My new baby??

Oh, and the question marks were because obviously I have to ride the
thing. So it's not a lock yet. But I'm pretty sure I'll like it. I'm
excited to get on it and give it a go.

Preston

Preston Crawford said:

Oh, and the question marks were because obviously I have to ride the
thing. So it's not a lock yet. But I'm pretty sure I'll like it. I'm
excited to get on it and give it a go.

Too bad about the color ;-)

B i l l S o r n s o n said:

Preston Crawford said:

Oh, and the question marks were because obviously I have to ride the
thing. So it's not a lock yet. But I'm pretty sure I'll like it. I'm
excited to get on it and give it a go.

Too bad about the color ;-)

That's a good one. I didn't buy my current Trek just because it was
Orange. It didn't hurt, though. Oh well, I can always get orange cages for
this bike. :-)

Preston

Preston Crawford said:

Fenders out of
the box.

All you need is a spray flap up front and you'll be set. Trust me. You can
get a sexy rubber one if you're not a milk jug fan. :P

Quoted message said:

The light may go,
depending on whether it's a hindrance and a
gimmick

Hub based dynamo systems ain't no gimmick, they're a low resistance and
maintenance free way to make candlepower. Been around for at least half a
century. Cool stuff. Add a tiny yellow front blinky if it doesn't have a
standing light for stops

Very nice niche bike. I like the omission of the front derailleur. Of
course I would have gone for a Milano myself, switching out the seat,
bars, and pedals ... The internal gearing is very good in mucky
conditions, though it weighs a bit--a matter of priorities I guess. I'm
surprised it hasn't dominated the commuter market. Simple and sexy.

B i l l S o r n s o n said:

Too bad about the color

Complaining about a green Bianchi is truly absurd. 😉

I find it gorgeous. 😄

maxo said:

Preston Crawford said:

Fenders out of
the box.

All you need is a spray flap up front and you'll be set. Trust me. You can
get a sexy rubber one if you're not a milk jug fan. :P

I've went that way for a while. Problem is it does nothing for the back.
And the real problem isn't a question of ME getting wet, but rather of
trying to trap as much mud as possible on fenders as opposed to in the
components.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The light may go,
depending on whether it's a hindrance and a
gimmick

Hub based dynamo systems ain't no gimmick, they're a low resistance and
maintenance free way to make candlepower. Been around for at least half a
century. Cool stuff. Add a tiny yellow front blinky if it doesn't have a
standing light for stops

I have a good blinky that I keep on the front for emergencies (i.e. my
battery-powered light runs out of juice). But that's good to know those
lights work.

Quoted message said:

Very nice niche bike. I like the omission of the front derailleur. Of
course I would have gone for a Milano myself, switching out the seat,
bars, and pedals ... The internal gearing is very good in mucky
conditions, though it weighs a bit--a matter of priorities I guess. I'm
surprised it hasn't dominated the commuter market. Simple and sexy.

Oh yeah, that's the other thing. Comes with clipless out of the box too.
So many things that you don't have to worry about. I like it. Very niche
for sure, but that's my niche. I would imagine I'm not alone, though. The
Milano is interesting. I don't know how it would do on some of the hills I
have to climb, though.

Preston

maxo said:

B i l l S o r n s o n said:

Too bad about the color

Complaining about a green Bianchi is truly absurd. 😉

I find it gorgeous. 😄

I think he's joking with me because I have a love-affair with Orange and
have a very beautiful orange bike that I fell head over heals for a couple
years ago. Good memory if so. I like the color too, but I'm looking
desparately for orange cages. Where to find them...???

Preston

Preston Crawford said:

The
Milano is interesting. I don't know how it would do on some of the hills I
have to climb, though.

I rode a similar bike in the city for many years with narrow flat MTB bars
so I could split lanes--its gearing was just fine, though the internal
hubs do have a bit of resistance--felt like riding a hardtail MTB, but
looked all friendly. :P

If you're used to a road bike then I think you made the right choice. Even
if you manage to smash the derailleur--the parts are common and fairly
inexpensive.

