It’s Not Bragging If You’ve Got It
I hate to brag about the shit I buy because it’s tasteless. BUT…I work in porn. If the worst of my sins is being new money, well that’s not too bad. This all started when I was sitting in front of my massively expensive workstation the other day (thanks Paul!) with my ass parked in my luxurious Aeron chair (thanks Herman!), listening to my over priced cd player (thanks Mark!) and I noticed something. My pants (thanks Nordstrom!) were a little tight.
And not from a content induced boner, either. Yikes! Alas, your humble narrator is getting fat.
So I finally pulled the trigger on a decision I’ve been toying with for a while. I bought a bike. A very, very fancy bike. The lovely lady of which I speak is none other than the Specialized Tricross. Yep, lookit ‘er. All carbon fiber-ey and multi-task-ity. How could I not fall for a beauty like that?
For those of you not into bikes — yes, that’s really how much it cost (see above link). Plus tax. Plus accessories. Plus spares. This particular beauty cost a weencie bit more than my first car. And my second.
Combined.
Anyway, I think if I blog about it and then commute to Starbucks to get caffeine for working I can get a tax write off. Any IRS agents or CPA’s reading?
If you haven’t seen an upper end bike lately here are a couple of pics:
This is a carbon fiber fork with an internal headset bearing and cyclocross style cantilever brakes.
This is also the carbon fiber fork with a monster cold forged aluminum hub and a radially laced front wheel.
This is a hollow armed crank with an external bottom bracket bearing.
This is a carbon fiber rear triangle with a monster cold forged hub that is radially laced on one side and two cross on the drive side.
The reasons I chose this particular ride over say a full boat road bike or a more tried and true cross bike are several. I can imagine some Specialized employee customizing his own bike to the exact spec this sweet baby ships with because its set up is not very mainstream but it does what it does elegantly. While it’s slacker than a road bike, and thus more like a ‘cross bike, it’s geared as high as a road bike with a triple. So it splits the difference. The geometry is such that it feels relaxed on the road, not as snappy as a road bike, not as lazy as a mountian bike. It’s comfy on the road, but when you get up and honk there’s not a mm of flex. The fork and rear are carbon so they are stiff under load yet they take the edge off road feedback. And it runs big fat ass 32 C tyres! On fire roads and smooth single track…no; really!
You can ride it on trails. Yes, actual trails!
This is what blew me away on one of my first rides. I had headed to some fire roads and as I was descending I was thinking to myself, “Holy shit! I’m going 25 mph on dirt! On a road bike!” And it wasn’t very harsh at all.
The only criticism I have is that this thing doesn’t have a disc brake option as the Avids it ships with are shit. Maybe I just need to find better pads. Anyway, it’s late…but never too late to ride!! I’m going to go for a spin.
8 Comments to “It’s Not Bragging If You’ve Got It”
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On April 5th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I thought it’d be more expensive. I guess since not too much of it is actually carbon fiber; that’s probably why. I’m holding out for the carbon nanotube bike - I’ll bet it’s going to be shit-hot all over the marketplace.
On April 5th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
The only reason I’d wonder if that would be possible is that a bike is mostly compression forces, not tension forces. Nanotubes have massive tensile strength, but no compressive strength.
On April 5th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
And you have to remember that really even if you went insane you’d be bloody hard pressed to spend more than $10k on a bike.
Uber high end is $4k-$6k for a carbon frame/Dura Ace road bike. This thing is half carbon and Ultegra so…
On April 5th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I have a Specialized XCR Pro or something or other mountain bike that has done well by me here in Colorado where you can really bash it around. I couldn’t recite any of the specs, but it felt better than all the other bikes I tried out so I bought it. As long as we are doing commercials for them I thought I’d put in my plug!!
On April 5th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Fair enough, you’re in.
Actually I didn’t really want a Specialized at all as they make all their stuff offshore. There are very few things I go out of my way to buy American but mountain bikes are as American as eating apple pie at a baseball game.
Well mine’s not really a mountain bike…and road bikes are as Euro as eating cheese at a soccer game so…ah fuck it.
Buy American! Unless the other stuff is better.
On April 5th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Damn that’s a fine bike, I didn’t take mine with me when I moved and the snow is melting here so I just might have to take one for a test spin.. Have you found anything more out about the brakes I was kind of hoping to go disc this time around.
On April 5th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Well there are very few bikes as versatile as this with a disc option, unfortunately.
I went on a little 5 mile fire-road, single track jaunt this afternoon and everything worked perfectly…except the brakes.
There are some ‘race’ pads available, I’ll try those and see what happens. But I’d choose disc over rim and and every day.
There is just no substitute for the stopping power.
On April 6th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Hmmmm. I think we are getting too far off topic. Take that bike, go to the fire road, remove the seat, insert favorite girl, get head, take photos ….. hey!, you just got your business write off too.