# NB..Month? K2 road bike (pics)



## MrRedRaider (Jul 10, 2008)

In response to the road bike thread, thought I would post a few pictures of my bike. I got this one off of ebay, auction closed just over three weeks ago. Got it after three days, but after assembling it there was something goofy with the RD and the tires were out of true. The front rim had about 3/16" of play. Tires had quite a bit of dry rot also, so I got them replaced. Bought a wireless computer too. After having to guess speed and distances with my first bike, I thought I would go ahead and shell out the cash for a decent computer. These things are amazing. Spent $110 on it at the bike store, with all the repairs and what not. Total, $515. Shipping was only $35; got lucky there. 

Carbon fork/stem, rest is aluminum. 105 everywhere except the brakes are Tiagra. Works very well, faster than the Giant I owned previously. The max speed I have gotten so far is 28.7 mph, down a small hill. Not much topo in this town. Pics were from this morning after my ride, 24 miles (still displayed on the computer).


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## Sentient (Jul 10, 2008)

Very nice! Great pics. I like the color combination on the frame. Is that a Cateye computer? Next time you're near the bike shop, see if they'll give you a bar end cap for free (they likely have a box full of old ones) to cap that right side, so your bar tape won't unravel. 

24 miles is a nice ride. How's the traffic in your town? Tolerant motorists? 

Congrats again, and thanks for posting the pics. 

[action=Sentient]hands a pair of wire cutters to MrRedRaider, so he can snip those zip ties on the bars.[/action]


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## Mattmc74 (Jul 10, 2008)

Congrats! Nice bike!


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## MrRedRaider (Jul 10, 2008)

Thanks Sentient and Matt, the computer is a Cateye. I left the ties on there in case I want to move it, but I think it works just fine where it is so yea.. I hear you  Love it so far, but sometimes the numbers displayed under the current speed take a second or two of looking before I can read them. Not too bad, but my eyes are terrible anyway.

The right end didnt have a cap when I received it, but the left had the original white one. The bike shop had black only, so thats what I used. Its not easy to see, but its there.

I generally ride around my neighborhood for most of my rides, most of the topo in the city is in it. None of the streets are busy, and the roads are mostly wide and winding with several stop signs to slow cars. Not me, of course. I will put about 5 miles on there, then head a mile south to where the city recently paved a trail that is around 3 miles long. Half of it that stretches east is a very nice ride. There used to be train tracks there, and I guess someone on the council figured it would work well for a paved trail. I salute whoever came up with the idea. The mid point crosses over the junior college property, which is unshaded, but the rest goes through fairly dense forest. I usually ride on that stretch since it is much cooler in the afternoon.

paris junior college - Google Maps

If you look at that link in satellite mode, you can see a delineated line bisecting the campus, in black since it is asphalt. It stays adjacent to the north edge of the forest for most of the way east, and stops at the highway. You can tell the tracks continue well further to the east. What I would give if they paved another 5-10 miles of that.... I will bring my camera next ride and snap one of the trail.

Oh, about the traffic. It is a small town, so traffic only gets annoying at the rush hours. Even then it is still manageable. I tend to stay off the busier roads. I get nervous with cars because I dont wear a helmet. They usually slow down if someone is coming the other way on a 2-lane, and wait for the other car to pass before they pass me, always crossing over into the other lane. Havent had any problems yet, but like I said I stay away from the more traveled roads. Biking last year in Montreal was completely different however, the cars do not budge when passing. If there is no bike lane, you ride in the street and hug the cars that are parallel parked. You have about a 3 foot wide margin to ride on, and I had several instances where I had to maneuver my body to dodge mirrors. Almost got hit by a bus one time, and almost ran over a few people after dodging that bus. I did get chewed out by an old man yelling in French for that, however.


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## Sentient (Jul 17, 2008)

MrRedRaider said:


> The right end didnt have a cap when I received it, but the left had the original white one. The bike shop had black only, so thats what I used. Its not easy to see, but its there.



My bad, as I didn't see it. That 3rd pic down just kinda looked like it was missing.



MrRedRaider said:


> paris junior college - Google Maps.



That looks like a great place to ride. Looks really wide in the satellite view. It's always really great when a city will do something like that.




MrRedRaider said:


> with several stop signs to slow cars. Not me, of course.





MrRedRaider said:


> I get nervous with cars because I dont wear a helmet.



At the risk of sounding like a dad, I'd say that's not a real good combo right there. I'd really recommend pickin' up a helmet somewhere, even if it's just an inexpensive one from Walmart. You can snag a good one at Nashbar for 20 or 30 bucks. (I've got a Bell Influx that I removed the visor from, and really like. Gobs of air vents, & just $30.) Hopefully, of course, you'll never need it. But just on the chance that you ever do, you'll sure be glad you had it on. 

Not trying to be a disapprovin' nag, though. Just lookin' out for a biking buddy. 