You're right about fenders saving wear and tear on components, I've been
on several rain rides with my single speed with fenders this week, and the
chain is still silent. Fenders are a magic thing. Ride them in dry and
people giggle at you. In the wet the road strip'ed racer boys gaze upon
them with admiration. LOL

Preston Crawford said:

maxo said:

B i l l S o r n s o n said:

Too bad about the color

Complaining about a green Bianchi is truly absurd. 😉

I find it gorgeous. 😄

I think he's joking with me because I have a love-affair with Orange and
have a very beautiful orange bike that I fell head over heals for a couple
years ago. Good memory if so. I like the color too, but I'm looking
desparately for orange cages. Where to find them...???

Preston

Steel cages and your local powdercoater...

:P

It's got to be a warm 70s appliance orange to go with that green though...

😄

Le Thu, 16 Dec 2004 12:10:35 +0000, Preston Crawford a écrit :

Quoted message said:

http://www.bianchiusa.com/607.html

(...)

Great !
This finally looks like a real SUV, as in "Sports and Utility Vehicle".
Why is so difficult to find this kind of bike ? And why doesn't Bianchi
sell it in Europe too ? I hate these companies who decide that consumers
in such and such country won't by this or that product. I'd prefer to
decide by myself.

Jacques

Preston Crawford said:

http://www.bianchiusa.com/607.html

Sweet ride, Preston. How much does that bad boy weigh?

Neil

Jacques Moser said:

Le Thu, 16 Dec 2004 12:10:35 +0000, Preston Crawford a écrit :

Quoted message said:

http://www.bianchiusa.com/607.html

(...)

Great !
This finally looks like a real SUV, as in "Sports and Utility Vehicle".
Why is so difficult to find this kind of bike ? And why doesn't Bianchi
sell it in Europe too ? I hate these companies who decide that consumers
in such and such country won't by this or that product. I'd prefer to
decide by myself.

Jacques

Well, and that's precisely what I got into with my LBS. Previously they
were very unhelpful in helping me to find a bike that would fit this
criteria (upright, road handlebars, can take fenders, but relatively
inexpensive). The closest they could get was a cyclecross bike or a hybrid
with a road bars and road shifters and brakes added. Of course the first
is like $1200. The latter is only $500, but then you add in labor and cost
of the handlebars and shifters and brakes and it's a virtual wash. Plus no
free fitting. So in spite of the fact that the bike shop did get back to
me and personally talk to me about this lack of product and help and
mended fences in that sense, they still just don't carry a product like
this.

So it's with a bit of sadness that I now divide my loyalties between two
different shops. The other shop is great and has been tremendous to my
wife as she's ridden towards her Half-Ironman...

obligatory picture link....

http://adrenalinephotos.com/search.cgi?event=72&raceNumber=610

....So I like them. They're good people and they (especially with this
*swap the part out for free* policy) seem very easy to work with. So on
one hand it's exciting. On the other hand it's going to be word to have a
second LBS.

But the bottom line is that the second LBS carries the product I want. The
other carries just Trek and Trek has nothing like this in the price range
I'm looking.

Preston

Jacques Moser said:

This finally looks like a real SUV, as in "Sports and Utility Vehicle".
Why is so difficult to find this kind of bike ?

Remember the early eighties when most fancier bikes were "sport tourers"?
Long reach brakes and braze ons galore. You could ride skinnies with the
club or fatties, fenders and racks for a tour. Then the "industry" decided
that we needed racers and MTBs nothing else for the mass market. Ugh. Oh,
and then came "comfort" bikes and "cross" bikes. What the hell are those??
How about a BIKE! Meaning the same thing that a "car" does for most
folks--a basic bike that can wear many hats. Mention "bike" to most
younger folks these days and fully suspended MTBs come to mind.

You can't buy a decent 150 dollar simple bike at *mart, but you can get a
120 dollar suspended piece of metal shaped like a MTB that'll break in a
couple of weeks and be miserable to ride during that time. How freakin
idiotic. At least during the sixties and part of the seventies, department
store bikes were Raleigh 3-speed clones--a perfectly usable design.

Ack. Bianchi's really got it right with their city models. One that's like
a road bike, but not too twee, and one that looks like a "cruiser" but
doesn't ride like one (thank god).

