I was very fortunate to be able to get a fancy new bike for this tour. It wasn't that I needed one, but I wanted one. Spending money on a new bike definitely represented a commitment to the trip, and it would be harder for me to chicken out. I justified it to myself by considering how much I would pay for a supported tour or other forms of post-retirement travel.

I wanted a bike with S&S couplers, so I could take it apart and fit it into a smaller box for air travel or smaller spaces when needed. I wanted a bike with 26" wheels, so it would be easier to pack (compared with 700c wheels) and easier to find tires in an emergency off the beaten path. I wanted a bike with drop handlebars. The bike that fit the bill was the Co-motion Pangea. I'm sort of a gear geek (and an engineer by trade), and that led me to the internally geared Rohloff hub, which is a marvel of engineering and supposed reliability. The salesman at Co-motion convinced me to go with the Gates belt drive. I even opted for the dynamo hub and light and USB charger. What a package!

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Buying this bike was not without drama. The local Co-motion dealer didn't seem to want to work with me. I don't know if the problem was me (I don't look like a typical hardcore cyclist) or Co-motion or just laziness, but they kept sending me away. After being told that appointments aren't needed or even possible, and after being told to come back 3 separate times, I ended up taking a road trip (in my car) to Co-motion's factory in Oregon to get measured for the bike, and also have my old bike measured for reference. After way too much driving, I arrived at Co-motion and met Ethan, and took a floor model out for about a 10 mile ride. The bike was just a little bit big, but it was fun to ride. I really liked my first experience with the Rohloff hub, but found that the Co-motion shifter on the tops of the handlebars was big for my hand, and not especially ergonomic.

Back at the Co-motion facility, Ethan measured my old bike, and measured me, and gave me a great tour of the facility. I ordered the bike, with the Rohloff hub and with a gates belt drive (which I admit to being a bit nervous about) and the old style Rohloff-branded shifter to go on the bar end, and went on my way.

It took a few weeks to get a fit and size proposal from Co-motion. It came from Dwan (who I hadn't met so he hadn't seen me on a bike), who suggested that I've been riding with my seat about 2 inches too high. Two inches is a lot! And I've been professionally fit in the past! I checked my bike, and lowered the seat, and took some videos of myself riding, and decided that putting the seat two inches lower was just not reasonable. Based on my feedback, and reviewing the actual numbers for standover, we decided that the initial measurement (that I'd driven 3 days for) was not correct, and Dwan revised his recommendation. The seat was still lower than I'm used to, so I asked if in the event that I wanted to ride with the seat at the height to which I'm accustomed, would I be able to get the handlebars up even with the saddle or even a bit higher. Co-motion builds forks with the recommended steerer length, so there is no such thing as an uncut steerer. Dwan said a longer steerer wouldn't be safe, and that with the last recommendation I should be able to get the handlebars up if needed, so we went with that recommendation and I ordered the bike!

I have the bike now, and am getting used to it. I had to change out the stem to get it much higher and longer, and I'm not sure it is optimal yet. I also swapped the seatpost for one with more setback (which was challenging given the unusual 29.8mm seatpost size), and then swapped it back to the more adjustable Co-motion seatpost when I decided not to use clipless pedals, and then swapped it one more time for a seatpost with great setback, and more adjustability than the first one ... plus a shim to the correct size. Since I've had the bike and have been fiddling with the fit and the brakes and the Rohloff hub and the couplers, Pete at Co-motion has been answering my questions. Thanks, Pete! I'm not too sure what happened with Ethan.

Maybe it would have helped to have a shop as the middle man in this deal. I ended up going back to the shop that didn't seem to want to work with me in buying the bike, to get some help in assembly. I could not get the brakes aligned. The mechanic shimmed the back and actually took a file to the mount on the front. The brakes are okay now if not perfect. I also asked the mechanic to cable the brakes and set up the belt drive and the shifter while he was at it. The cables for the shifter are too short (my knee bumps them occasionally) so I'm going to have to re-do it before I leave for the trip. The mechanic at the shop also used the Rohloff cable housing for the brakes, and the brake housing for the shifter! I think that's okay with the compressionless brake housing, but I'm not too happy about it.

Most of the bike is the standard Co-motion build. I've added the Racktime rear rack in the photo as well as a Tubus Tara front rack, some Planet Bike fenders, a Planet Bike SuperFlash rear light, and made a few other changes. I replaced the stem and seatpost as I noted above, and swapped the brake levers for the compact version of the same model, so I could reach them from the drops with my girly hands. I tried to get the saddle (a Selle Italia Lady) to work, but ended up swapping it for a Brooks B-68 (which I found as new, old stock since it isn't made any more) which is the same saddle I have on my other bike. The new saddle came laced to hold the skirt in, so it's not identical to my old saddle, but I think it should be okay. I also added a Cateye Velo 9 cycle computer primarily to keep track of total mileage on the bike for maintenance.

The bike, with the rear rack but without the front rack, with the fenders, with the bottle cages but no bottles, and with the pedals, weighs in at a substantial 35 and a half pounds.