[action=Sentient]wishes we could get this one added to ss.org's smilies list...[/action]


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## MrRedRaider (Jul 21, 2008)

Well, I actually road in the Tour de Paris this past Saturday and of course they require you wear a helmet. Got a great one from Walmart of all places for $20. Weighs lighter than my seat and is pretty comfortable. Ill wear it from now on 

Turns out the trail is part of a project that is being called Rail to Trail by ...the country? Anyway, most of the old railroads that are no longer in use are all getting transformed into trails. At the race there was a booth that had all the information on what is going on. They are planning to expand the trail in the future, from Texarkana to Farmersville; not even an hour from Dallas. I cannot freaking wait! According to the pamphlet, the whole trail will be 147 miles long. Apparently there has been 18,000 miles of these trails created throughout the country so far, just dont know where. Probably a site somewhere about the trails on the web.

Trail de Paris check it out, there are bunches of good pictures of the trail. I hope all 147 miles look as nice as our 2.3 miles.


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## Sentient (Jul 22, 2008)

'Atta boy, on the helmet. Good job. 

Yep, the whole Rails to Trails organization is huge and nationwide, converting abandoned railroads into great community trails. It's great to actually find one that's been nicely paved, such as yours in Paris. But I think the majority of them are typically surfaced in a hard-packed, pea gravel material. 

Which route/distance did you do in the Tour de Paris? Lots of riders there? Organized rides are a lot of fun, and can really push your performance, compared to riding by yourself. There's nothing quite like passing others, or beating a buddy, etc.


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## Drew (Jul 22, 2008)

MrRedRaider said:


> Well, I actually road in the Tour de Paris this past Saturday and of course they require you wear a helmet. Got a great one from Walmart of all places for $20. Weighs lighter than my seat and is pretty comfortable. Ill wear it from now on



 

I grew up pretty much wearing helmets all the time anyway, thanks to the 'rents, but the first time you shatter a helmet, you never look back. About the only time I ever ride a bike without a helmet is if I'm tweaking it in my back yard and want to take a 10-second loop in my (dead end, 100-foot-long) street just to check something. Aside from that, I just don't get on a bike without a helmet. 

Yeah, the Rail to Trails thing is pretty damned cool, especially as the more they develop the more they begin to interconnect. There's one I ride on occasionally around here that I can take from Somerville out to Belmont that's maybe 25 miles round trip - I used to do it all the time on my mountail bike, but now that I have a proper road bike I only do it every couple rides because roads are more interesting (like, for example, they have hills ). That said, I know there's a substantial branch out in the Northampton area, and another one even further out in Western Massachusetts, where I grew up. I'm really looking forward to the day where they manage to link them all up, so I could (theoretically) hop on my bike and ride all the way out to my hometown on the rail trail.


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## Drew (Jul 22, 2008)

Oh, and over a long enough timeline, you WILL get hit by a car. I got caught out 10-15 miles from home in a torrential thunderstorm on Sunday and tried to make it home anyway through probably the worst downpour I've ever seen, and ended up getting in a low-speed sideswipe sort of accident at a streetlight in Somerville a few blocks from my place where at a stop light when it turned green, I accellerated faster than the car in front of me, who turned into me at the light. I was fine, the bike was fine, and all I hope was I dented or scratched her (brand new) Mercedes. 

Had I been going 20-30 miles an hour with some momentum, instead of just starting rolling, that might have been a very different story, but whatever, it comes with the territory. :/


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## Sentient (Jul 22, 2008)

Holy crap, Drew... Glad you're ok. Did you actually go down? Did she even stop to make sure you were ok?

And on a side note, isn't that the 2nd downpour you've been in with that bike? 

[action=Sentient]now fears the wrath of karma, knowing that he'll probably get caught in a storm on his next ride.[/action]


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## Drew (Jul 22, 2008)

Yes it is. 

It was slow speed, so no, I stayed up. She paused when she heard/felt something hit her, looked back, and I yelled "what the hell do you think you're _doing_??!," threw up my arms in disgust, and then pedaled off. I didn't even get bruised, I hit the brakes as soon as I realized she was turning into me.


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## MrRedRaider (Jul 23, 2008)

That sucks.. I havent been in a wreck yet, but man I got a scary close call in Montreal last summer. I forget that in some cities the opposite lights turn green at the same time the others turn red! Down here there is always a 1-2 second delay. I was following my friend on his bike going to one of the chain computer stores downtown, and he is one of those people you dont like to follow because of how crazy they ride. He busted through the yellow, and I should have stopped but I didnt. Almost got hit by a bus, and almost ran over some people that started crossing the street. I was shaking like a heroin addict when I finally came to a stop. I never followed him again.. and that was the last chance I will ever take playing with traffic. Here in the states I may have been killed doing that. Did I mention I didnt have a helmet at the time either?


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