The weather was decent enough to spin outside yesterday. However, the roads definitely aren't ideal! The frost heaves really make for a rolling ride, literally. Don't even get me started on the cracks!
Anyway, this was my first distance ride on the Victory other than cruising around campus. Keep some things in mind:
1. This is my first real road bike (previous ride was a 1997 Litespeed Appalachian 'cross/tourer).
2. This is my first full carbon bike (mostly rode titanium or steel).
With that said, here are my impressions:
It was a little windy, and I noticed it affected the bike more than I've been accustomed to. This could be for 2 reasons: the bike is so damn light and/or the shape of the tubing catches cross winds a bit more. The bike felt twitchy when I first headed out. I attribute this to my having to get used to such a light and laterally stiff bike. I expect this to translate into a very predictable handling bike, especially in the corners of crits.
The bike rode smoothly over good pavement. Most everyone talks about the vibration damping qualities of carbon fiber. In my uneducated opinion, I would strongly support that. The secondary roads are awful out here and I think I would have had a vibration feeling in my body the whole rest of the day. I had no problem with the rougher roads and dodged only the deepest cracks/crevices/canyons! I think I would have enjoyed the ride a lot less had the bike not absorbed the roughness of the road.
I didn't test its bottom bracket rigidity by hammering as it's still early in the season. I have a training race this Saturday and this will be an excellent testing ground I hope.
Overall, it was great to be out riding and the bike performed flawlessly.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment