Thursday, March 01, 2007

Bike Stuff

I’ve known for a long time that I tend to jump from idea to idea on things; especially when it comes to large purchase items. Recently these things have included (though are probably not limited to) thoughts about buying a condo within the next year or two (only truly major purchase that is more of a pipe dream then anything else), a new cyclocross bike, an old road bike to convert into a beater fixie project, a bunch of camping/backpacking gear that I’ve been wanting to get for the past 4 or 5 years, a new full suspension mountain bike (29er maybe) and eventually a new road bike (plus all the other little things I’ve come up with).

Now I certainly don’t have the means to buy all of these things and really probably shouldn’t be buying any of them, except maybe the condo as the housing market is slumping and all); but, since I plan on racing cyclocross next season and I also could use a nice lightweight bike for touring rides like a possible ride to Pittsburgh etc… I think the cross bike would be a great investment for the long-run. The least expensive option for me at this point would probably be the fixie/project bike since the plan there is just to pick up an old road bike and using as many used parts as possible build up a basic beater that I wouldn’t mind leaving parked outside all day.

What’s really got me on this kick right now is the dividend money I just got back from REI along with a 20% off coupon from some camping stuff I bought last year. Looking at their website I found the K2 Enemy x bike (a very favorable review here on cyclingnews.com) which I could probably get for around $800 and would be my first brand new bike since I bought my Trek 6000 back in high school. Enticing, but I’m now thinking I should consider spending my rebate money on a used x bike and save even more on that. My thoughts are that since I won’t be doing extremely serious x racing I don’t need anything too top of the line for now and anything I do get will probably take a beating through racing and the longer rides I’d plan on using it for.

I’m planning on heading to an REI this weekend to see if they’ve got any better deals on the K2 that I could get my hands on; maybe since it is an ’06 model they’ll have a lower price on it in store or something could be worked out for that. Otherwise my eyes are peeled for any deals on Ebay and I’ll probably send out a feeler on the regional racing listserv. To spend, or to spend less? That is the question…

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a cross bike for commuting. I like it for commuting - stable and there's room for wider tires and fenders. BUT if I were to do it again, I would look seriously at the tire clearance on touring bikes. The widest tires I can get on this bike (with fenders) are 38 rear and 42 front.

I might even do something like the Jamis Exile 29er, though the hassle of the disk brakes is a putoff. And I like my drop bars.

KMAX said...

I think disc brakes would be amazing for a new mountain bike but that'll be further down the road I think. I want to be able to race cyclocross this coming fall as well do all of the other touring and "trail" riding I have planned over the next couple of years so I think the cross bike should be great. I think the touring frames would be too heavy to make good cross racers. I've still got my old Trek 6000 I bought back in high school for any real trail riding too.

Anonymous said...

Makes sense.