New Wheels

Pent-up demand - probably about the sexiest term in economics.  After considering buying a new bicycle for two or three years, at the end of July I finally went for it.

My old bike, a K2 Tradewind, is a women's hybrid frame with straight handlebars that has taken me for some very good rides, and through some very hard times.  I've been riding it for at least six years, including a summer of fund-raising and training to ride the Seattle-to-Portland with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training in 2007.  I rode my first century that summer, and the Flying Wheels Century, and then the two-day 204-mile ride to Portland.  I rode it to work and school through some cold, wet, dark winters.  Last summer my K2 carried me through the mountains on Highway 66 to United Bicycle Institute in Ashland, where I inflicted a near-complete overhaul on it.  Last winter I was evicted from my home of ten years because I kept my K2 in my living room, and the three of us - my bike, my cat and me - spent a month camping out in cheap motels until I could find another place.

So I'm sentimental about it.  But I'd begun to think I had out-grown the frame without growing any taller.  The short top tube made me feel hunched over and curled up my spine painfully.  Not that woman-specific frames are a bad design, but probably after four or five years I'd developed enough upper-body and torso strength that I don't feel too stretched out leaning and reaching for the handlebars on a standard frame.

I decided I wanted a steel-frame commuting and touring bike with low gears for hill-climbing, that could be fitted with racks and fenders for light touring, shopping and commuting.  I considered several different bikes, all in roughly the same price range, including a Kona touring bike, a Masi, Raleigh, Novara, Fuji or Surly.  I also looked at used bikes, but it's rare to find good-quality smaller frames.  Last fall I had decided on a Fuji classic steel touring bike that came equipped with racks and a triple chain-ring, but just when I was about to get out my checkbook, I lost my job.

By now it's becoming painful to ride my old frame, and with the limited bus service to my new place in Ferndale, I really need reliable transportation.  A new bicycle is still more affordable than buying and keeping a car, even though it took a chunk of my savings and added to the charge card debt I haven't paid off from last winter.

I chose a Surly Cross-Check, which I've been riding daily for two weeks.  I still feel a bit shaky reaching for the brake levers and bar-end shifters, and I'm still getting used to the gearing, but it's definitely stretching out my back.  It looks a lot prettier without the lights, computer, rack and bottle-cages I added, but they're necessities.  I'll probably add fenders later in the fall, and might want a women's saddle if I start doing rides of more than about thirty miles.  So far I'm very pleased, but not ready to part with my K2.