RR: rabbit on a palomino

Monique Y. Mudama said:

The bike shop rented me a Palomino V. I'm actually eyeing
the XV, which has XT, but they didn't have one available
for me to demo. Same frame, anyway.

Eric and I headed off to Rabbit to test the bike. He was
trying his new multi-release cleats, too. (It turns out
that shimano no longer makes the SH50 cleat, only the 51
and the 55. So he's trying the 55.)

Long story short: I really liked this bike on climbs. When
going over rocks, waterbars, etc, I felt like I was
dragging my old bike's rear up everything. This bike's
rear feels like it's climbing right up them with me.
Helping, even. I don't know if that's a fundamental
difference in the design or possibly just different
settings.

On descents, I don't know that I felt a difference. It
definitely wasn't worse.

My body felt a lot more comfortable on this bike -- less
cramped. This is with an elongated stem on a small frame.

The only problem was shifting. In the smallest ring, I
heard a lot of clicking, and it really didn't want to
shift into the middle ring, ever. Lots of fighting. The
shop tech said that's just an alignment issue, so I will
take it in tomorrow and then try again. I'm definitely not
buying the bike if the shifting issues persist, but if
they can be fixed, I'm pretty much sold.

Something cool -- At the top of the rocky climb part of
the Overlook trail, a guy who had been behind me
complimented me on how I rode it. Said I really nailed the
climb. That's a new thing for me. Then, as I was about to
head out again, he said, "Nice bike!" ... and that's
definitely never happened to me before.

The shop will credit any rentals toward the purchase of a
bike, so I'm going to keep it overnight and play with it
again tomorrow -- and if I do order it, I'll keep the demo
till mine gets in.

I got my Palomino in Feb 2003. By and large I've liked it a
lot. It climbs just as well and descends much better than
my old HT. No problems with Bob (Google my posts about it
here). I would buy another one. Some issues to keep in
mind: My first frame was warranteed because the seat post
was slipping almost from day one, probably caused by a bent
post, related to the slack seat angle (no issues w/getting
it resolved by Klein). The new frame has a steeper seat
post, so this should be a bit less of an issue. But now I
look like a Major poseur because they gave me an XX frame
even though its got X/XV level of components. I have not
had issues with front shifting other than needing a harder
than seems resonable push on the shifter. My LBS did a
modification with a brass tube to guide the cable near the
deraileur. Problem solved. If you buy, I'll e-mail you
pics. Stand over height. I'm normal, to slightly leggy for
a 5'7" male. I can raise the front wheel about 2" before I
have firm contact (but no pain /-🙂 between my legs on a
small frame size. I've had lots of opportunities to hurt
myself, but never have. I don't know if Klein has a smaller
size this year, or if you'd need it. Just see how you fit.
Try pumping the rear shock to the psi recommended for your
weight. When I got my warranty frame it had a Maverick all
air shock rather than the Fox coil assisted shock of the
original. It requires twice the psi (185 for me). Doable,
but annoying. Sweet demo deal! Buy it if you have fun
riding it.

Cheers, Shawn

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Then, as I was about to head out again, he said,
"Nice bike!" ... and that's definitely never happened
to me before.

That's because you were on a trek before. Getting a Palomino
instead of kona [censored] is probably a pretty good idea.

JD

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The bike shop rented me a Palomino V. I'm actually eyeing
the XV, which has XT, but they didn't have one available
for me to demo. Same frame, anyway.

snip

Quoted message said:

The shop will credit any rentals toward the purchase of a
bike, so I'm going to keep it overnight and play with it
again tomorrow -- and if I do order it, I'll keep the demo
till mine gets in.

--
monique

And now for an important question. What color is it?

custom.kleinbikes.comlarger.aspOpen ↗
age=../images/pai nt/large/palomino/HawaiianLei_lg.jpg

I can't say that I like most of their color schemes. The
Hawaiian's beautiful, the x-ray's cool, but I think I'd
probably just do red.

--
DTW .../\.../\.../\...

I've spent most of my money on mountain biking and windsurfing.
The rest I've just wasted.

On 2004-06-06, JD penned:

Quoted message said:

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Then, as I was about to head out again, he said, "Nice
bike!" ... and that's definitely never happened to me
before.

That's because you were on a trek before. Getting a
Palomino instead of kona [censored] is probably a pretty
good idea.

The Kona didn't really speak to me, anyway. I felt like I
was riding on of those old-style bikes with the huge "U"
shaped handlebars -- but that's probably just because the
bars on the thing were way too wide for any non-
bodybuilder human.

--
monique