The work they did on this was unbelievable. It cost a fortune no doubt, but there wasn't much else in the way of options to get it all done. Thankfully I was able to find out that buying a new Montague here in China would have cost upwards of $5000 so for 1/10th of the price to get a major upgrade on the bike I figured it was worth it. They did amazing work and replaced the following: wheelset, cassette, shifting system and derailleur, disc brakes, tires, seat, chain, pedals, suspension system, and seat. So yeah pretty much over half the bike. The end result was like it felt brand new and rode more smoothly than ever.
The workers at the shop had never seen a bike like this either, so when those comments were made, it was obvious that this was the right choice.
I then took it for a test spin and made sure all the gears worked fine -- they did, as well as the brakes were fabulous. Then it was off to explore some new parts of the city and ease back into touring.
This place threw an amazing New Years Party, best way to end 2020.
There was a bit of a scare towards the end of the ride. For better or for worse you need to do some illegal riding to get anywhere long distance in this city. Bikes have been sidelined to crowded and meandering routes in the downtown area and to make some progress you need to ride on the main roads where they ban bikes. The cops of course are onto this and they used some very stealth-like tactics this time. Two locals rode ahead of me, then all of a sudden a group of cops yelled and sprang for us. This is rare, as they usually just stand around and wait for people to pass by and then they stop bikes and issue tickets. It's quite the money maker. But they hardly ever make active moves like this, so I had to act fast, and managed to get away in the nick of time.