You know, one fun thing about the inappropriate use of MTBs as urban
transport is how they've pumped my ego...I've passed multi-thousand dollar
super suspension MTB'ers on the paths...on my '73 rod-brake raleigh,
wearing full street clothes and not breathing hard. A simple matter of
rolling resistance of course, but the look of chagrin on the passed
cyclists is priceless. 😄

maxo said:

Preston Crawford said:

maxo said:

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 18:19:53 +0000, B i l l S o r n s o n wrote:

> Too bad about the color

Complaining about a green Bianchi is truly absurd. 😉

I find it gorgeous. 😄

I think he's joking with me because I have a love-affair with Orange and
have a very beautiful orange bike that I fell head over heals for a couple
years ago. Good memory if so. I like the color too, but I'm looking
desparately for orange cages. Where to find them...???

Preston

Steel cages and your local powdercoater...

:P

Seriously? Will that work? I'm a total dummy when it comes to actual
hands-on stuff like painting, etc. So any cage that doesn't already have a
coating, then? Or do I specifically have to look for steel (i.e. most
cages are aluminum)? I have no idea.

Quoted message said:

It's got to be a warm 70s appliance orange to go with that green though...

😄

That sounds about right. I usually go with the shocking orange, though.

http://www.cookiehookup.com/album/images/summit2surf1.jpg

And that's not even as orange as my orange whicking shirt.

Preston

Neil Brooks said:

Preston Crawford said:

http://www.bianchiusa.com/607.html

Sweet ride, Preston. How much does that bad boy weigh?

Neil

To be honest, I don't know. My current bike is such a truck of a bike with
everything I carry with me and on it that I don't think too much about
stuff like that. I'm sure heavier than the Trek 1000. But can't be by
much.

Preston

maxo said:

Jacques Moser said:

This finally looks like a real SUV, as in "Sports and Utility Vehicle".
Why is so difficult to find this kind of bike ?

Remember the early eighties when most fancier bikes were "sport tourers"?
Long reach brakes and braze ons galore. You could ride skinnies with the
club or fatties, fenders and racks for a tour. Then the "industry" decided
that we needed racers and MTBs nothing else for the mass market. Ugh. Oh,
and then came "comfort" bikes and "cross" bikes. What the hell are those??
How about a BIKE! Meaning the same thing that a "car" does for most
folks--a basic bike that can wear many hats. Mention "bike" to most
younger folks these days and fully suspended MTBs come to mind.

This is so true. I can't tell you how many people I meet who ask me "how
can you ride that without shocks?"

"Um, easily. I don't lose wasted energy on shocks I don't need, so I'm
faster"

**They stare back at me confused...**

That's the sad thing. It isn't even really my LBS's fault when you think
about it. I talked to one guy there who said he talked to a Trek rep and
practically begged him to bring a bike like the Bianchi to Portland.
Instead they have either road bikes, comfort bikes or about 10 models of
mountain bikes, all with shocks. Weird. When did shocks become a must?

I even called one local bike shop (another branch of my LBS) and asked
about getting a bike to fit my current needs. The person I talked to
suggested I upgrade to a Trek 2000 or up. I was so frustrated. I knew what
I wanted, and their answer was to upgrade to a $1200+ bike that's still
not upright and still can't take fenders.

My favorite story in this vein is this one day at my apt. complex I met a
guy who was checking out my bike. He said, "I had a bike once. Full
suspension Specialized. I sold it when I bought my jet ski."

There you go. That's the market the bike manufacturers are catering to.
The guy that will, on a whim, trade in his full-suspension mountain bike
for a jet ski when he gets bored. So yeah, there are few companies making
commuter bikes that just work. Except Bianchi now.

Quoted message said:

Ack. Bianchi's really got it right with their city models. One that's like
a road bike, but not too twee, and one that looks like a "cruiser" but
doesn't ride like one (thank god).

Yeah.

Quoted message said:

You know, one fun thing about the inappropriate use of MTBs as urban
transport is how they've pumped my ego...I've passed multi-thousand dollar
super suspension MTB'ers on the paths...on my '73 rod-brake raleigh,
wearing full street clothes and not breathing hard. A simple matter of
rolling resistance of course, but the look of chagrin on the passed
cyclists is priceless. 😄

One time my wife and I were on a path (I hate this path, but back then my
wife wasn't as comfortable in traffic, so she wanted me to join her on
long rides on this path) and she passed someone like this (calling out "on
your left and everything"😉 with no one coming. I tried to follow, but as
soon as he saw my wife cruise by him he got [censored] and raced out to try
to catch her. He almost hit me, then he split her and a couple of people
in oncoming traffic (the other half of the path), almost running her off
the road. That's when I put on the afterburners and caught up to him and
explained to him what a dork he looked like endangering my wife's life
just because he didn't like getting passed by her. He told me to F*** off
and rode off, but... yeah. People like that.

