I'll only buy from Gray Goat Sports in Indy - I've heard so many stories about bad bike shops, and Gray Goat has always been good to me - so my choices were LeMond, Trek, Specialized, Orbea, Scott, and Bianchi.
In my size and price they had LeMond, Trek, Orbea, and Bianchi.
The LeMond was basically the same bike I've been riding, and looking at it I couldn't help but think "here we go again"... I took two years for me to tweak the LeMond I had to where I wanted it, and while the bike really didn't need anything... I just felt like maybe I should let that go.
Trek makes a nice bike, and it's pretty close to the LeMond (they're the same company, actually), but Trek's graphics are a big turn off for me. And Trek is the bike Joe Consumer buys, because Trek is the brand everyone knows - Thanks Lance Armstrong. So no Trek.
The Orbea was a nice bike - made in Spain, great paint, solid as a rock... in fact a little too solid. And it had Campagnolo components (the stuff that shifts the bike) and I'm used to Shimano's stuff.
That left the Bianchi. Bianchi is an Italian company with quite a cycling heritage - they're known for the shade of green the bikes are painted ("Celeste") and I've always liked their bikes - I've got a thing for bikes with a classic look, it's what drew me to my LeMond.
And the Bianchi was a slight step up from the bike I was riding - I figured if I was going to spend the money I should at least get a little joy out of it. And so, tonight I'll pick up this:
I don't have the money for any of this, of course; I'm using the money from my savings account that I had put aside for dental work (because as it turns out I don't need nearly as much money as the original estimate) and I'll take Gina's half of the rent and John's rent money and pay the rest off at the end of the month. Well, almost. Thanks American Express, you freakin' own me.
I just couldn't be without a bike - I've cut my calories down to like 1000 a day since the wreck because, well, I need to lose some more weight, but mostly because I know what happens when I don't exercise. And without a bike to ride I don't know what to do with myself when I get home from work. Anyway.
I'd write something about a change of luck, but who knows. Hopefully.
3 comments:
very nice. the only bad thing i've heard about Bianchi is that their super high-end bikes are built TOO light, and therefore prone to frame breakage, with poor customer service response. That may be an old problem though, and not applicable to that bike. Regardless, very nice.
Oh, and as far as reputable bike shops in the indy area, i've been to a lot and worked in a few. I stand by Nebo Ridge Bicycles and Indy Cycle Specialists (with reservations).
just my two cents
-spitz
What reservations? I like the guys at ICS, but I had some work done there that ended up costing me a lot more money that I expected - I kinda felt like they could have given me better advice.
Anyway.
Never been to Nebo Ridge.
i guess my reservations are personal. i like scott, but worked for him for one day, and got a bad vibe from him. regardless, we are cool.
Jonathan from Nebo Ridge is an awesome guy with lots of knowledge of bike culture and advocacy. He's also one of the most positive people I know. Definitely check his shop out...though it's kinda out of the way.
-spitz
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