To go on a long ass bike ride, you need a bike.
I'm a fast learner.
As mentioned before, I haven't owned a bike since the early 90's. I have certainly wanted one, but it never quite made it into my struggling budget.
And, as mentioned before, my lovahhh has been a total stud about researching the necessities for this trip. He found what he declared to be a screaming deal and the perfect bike for me on E Bay. Before purchasing it we had to make sure it was the right size, so we headed over to a bike shop to stand over the same bike and figure it out.
I am all of 5 ft 3 inches tall. The rule of thumb when you stand over a bike to size it is that you should have about a half inch to an inch of clearance between the cross bar and your crotch. Fun fact from the BF: A mountain bike should have more like 2 inches clearance because you may be standing on more uneven terrain when you hop off the pedals. We don't need to be nutting ourselves now do we ladies? No. We don't.
So, anyway... we got to the bike shop and I stood over the same kind of bike that was posted on E Bay. I felt like I was getting intimate with the cross bar. It was right up in my business. I took the bike for a spin around the block, then tried the next smaller size. The smaller one definitely gave my hoo ha more dance space (this is my dance space, this is your dance space. Let's cha cha) So I declared the smaller bike to be the winner.
The BF was skeptical. Are you suuuuure the other one won't work? I told him that I didn't want to choose my bike just because it was a cheap deal, and then end up miserable on it for a year and a half.
He pointed out that I was wearing flats, and maybe I would feel better on the bike if I as wearing shoes that I would normally wear on a ride.
Logical. Okay. Compromise. I told him I would head to the bike shop by myself the next day and try it out again.
I did just that and lo and behold, the first bike DID feel much better! I asked the awesome bike shop dude (who was rocking a killer red bushy goatee beard look) about a zillion questions about the bike and finally decided that this was the one for me. It worked out well, because if this bike ends up being wrong I can hate his beardy face instead of the BF's. Isn't compromise swell?
Next step was for the BF to sign into the bidding war on E Bay. I thought he would love it since he is competitive like me. Instead he was so stressed he almost threw up. We learn a little something about each other every day. It's special.
Anyway. HE WON! Wanna see it?
OOOOH.
It's called a "Surly Long Haul Trucker"
Could that name get any better?
Here are the specs:
- Bike size 46 centimeters. In layman's terms....that is the distance between the top bar (where it meets the seat post) and right where the pedal is sticking out of the gear. Got it? Okay.
- Tubus cargo 26 inch rear rack (we'll chat more on this and the rest of the "gear" included later)
- Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Plus Handlebar bag
- One pair Ortlieb Back Roller Plus panniers
- SKS P65 26" Fenders
- Rear 4 D fender Toplight
-Schwalbe Marathon Supreme Tires 26X2 Kevlar bead. (Here's the deal people, if you are planning on riding out of the country, 26 inch tires are the most universal. If you get some other size you may have trouble getting repairs done in some crazy part of the world.)
-Shimano Pedals PD- M24 LE (SPD on one side, platforms on the other) I have no idea what this means, but I will, then I will tell you!
Isn't learning fun?
You know what? If I continue on this list it is going to be the worlds longest single post. I'm going to break this all down later. We learned about bike sizing today. That's a good start.
You may also be curious about the cost of the bike. We got this bike and all the fixin's for about $1200. This WAS an amazing deal. Just the bike without the upgrades and gear would typically be about $1000. The BF scours various sites daily for bike stuff. He is still looking for his bike for the ride. In case you are curious, "Jaxed" http://www.jaxed.com/ is a search engine he uses to dig through everything on E Bay and Craigslist and one other site. He just plugs in the name of the bike he is looking for and it pulls up matches. Give it a shot!
I will leave you with one last bit of information...
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| This is in reference to tire size. The Surly does not mean to offend. |
-Wes
You should name your bike Enterprise.
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