Preston

Preston Crawford said:

Seriously? Will that work?

IF you can find a steel cage that you can afford and find a fairly
priced powdercoater--I'm kind of joking, but it's possible. They hook
electrodes up to your metal object, stick powder to it by using an
electric charge, then bake it on. Simple and durable, but probably too
spendy for just a cage.

Quoted message said:

I'm a total
dummy when it comes to actual
hands-on stuff like painting, etc. So any cage that doesn't already have
a coating, then? Or do I specifically have to look for steel (i.e. most
cages are aluminum)? I have no idea.

I just rattle-canned my bike and it came out gorgeous, but slightly
fragile. Cages are cheap. Prime and paint is what I'd do--remember that
prep is everything. The paint will surly wear off at the bottle contact
points but who cares.

Perhaps an orange hydration pack in in order?

:P

"maxo" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Remember the early eighties when most fancier bikes were "sport tourers"?
Long reach brakes and braze ons galore. You could ride skinnies with the
club or fatties, fenders and racks for a tour. Then the "industry"

decided

Quoted message said:

that we needed racers and MTBs nothing else for the mass market. Ugh. Oh,
and then came "comfort" bikes and "cross" bikes. What the hell are

those??

Touring bikes are pretty much the equivalent of the old "sport tourers"
these days. I think cross bikes are similar, but with a higher BB.

Quoted message said:

Ack. Bianchi's really got it right with their city models. One that's

like

Quoted message said:

a road bike, but not too twee, and one that looks like a "cruiser" but
doesn't ride like one (thank god).

Bianchi does seem to have a very interesting lineup.

Quoted message said:

You know, one fun thing about the inappropriate use of MTBs as urban
transport is how they've pumped my ego

Don't be so hard on them, MTBs make pretty good city bikes. Hard-tails with
slicks work pretty well, s-forks may be overkill, but might be helpful if
you hit a pothole in the dark. I think 26" wheels and v-brakes are very
practical, and MTB brifters are *so* much cheaper and more rugged than
their "road" counterparts. I built my wife a commuter like that & she loves
it. I didn't use a MTB frame, I found a 26" wheel road-ish frame on trash
day. It's a pity that there isn't a larger stock of frames like that
around, they make great city bikes.

Peter Cole said:

Don't be so hard on them, MTBs make pretty good city bikes. Hard-tails with
slicks work pretty well, s-forks may be overkill, but might be helpful if
you hit a pothole in the dark. I think 26" wheels and v-brakes are very
practical, and MTB brifters are *so* much cheaper and more rugged than
their "road" counterparts. I built my wife a commuter like that & she loves
it. I didn't use a MTB frame, I found a 26" wheel road-ish frame on trash
day. It's a pity that there isn't a larger stock of frames like that
around, they make great city bikes.

Oh, I agree with you for the most part--I find fair license to make fun of
the guys on the ultra suspended bikes that are never taken off road. Same
as the Hummer H2s that do daycare duty.

But getting a $350 campus special MTB and putting city slicks on it is
quite a great value for a strong commuter. As you say, the parts are dirt
cheap. Pretty much what those Breezer bikes are. I was disappointed when I
first saw them since I'm a 700c wheel snob and think that 26" wheels just
look too wee, but it *is* smart. Gash a tire in Omaha at 10pm? A
serviceable replacement is as close as the nearest *mart.

Finding a rigid city or basic MTB is getting pretty hard these days at the
lower end. Though when forced to go to the mall to get some crank bolts at
the Sun and Ski superstore (LBS is closed on Sunday) I noticed that they
had a really nice Marin city bike for $400. Steel frame, MTB layout,
skinnish tires (1.5"s I think), and a stealthy black paint job. Almost
bought it then and there--you can't build something that cheap--for use as
a commuter. Didn't do it though, too much ego invested in my frankenbikes
to ride off the rack stuff LOL