Kristin Rides

I’ll admit that when I go to bike shops for test rides, I still feel like I’m in the dark. OK, I know what component level I want, I have a vague idea about wheels (as in, those are important and expensive, I should see what’s on there), and I know when a bike will or won’t fit me. But as far as whether a frame is too stiff or too flex-y, or not “snappy” enough…it’s hard to tell from a ten minute test ride.

There are so many frame options. High and medium modulous carbon, scandium, aluminum, aluminum + carbon, steel, aluminum with carbon fork,  compact, standard, sloping, braze-ons, and not to mention how the frame is shaped (hydro-formed…?). All of these things, combined with all the minutia of the geometry, makes buying a bike very mind-boggling, especially if you’re looking to spend a good chunk of change.

It’s no wonder that beginners go to bike shops and immediately feel stupid (it doesn’t help that many bike sales people treat you like shit unless your a serious bike-nerd). It’s no wonder you just buy something, praying that the 16 year old kid who just sold you this bike gave you some good advice.

Chances are in a year you will want something else.

Not because whoever sold you the bike didn’t know what s/he was talking about, but they have no idea what you will really want. Hell, if you have no idea, why should s/he? In fact, every year I want something different; I don’t think I’ve owned a bike longer then a year. When people ask me for advice about buying bikes, I always say “it depends.”

I’ve recently changed my stance on components. I used to say “105 or better”. Campy: looks nice, but is expensive to buy, expensive to repair, and you’ll always have to bring you’re own wheelset to races and dig through the support car to find it. I didn’t know anything about SRAM except that it’s on my mountain bike and I love it. Well, my new cross bike that I bought off a teamie has SRAM rival on it, and it’s awesome.

So. New stance: Shimano: Ultegra or Dura-Ace ONLY. SRAM: yes. Why the change of heart? Well, my 105 shifters have failed me for the last time.

My first experience with 105 failure was on a buddy’s cross bike last year. Suddenly the front derailleur would not shift. It wasn’t the derailleur itself, but the shifter; it took an unbelievable amount of force to punch the thing over, and even when I got it shifted, the chain wouldn’t jump. SO FRUSTRATING. It felt like I was dealing with a Fischer-Price shifter or something, I don’t know. At the time my road bike had Ultegra, and I can’t say I enjoyed the feeling of 105. Well, then I got a different road bike, and now I have 105.

The secret: 105 is meant to be able to be run with both a double crankset or a triple. Huh? Wait-what? Basically, that means it doesn’t run well for either. Great.

So, I’ve noticed some shifting failure on my current set up a few times, although my rear is really pretty shit all the time. It was at Silverton where the front just completely stopped working. Right before the race. I started freaking out, trying to get the damn thing to work; a mechanic took a quick look and said he could never get those things to work right…yeah. So I was worried the whole race, and there were times when it would shift, other times I would struggle for up to a minute trying to get the chain to jump. During a race. WTF? Apparently Shimano refuses to admit there’s a problem, only saying that the rider must not know how to shift properly. Uh, I think I’ve got it pretty much figured out by now, thanks. It also ruined Mt Tabor for me; every time I got to the top of the climb and had to shift to the large ring, I lost about 20 seconds fumbling around with it, instead of quickly shifting up and then standing for momentum, like I usually would.

It’s unbelievably frustrating when the reason you’re losing time is your equipment, when you’ve trained so hard for something. It should just work. I suppose if I were using this bike to get to commute and maybe the occasional spin around the river, I would have no problem with it. But I need it to be reliable and shift at the drop of a hat in a race situation, without me having to think about it. The last thing I need to be worrying about is my damn shifter.

So Saturday afternoon I will be abandoning 105 for Ultegra.

What advice would I give to a person now, which bike to buy? Avoid 105 like the plague. I have never used Tiagra or Sora, for all I know it’s actually better. Certainly the lower-end components, while sneered at by racers, are meant to be bomb-proof, albeit heavy. 105 if the perfect blend of somewhat light, and somewhat functional. I would rather have beautifully light AND functional equipment (and pay $$$), OR go very heavy and very bomb-proof. But not mediocre on both accounts. I would perhaps look also to SRAM for an affordable option.

I remember my old Trek hybrid fondly; I don’t ever remember having issues with those twisty shifters. I do remember getting 40 trillion flats due to the craptasitic plastic rim tape in the wheel (and riding with very old and over-used tires). The fact is, you won’t know what you want until you have something you don’t want. When you ride every single day, you start to figure that out. Soon you’re able to tell a frame that’s snappy from a frame that feels slow, a frame that feels rough versus a frame that sucks up the bumps, a shifter that feel like plastic versus a shifter that feels like butter, a tire that grips the road, versus a tire that slides in the corners. I feel like I’m only now completely understanding this and feeling it, and I’ve been riding regularly for the last 5 years. It takes time, experience, and hours and hours on the bike. Without this knowledge, when you walk into the bike shop, eyes glazed over, you can only pray that the sales person wasn’t hired 2 weeks ago. Or better yet, bring a friend who knows what their talking about, or have them sell you a cast-off until you can’t stand it any more and have a better idea of what you’re looking for in a ride.