!

GrannyGear

Hold on .... you're not going to take that new vunder-bike out in the snow, slush and road salt?!

You can look at, sleep with it, talk to it-- but no riding until late April.

(This is like teasing a newly-wed.)

jppe

The mountains in NC (at least around Boone) even got a very nice layering over the past 24 hrs-probably 6-8". It should really make the ski slope operators extremely happy up that way.

Hard to believe you're looking at a Brown Mtn out your way. Just not right....with the Winter Olympics in full swing at that!!!

Raketmensch

Oh. My. God.

I picked up The Bike this morning.

I thought I knew more or less what to expect, and I was partly right. I’ve seen brand-new Dura-Ace drivetrains before. I know the proportions of a Madone frame. I’ve even seen good photos of what the paint job was supposed to look like. So I wasn’t expecting any major surprises, and a quick check showed that at a purely practical level there were none. The component set is exactly as I requested it, from the headset to the bottle cages.

Most of the components, I think, are keepers. I’ll probably experiment with the crankset at some point in the future. I may also want to have another set of wheels around. And the saddle is definitely on probation until I’ve tried it out on some good long rides. But all in all, the parts are what I wanted them to be.

What I was not expecting, though, was the extent to which the whole is more than the sum of the parts on a machine like this. It is just a beautiful, elegant, almost sensual piece of hardware. The only experience in my life that I can compare to owning it is the first time, nearly thirty years ago, that I picked up a brand-new Fender Stratocaster. It was the same kind of feeling – holding this nearly perfect creation in my hands, knowing that I’d never be good enough to do it justice, and wanting nothing more than to just play it anyway, as much as I could.

It’s the same way with The Bike. I’ll never be able to do it justice either, but practically all I can think about is riding it. It’s in my office at home right now, standing right next to my poor old Strat. The Strat is a beat-up thing these days, with scars from decades of wear. But it still plays just as well as it did when I got it, and that’s pretty much what I’m hoping for The Bike as well.

Once I get The Bike out on the road, I know it’s going to get nicked, dinged, scratched and maybe even battered. I’m planning to take some pictures of it soon, while it’s still a flawless work of art, to document it in its pristine state. I’m in an airport as I write this, and it’s going to be another week, at least, before I’ll be able to take those pictures. But I promise to take them, and to post them as soon as I can. The paint job alone is enough to make you smile.

And then I’m going to go out and ride.

jppe

Fantastic!! I've been riding a Madone for a year but it's certainly not outfitted like yours. I did upgrade to DuraAce Shifters and continue to be very happy with those. I think you'll find it to be even more bike than you expected after you're able to get a ride or two in.

It should be quick (you will be able to feel it accelerate much easier), excellent on the hills and very stable on descents. It's a little stiffer frame than their predecessors and you'll probably notice that as well. Some folks complain about the "carbon" feel but the "dullness" actually makes my longer rides that much more enjoyable and more pain free.

What wheels did you get? I'm using the Race Lites for everyday wheels and the XLites for the climbing wheels. The XLites are noticeably lighter by the way.

Anxiously awaiting the pics!!!

Raketmensch

The Race X Lites. I expect them to accelerate and climb really well based on my experience with similar-weight wheels in the past. For now, all they do is look pretty.

Deanster04

I think that cycling is one of the few things that really keep us young. I still feel like a little kid anticipating his first Xmas when ever is get a new bike. Sounds like you are toally thrilled...great riding in 06 and beyond.