the new bike
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For those of you who aren't interested in technical stuff... wheel size, components, gear and gearing, just click to the next page.
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I bought a new bike in 1997, a Bruce Gordon. At the time, I thought it was an outrageous amount to pay for a shiny new toy. Especially when you compared it to how much I coughed up for my first touring bike, which, in 1997 was 15 years old (more than $400, mind you!). The Bruce Gordon cost three times that much, and a price tag like that should only be picked up by a serious cyclist, something I didn't, and don't, consider myself to be.
How did I know I wasn't a serious cyclist? That's easy: instead of appearing to be pedaling with the expression of someone with a pelvic fracture and abdominal cramps, I generally had a goofy grin on my face. I still do. Instead of wanting to ride 750 miles on a day when the temperature is hot enough to peel your skin or cold enough to freeze the vitreous humor inside your eyeballs, I just wanted to toddle along at the leisurely pace of a 3-year-old on a tricycle, finish a few miles down the road at someplace I'd never been to before, and camp there if possible. I didn't own any cycling jerseys, and rode in tennis shoes. The bottom line was that I enjoyed bicycling too much to consider myself a serious biker.
No, spending that kind of money on a bike is done by serious cyclists.
But Heather persisted, stating that the goofy smile I have while I ride IS the reason I should purchase that Bruce Gordon, one that will carry me and my dreams for many years to come. How can you not love someone like that?
So, after 26 years of faithful service, I retired my Bruce Gordon. I didn't even give it a watch. It's still in good shape, and will continue to be used for touring (more about that in a different journal), which really helped ease my guilt associated with replacing it, especially since I've always had a hard time buying something new when I have a working whatever-it-is.
I looked at a lot of bikes over the course of a year, and finally settled on a Thorn Nomad Mk3. At 45 lbs without anything on it, it's the bicycling equivalent of a Panzer tank. That’s not a problem, though, because I make up for the extra weight by being a slower, weaker rider than most people.
So, to the specifics....
Thorn Nomad Mk3 26" frame - British racing green
Thorn Nomad Mk3 48 mm steel fork
Rohloff rear hub: 115 x 39 x 20 (very low gearing)
Twistshifter Light
Gates Carbon Belt Drive System
Paul Motolite V brakes with Paul Love levers
Denham Koga handlebars
26-inch Ryde Andra rims, 32 hole
SON 28 dynamo front hub
Kalloy Ahead stem 1-⅛”
Sinewave Cycles Reactor (has a USB plug on the stem)
Brooks B17 saddle
Thorn Expedition rear rack
Thorn Lo-Loaders front rack
SON Edelux II headlamp
Varia tail light/radar
Schwalbe Marathon Almotion HS453 folding tires: 26 x 2.15
Schwalbe SV13 presta tube 26 x 2.15; 55-559
Shimano Single-sided pedals (uses clips on one side and flats on the other)
Ergon GP5 grips with extenders
SteerStopper
Pletscher kickstand
Alloy XL water bottle cages (3, each of which holds 1.5 liters)
SKS Chromoplastic mudguards
Bicycle bell

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For those of you who don't know much about bikes, here's the condensed version of the cool stuff on it:

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4 weeks ago
I swore off of kickstands for years. Then I bought a bike with a two legged Pletscher kickstand. That thing weighed as much as a wheel! But, it was already installed, and the bike was a big 8 foot long recumbent. I left it alone. It took no time at all for me to decide I couldn't live without the kickstand!
How does your kickstand do with all of your loaded panniers? That makes things trickier.
That is a really, really nice bike. It has all of the bells and whistles. My new to me bike also came with a Steer Stopper. That's another feature I wouldn't have ordered, left on my own. I love it.
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4 weeks ago
I'm sorry your bikes don't accommodate the SteerStopper. I wonder if there's something you (or someone else on CycleBlaze) could engineer. It seems like it would be a hot item.
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The Garmin Edge 1040 cyclocomputer is attached to my handlebars and gives me information I want... speed, average speed, mileage, elapsed time, heart rate, grade, battery level for my tail light. It also has my route and the Points of Interest I added, gives me turn-by-turn instructions, and warns me when there's a climb coming up (and how long and how steep). The screen is a solar panel so it charges when it's in the sun.

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In short, it's a bike upon which I can comfortably ride all day long, which is fortunate since it's so ridiculously heavy that it's going to take me all day to go any distance. Still, that's kind of the point... going slowly and enjoying the getting there.
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Comment on this entry | Comment | 9 |
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Just some responses to your comments:
1. "If you are patient, you can add a small amount of charge to a phone or GPS while riding - but not a lot, and it takes much longer than if you had it plugged into an outlet."
Since I attempt to stay on backroads and trails I don't run with headlights during the daytime, and have found that I *can* charge my phone while riding. The trick is to turn down the screen's brightness to the point where you can still see it, but it's not using up your battery because it's in direct sunlight. I carry a 20,000 mAh power bank for when I camp, and it's more than enough to charge all of my electronics so I don't have to hassle with finding an outlet at a restaurant.
2. "Every cyclist I have encountered with a Rohloff hub has loved it."
Count me in the "Loving It Club." My only issue with it was that I went riding over some rollers last summer which required a lot of shifting. Because it has a grip shifter, I developed lateral epicondylitis, aka tennis elbow, and had a real problem with it for a while. I don't know if that's a real issue, or just an old man thing, but otherwise I love it.
3. "You have to flip the pedal over to the SPD side."
I've been using these pedals for the past 17 years and am so used to them that I flip them to whichever side I'm using without even thinking about it. It's like how you run through the gears as you approach and climb a hill - you've been doing it so long that it's second nature.
4. "I really like the power and wet weather advantage of disc brakes for a touring bike." I seriously considered disc brakes because of the benefit in inclement weather but decided on some really good V-brakes instead for several reasons: (a) I want something I can repair in the field... literally, in a field. (b) It seems like everyone I know with disc brakes has a problem with squealing, and that would seriously annoy me. (Heather has them and we've tried everything, even a torch) (c) I don't plan to do much riding in the rain, but if I do I'll be extremely careful about downhills. When you ride as slow as me, you hardly need brakes at all. :-)
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