A slightly somber day around the homestead. The Surly was (finally) sold to a young college freshman who is ready to cast off on his first fixed gear adventure. The bike was promptly replaced by an on-sale Novara Fusion. Yes, it has gears. And I can coast. And it has a rack. REI was clearing out this model (and the Transfer), and the deal could not be beat. The stars aligned, and I was able to take a handful of cash from our young fixed gear convert and head to REI and pick up a new bike.

(Side story: I visited REI on Tuesday–the store is only a few blocks from my office–and they had a Fusion and a Transfer on the floor. I was slightly more interested in the Transfer because it had linear pull brakes, rather than the roller models on the Fusion. It was also less expensive. I went back over to REI on Friday to test ride them and they were both gone. Gulp. After some digging, an employee found another (returned) Fusion in stock, and I took it for a spin. Comfy. I asked them to hold it for me–since I couldn’t ride two bikes home–and the boys and myself picked it up today.)

A friend noted that his fixed gear Pied Piper was jumping ship, and Jen was a bit shocked that I could sell the Steamroller, given that I’ve probably logged in the neighborhood of 30,000 miles on it. I’m sure there will be times that I’ll miss that bike, but now is not one of them. Before I began racing, the fixed gear was a good workout. I didn’t mind dead legs, and until the last eighteen months, I never had to carry much around with me. Then I started dragging a laptop back and forth to work. And we got a trailer for the boys. And I raced once a week, and was riding reasonably hard on the weekends. Some days, I just couldn’t rest enough when commuting on the fixed gear. Though the sale was already in motion beforehand, this week was the straw that broke the camel’s back–by Friday I felt dead, so much so that I rode the Redline to work (try commuting with 32×20). Yes, it was luxuriously easy, but it was also slow. Really slow.

Then there’s whole baggage issue. As reported in this space, I’ve tried just about ever possible configuration for carrying stuff on the Surly. Nothing worked perfectly. The CETMA porteur rack came close, but in the process started stripping the nuts on the front hub. I finally reached the point of carrying everything on my back, which is less than pleasant in the middle of the summer. Now I’ve got a bike with proper rack mounts. Panniers will again be in my future.

So, on to the Fusion. What do I like? The 8 speed rear hub. The front generator hub. The fit (very comfy). The full fenders and Vittoria Rando tires. What don’t I like? The suspension seatpost and stock saddle will be gone very quickly. The front light, a Shimamo dual LED model, will be replaced by the Lumotec Oval Plus in the basement. If the roller brakes act up, I believe I can remove them and go with Tektro sidepulls. Yes, the bike is heavy. It weighs probably twice as much as the Surly did. But that’s okay. This isn’t build for speed.

Posted on 23 August 2008