Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Back on the road again ....

Due to circumstances, I did not ride my Z Pro much these last months. In fact, since I returned from my short holiday in Germany last December, I did not ride it at all. Mostly because of the weather; winter was mild when it came to temperatures, but pretty wet. Only last week, the weather finally turned around and I took the Z Pro out of the garage. Only to find out that I should have cleaned the bike more appropriate ! There was a lot of rust everywhere : on the chain, most of the bolts, even the spokes, although they are black, show some sign of corrosion where they cross each other. Guess riding on the German roads when they were salted to prevent them from freezing, was not so good for my bike ! Anyway, I only have myself to blame for this negligence, so I tried to find some replacement stainless steel bolts. I went to almost every hardware store in the neighbourhood, only to find out that they were not available ! Gee .... Guess I'll have to look on the internet to find me some SS or aluminum replacement bolts. Why don't bikes come with SS or aluminum bolts when you buy them ??? Maybe that would make them too expensive, but still ...

My other CF bike, the 700X, is now exactly how I want it and is a blast to ride ! Shifting the Alfine hub is precise and very light. It is a bike you can ride anywhere, just as long as you keep cranking the pedals. Last week I took it to the local trail to test ride it and it went pretty well ! Only on tight corners, the length of the bike makes you realize that you're riding something different than a mountain bike. The other thing I'm still not used to when riding trails, is that you cannot clamp the saddle between your tights, like a regular bike. Still wasn't as fast as the others on their mountain bikes on the trail, but hey, give me a couple of more months and I'll keep up !

Not a pretty sight ....

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