November 12, 2011
Decisions, Decisions...
....so I needed a new bike. Sure, I still have the Bike Friday, but I don't want to be without a 26" wheeled steed. After much consideration I decided to go for another long haul trucker, but this time with the couplers. What's wrong with 2 suitcase bikes? You really can't have too many.
So I got on Vinny's (my friend and bike shop owner) fit bike. It's a stationary contraption that allows you to put in all the different frame geometries until you find one that fits. We knew the old Trucker was too big; I made it fit but it had a stubby stem and other adjustments. We think it was a 54 (don't remember, it could have been a 52) so we tried a 52; too big. Then we tried a 50; too big, how weird.
Only the next size down was a 46, since the LHT's don't come in a 48. A 46? That ain't gunna work. Except when Vinny put in the geometry it felt great. Weird. I couldn't believe it so we checked the numbers again; they were correct, and it still felt great. Weird! I was pretty freaked out by it, it made no sense. So I went back to the store, multiple times over a 2-week period, and tried it over and over and it kept coming back at a 46. Double weird! I'm a little over 5'7"!
But the numbers didn't lie and we ordered the 46. Well, to be clear, I was ultra nervous that somehow the numbers WOULD lie, that there would be some crazy surprise like ultra toe overlap or something. You can ask my friends about it. They know I was kind of freaked out about the numbers. In fact it was a fitting by committee, with my friends all weighing in on decision. But that didn't change my freaked-out-ness...
But in the end, we placed the order and a week or so later the new trucker deluxe was delivered...
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Oh wait, those are extra Bike Friday bars. Thought it would be a good idea to use them since it will be a suitcase bike.
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6 years ago
Though now I kind of wish I had not gotten the couplers and went with disk brakes instead (at that time I couldn't get both, don't know if that has changed). I find it is often easier just to throw the bike in a standard cardboard bike box, especially because often I arrive and leave from different locations.
Next time ;-)
6 years ago
I've used the couplers but might not always in the future. When I'm retired, I will have the option of longer trips. So far, though, every trip has finished where it started (though the Oregon coast in 1990 or so involved boxed bikes on Greyhound). Flying with a boxed bike must be trickier now than it was, since airlines here want the bike and only the bike in the box. The only time I flew with my (no couplers) Miyata, the stuffed bike box was my only checked bag and there was no charge. 1992!
6 years ago