Friday, October 22, 2010

C. I. S.

No the be confused with CSI.
That's a whole nother thing.
A couple of days ago, the sore throat came back.
Yesterday, I was hoping, praying even, that what was happening wasn't happening.
So much for that.
By the time I got home, I plopped down on the couch, took some sick pills and passed out.
Not very blissfully, let me tell you.
So today, I called in sick(CIS).
I didn't want to, but I got to thinking, I was sick a while back, one of the students I work with is sick now, so if I go in all sick, I'm not doing anyone any favors.
I also got some stuff I need to take care of, but I didn't really feel like dealing with the Wild Bunch with my head feeling like a beach ball.
So to make myself feel better, I'm watching reruns of House cause those folks got it way worser than me, and I continued my Great Bicycle Search(GBS).
I've been watching evil eBay for some time now, and there's not a whole lot been happening there.
At least not in my price range.
So I decided to look at complete bikes. That makes it sort of easier but still, there isn't much of a steel selection.
Way back when, I looked at the Specialized Steel Allez:



I even rode one in a 49 and it wasn't too bad except the position was a bit aggressive. It also has down tube shifters which I'm not opposed to, it's just that it would cost me a bunch to switch to STI.
Then I looked at Bianchi:



Their line of steel bikes is pretty nice though a bit out of my price range. I'd have to wait until tax time to think about one of those. They do have one bike that looks cool but it's sort of close to what I'm riding now:



I'm liking the disc brakes, but the frame is aluminum.
Not liking.
The aluminum, I mean.
There's a bike shop here I never heard about located on the far side of the island. I may have to check them out for they have bikes from Jamis:



That's a nice entry level steel roadie I'm thinking about. Jamis also has a cool town bike that might work for me:



I'll have to take the drive out there to check these bikes out. Well, at least one in a similar frame size which would be a 48 or 51.
That townie bike is one I'm liking, again the disc brakes are doing it for me.
I'd probably lose the fenders though.
I'm real concerned with top tube length for when I had my Allez, I didn't like being stretched out so much.
I'm not in a rush to replace the Barn Door so I'll wait until I find something that really floats my boat so to speak. This time around I'm thinking this will be my primary ride, one bike to do it all.
If there is such a thing.
I'm even contemplating going custom, but I want some time on a steel frame before I go that route. I'd like to give drop bars another try though it's not a priority.
Actually, I really don't know what the hell I want, I guess I'll know it when I find it.
Anyways, bike shopping sure does help take some of the sting out of calling in sick.

4 comments:

Steve A said...

Masi and Surly both have steel bikes worth looking at. I also noticed that Soma has a $400 steel cyclocross frame. Pretty soon, cross frames will have disc brake mounts now that they're legal.

How do you get sick in Hawaii? I thought microbes were illegal there.

limom said...

Surly has some strange geometry on their bikes, still looking into that.
The Soma Double Cross disc looks good, but not sure about quality.
Thanks for the Masi tip! I'll look into that.
As for getting sick here, I feel like the Godfather: just when I thought I was getting better...
Or something.

John Romeo Alpha said...

This is where a good LBS really helps to enable the obsession, I mean, select an appropriate bike. I went to mine, told him what I was looking for, gave him an idea of my price range and riding style, and he sent me on a test ride. It was love at first ride.

limom said...

I wish the local shops carried more steel, they do, but it's of the single speed/tarck variety.
It doesn't help that my formerly evil friend quit the LBS leaving me to dangle in the wind.