I recently purchased a bicycle. I haven't had a bike since before I finished college, and in that time, even with my other athletic ventures, I've grown insanely out of shape. Okay, not "insanely" per se, but perhaps more along the lines of "pathetic." It's been a while since I've had my heart-rate up this high. Yes, I'm single, too...
So any-who, I bought a bike with the intention of riding several times a week to help burn off fat and get a good cardio workout. I got the bike two weeks ago, and the weather has been terrible, up till this weekend. I've had three days to ride, and all of them so far apart my body isn't coping very well. I just finished my longest ride in probably 5 years...about a mile.
On the plus side, I did get a really cool bike that is rather unique. It's made by Dynamic Bicycles, a US based company that makes shaft-drive bikes. Yes, that's right...SHAFT drive. As apposed to chain drive. It's a pretty neat concept that has been around for many years, but has been hard to obtain and expensive to own, up till now.
Here's the bike I got. It's called the Outback Elite 7:
It's full suspension, with a front disc brake (caliper rear), 22" frame, shaft-drive with a 7-speed gearbox transmission (which Dynamic claims is comparable to 17 gears on a 24 speed bike).
There's a cool little java video on the site, showing how the shaft drive mechanism works, and you can swivel the 3D image around to get a good look at it:
So how good is it? Well, I'm no Lance Armstrong, but I've had a lot of bikes before, both cheap and expensive. What I can tell you from my amature viewpoint is that this is a very well built bike with quality components that fit together really well. Receiving the bike via mail, I had to assemble it, which took some time, but everything was easy. The instruction manuals for the various components and the assembly were written in clear English.
The ride is very smooth. I was endlessly skeptical at the beginning, but after my few rides I am pretty happy with my purchase. As you're peddling, you can change gears using a grip-shift mechanism on the right handle which ratchets you up or down through the gears, same as on a chain bike.
The only difference is that there's no chain clunking away, no grease, and little chance of gear-slippage. If you're keeping a constant peddling rate, gear changes are smooth, however if you're really hammering it, trying to struggle up a hill, the transmission doesn't change easily and you can feel it slipping a little. Sometimes you have to let up a little so that the gears can change. This isn't really that big of a deal, though. One of the nifty things about the transmission, though, is that you can change gears without peddling. So if you're stopped, and find you accidentally forgot to down-shift to an easy start gear, you can just twist the grip and bang, yer all set! Same while coasting down the trail.
I was a bit anxious about the 7 gears. I mean, I've had bikes with 32 speeds, and going to a 7 speed bike seemed like getting a kids bike. However, two things come into play here.
1. I realized I never really used all those gears anyway. I kinda went from whatever gear was easy, to medium, to hard. Didn't really bother which one it was.
2. I'm not Lance Armstrong.
When you ride one of these bikes, you'll quickly notice that the 7 gears really do feel like they cover a good chunk of the gear range on a normal bike. I'd say it's about the middle slice. The 7th gear isn't as tough as I'd like, nor the 1st gear as easy, but there's enough gear range to have a good ride. This is a mountain-bike after all. Speed isn't the name of the game. For me, avoiding sudden death by tree or heart-attack is the name of the game. :P
For those who are really interested, there is an upgrade available from Dynamic for an 8 speed transmission, which gives a slightly wider range of gears. I thought about getting it when I got the bike, but decided that I should experience the new technology before making a $200 decision.
All in all I think I've made a sound buy, and am happy. Sure, I could have bought a conventional bike and received those extra gears and all, but then it wouldn't be unique. I like unique.
On to other news...
Yesterday, as I said in my first post, I journeyed to IKEA.
There's an IKEA in Prince William County here in VA, but from where I am (Sterling) it takes about an hour to two hours, depending on the traffic, weather, and any construction that the government is spending money on for those long lonely roads that really need to have their shoulders in perfect order...
The good news was that it was a beautiful day out! Best weather we've had in months! Sunny, warm, no wind, no clouds! It was awesome! One of those days were you just open the windows and cruise, feeling all warm and good about everything. It was especially good because it's been months since I could get my baby out on the road and really open 'er up, flex that muscle.
Winter is one of my favorite seasons, but the driving sucks. All that ice and salt really puts a damper on things.
Anyway, the trip to and from IKEA was awesome. IKEA, on the other hand...well let's just say I would have better spent my time not getting out and just making a big loop back home. I set out to find some more of these plates I got from there, but they didn't have them anymore. I also was looking for a new lamp for my upstairs but they didn't have anything I liked. I did get a few new cereal bowls which were cool. They're plain glass, and I think they were really meant to be cooking ingredient bowls, but they look cool with cereal in them, and they're big. I hate small bowls that you have to make 20 refills before you get full.
So IKEA was a bust, but at least the day was fruitful insofar as I had a great drive!
Now I need to go lay down and whimper as my muscles cringe in tormented sorrow......ow....
No comments:
Post a Comment