Last Friday, I did something I said I'd never do again. Actually, you might say I did two things I vowed not to do.
Yes, I bought a mountain bike: my first in nearly two decades. I admit, it doesn't have the latest technology and wasn't even a high-end bike in its day. But I don't plan to do some of the crazy stunts I did when I was younger.
When I say the bike wasn't high-end, I mean that it was the lowest-level mountain bike its manufacturer was offering. Which leads me to the second thing I said I'd never do: I bought a Cannondale mountain bike. An M-300 from 1996, to be exact.
Now, I don't have anything against Cannondale bikes per se. I realize that, like certain saddles, some people just like the ride of them. The Cannondales I had felt particularly harsh. Then again, they were some of the company's early road bikes. I've heard that C-dale refined their offerings, but I decided that since I generally prefer steel bikes, I'd stick to them.
The way I figure it, though, is that a Cannondale mountain bike won't be as harsh as one of its road bikes because of the mountain bike's fatter tires and the slacker geometry. Also, I don't reckon I'll take this bike on the sorts of long rides I take with my Mercians.
Oh, and the bike has a Rock Shox Indy fork and a suspension seatpost. I plan to get rid of the latter: I can replace it with a long 27.2mm rigid seatpost I have lying around. I'll leave the Rock Shox on the bike for now and if I don't like it, or just don't want to maintain it, I might switch to a rigid fork.
The rest of the bike, though, I'm going to leave as-is, at least until the parts wear out. The only thing I absolutely must change is the right shift lever:
When I pointed it out to the man from whom I bought the bike, he knocked the price down. I told him I was willing to pay his original asking price, as he let me ride it and I found that the bike tracked straight and everything else was working as it should. (I tried shifting the rear derailleur by hand, and I could see that it will shift fine with a functioning shifter.) In a way, that broken shifter is just as well because I don't like twist-grip shifters*. I plan to replace it with a cheap Sun Race thumb shifter and, if and when the rest of the drivetrain wears out, I will decide whether I want to "upgrade" to 8 or 9 speeds--or turn the bike into a single-speed, something I might do if I decide this is a "snow" bike.
So, here I am, with my first mountain bike--and my first aluminum frame--in ages. Don't worry: I'm not going rogue!
Oh, and the man from whom I bought the bike had every intention of selling it--unlike the fellow I wrote about yesterday.
*When I say I don't like something, I don't necessarily mean that anything is inherently wrong with it. It's just a matter of my personal preferences. For example I know some of you like bar-end shifters and if you do, you should use them. They're just not for me. I'd say the same for certain saddles.
Yes, I bought a mountain bike: my first in nearly two decades. I admit, it doesn't have the latest technology and wasn't even a high-end bike in its day. But I don't plan to do some of the crazy stunts I did when I was younger.
When I say the bike wasn't high-end, I mean that it was the lowest-level mountain bike its manufacturer was offering. Which leads me to the second thing I said I'd never do: I bought a Cannondale mountain bike. An M-300 from 1996, to be exact.
Now, I don't have anything against Cannondale bikes per se. I realize that, like certain saddles, some people just like the ride of them. The Cannondales I had felt particularly harsh. Then again, they were some of the company's early road bikes. I've heard that C-dale refined their offerings, but I decided that since I generally prefer steel bikes, I'd stick to them.
The way I figure it, though, is that a Cannondale mountain bike won't be as harsh as one of its road bikes because of the mountain bike's fatter tires and the slacker geometry. Also, I don't reckon I'll take this bike on the sorts of long rides I take with my Mercians.
Oh, and the bike has a Rock Shox Indy fork and a suspension seatpost. I plan to get rid of the latter: I can replace it with a long 27.2mm rigid seatpost I have lying around. I'll leave the Rock Shox on the bike for now and if I don't like it, or just don't want to maintain it, I might switch to a rigid fork.
The rest of the bike, though, I'm going to leave as-is, at least until the parts wear out. The only thing I absolutely must change is the right shift lever:
When I pointed it out to the man from whom I bought the bike, he knocked the price down. I told him I was willing to pay his original asking price, as he let me ride it and I found that the bike tracked straight and everything else was working as it should. (I tried shifting the rear derailleur by hand, and I could see that it will shift fine with a functioning shifter.) In a way, that broken shifter is just as well because I don't like twist-grip shifters*. I plan to replace it with a cheap Sun Race thumb shifter and, if and when the rest of the drivetrain wears out, I will decide whether I want to "upgrade" to 8 or 9 speeds--or turn the bike into a single-speed, something I might do if I decide this is a "snow" bike.
So, here I am, with my first mountain bike--and my first aluminum frame--in ages. Don't worry: I'm not going rogue!
Oh, and the man from whom I bought the bike had every intention of selling it--unlike the fellow I wrote about yesterday.
*When I say I don't like something, I don't necessarily mean that anything is inherently wrong with it. It's just a matter of my personal preferences. For example I know some of you like bar-end shifters and if you do, you should use them. They're just not for me. I'd say the same for certain saddles.
