Bike Noob

Because I'm Always Learning Something New

A Biking Change of Pace

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Last week, my road bike was out of commission while my cassette woes were being attended to. That left me without a ride on Sunday morning, which is my main ride of the week. What to do?

Aha! Hanging in the garage, seldom used, is a 10-year-old mountain bike. My wife gave it to me for a birthday present, and I never really took to it. At one point, I thought I might turn it into a utility bike and use it for running errands and such. It’s gotten vary limited use in that regard, although I have mounted a rear rack to it and put on skinnier slick tires to replace the knobbies.

The Trek 4900 hardtail.
The Trek 4900 hardtail.

I decided I’d give it a try. I hadn’t really ridden the thing on the roads for a couple of years. I pumped up the tires and hopped on.

Nothing adventurous — I just wanted to get some time in the saddle. I rode a mish-mash of neighborhood routes, and covered 14.5 miles in a little over an hour.

So how was it? Better than I remembered, actually. Oh, there are things I still don’t like about it: My hands hurt after a relatively short while because there isn’t the variety of hand positions that I have on my road bike. However, that also might be a fit issue. I never took advantage of the simple fitting the bike shop does, because back when I got the bike, I didn’t know anything about biking, and didn’t think being fitted to the bike was all that important.

I’m also not crazy about the front suspension. Obviously, if I used the bike as intended — off road — they would be most welcome. But riding on suburban streets, they’re completely unnecessary. I just can’t get used to the diving sensation that occurs when I make a stop.

On the plus side, it’s a good workout. I worked harder than I would, and at a slower speed,  than I would to ride the road bike the same distance. When it was over, I felt really good.

So, I think I might be taking it out again. I doubt I’ll ever get into mountain biking in a serious way, but as a change of pace, it’s worthwhile. Close by, we have some nice county parks with bike trails. Nothing technical, but the steed would be in a more appropriate environment when it rides there. I might have to break out the knobbies again.

I imagine many, if not most, Bike Noob readers have mountain bikes of their own. How much do you ride them compared to your road bikes? Do they serve as fill-in duty like mine, do you run errands in them, or do you bash round singletrack? Let me know.

Not Entry Level

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A few weeks ago, I had my bike over at the bike mechanic’s place. David is an experienced wrench, and has even worked for one of the domestic pro race teams. Now, he’s our very own club mechanic, and I have taken my bike over to his place several times and waited for him to finish up with another club member or two.

This time, we were dealing with my balky front derailleur. He made short work of the repair, but he really wanted me to do something about my rear wheel.

“It’s on its last legs,” he said. “I trued the spokes, but the hub is shot. It’s time to spring for a new wheel.”

We kicked around some ideas for wheels. David, who admits to having champagne tastes when it comes to bikes and components, recommended a high-end wheelset that I just wasn’t going to go for.

He finally agreed with me that a lower-end model would be just fine, and would still be an upgrade from the stock rims that came with the bike.

“I know these are no-name wheels,” I said. “But for an entry-level bike, I think they’ve worked out pretty well.”

My bike is a 2008 Specialized Allez Elite Compact. That means it has upgraded components over the base Allez.

It's got a different saddle now, and the water bottles have been moved to the frame, but this is pretty much it.
It’s got a different saddle now, and the water bottles have been moved to the frame, but this is pretty much it.

“You know, this really isn’t an entry-level bike,” he said. “Look at what you’ve got.”

He then started at the front and worked his way to the back, pointing out features I’d taken for granted long ago.

“You’ve got a carbon fork,” he said, “but you also have a carbon seatpost and carbon seat stays. The geometry of the bike is race-like. It’s an aluminum frame, okay, but aluminum can take a beating, and it’s relatively light.

“As a matter of fact,” David added, “Dave Wenger has an Alleez.” (David says the “Specialized guys” don’t use the French pronunciation for Allez — ahl-LAY — meaning, “go,” but instead call it the “Al-LEEZ.” I won’t.) If you’re involved in cycling in the Austin area, you’ve probably at least heard of Dave Wenger. He’s one of the top racers in this area.

“Really?” I said.

“Yes. He uses it in local criteriums, where he can really bash it around. Now, it’s been upgraded all around — wheels, drivetrain — but he races an Alleez. That’s really a pretty good bike you’ve got there.”

Well, that made me feel better. I’ve had some components changed on this bike, too — had an Ultegra rear derailleur mounted, although I also downgraded to a Sora shifter. The Bicycling magazine Buyer’s Guide says the current Allez model — the Comp Compact M2 Apex (sigh) — offers “the vibe of a race machine but manners best suited to riders taking their first, exploratory pedal strokes, or to more experienced rouleurs seeking a bike with ride-all-day comfort and enough get-up-and-go for the local Tuesday-Night World Championships.” So, entry level and beyond.

Frankly, I can’t vouch for all-day comfort on this bike. I’m pretty done in after four hours in the saddle. Still, it’s good to know that the Specialized Alleez — excuse me, the Allez — is nothing to be ashamed of when I line up at club rides with the Madones, and the Wiliers, and the BMCs, the Cervelos, and Kuotas some of my fellow riders are taking out.

And a new member who’s been riding with us for just a few weeks decided he needed a better bike than his old steel 10-speed. He bought an Alleez — Allez — too.

 

No More Titanium

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I took the titanium bike back to my friend Rick today. With the beginning of the new month, the bank account is flush again, and I took my own bike over to the bike mechanic to have it worked on. (I feel a bit sheepish about that now, because it took him only 10 minutes to fix it, and he charged me a whopping $8.)

After a handful of rides on Rick’s bike, I thought I’d give some impressions. The two big differences between his and mine — besides the size — were the titanium frame and the triple crankset.

The titanium frame had much the same effect as the steel frame I tried a few months ago. It smoothed out the roughness we encounter on our roads around here. But compared to the steel, the titanium was even smoother. That loose gravel I mentioned that we hit on Sunday was swallowed up by the titanium and the 25 mm tires. I know if I had run into the same conditions on my aluminum bike with the 23 mm tires, I would have been able to feel every pebble.

I’ve also concluded that if I ever get another bike, it will have a triple. The reason is simple: better gear selection. My Allez has a nine-speed compact. While some of the gears have a single-tooth spacing, others have a two-tooth gap. One has a three-tooth gap. On the Airborne, most of the gears were spaced only one tooth apart. For me, that had the effect of more precise gearing throughout my rides. As I told Rick, “I always feel that I’m in the right gear. With the compact double, I feel like I’m between gears sometimes.”

Of course, the triple made climbing hills easier, although I did not get a chance to try it out on some of the really challenging hills around here — the hills that I have trouble getting all the way up on my own bike. I did take it up some of the steeper hills on my Saturday morning route, and it made a couple of testers seem positively easy.

I used the 12-25 cassette for those hills. Another wheel had an 11-23. So that one would have gotten me a little bit more speed on the flats, when I’m in the 11-tooth gear, but really — my highest speeds come when I’m coasting down hills anyway. One tooth difference between cassettes doesn’t mean much.

So I enjoyed my time on Rick’s bike, but I’m eager to get out on my own on a Fourth of July morning tomorrow. Maybe, as Rick suggested, the perceived differences between his and my bikes were simply due to a “placebo effect,” and my own bike won’t feel much different, after all.

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