New Bike!

I've had it for a few weeks, but permit me to post about my new bike anyhow (your eyes might glaze over now):

There it is. As I had said earlier, I had mostly been considering Treks. But the last place I looked was Light Street Cycles, which is where I had taken my bike to be repaired. They don't really do Treks, but they did have a Gary Fisher that was $40 cheaper than the cheapest Trek I was considering. It also had a front shock, which the Treks did not -- a consideration given the extremely rough pavement in B-more. It didn't feel quite as nice on the test ride in terms of shifting and other niceties, but between the lower price and front shock, it was a good deal. Plus, the wheel rims are slightly thicker, which decreases the chances of me throwing them out of true on potholes. And part of what made me take the plunge with this particular bike is that Light Street Cycles is a friendly local shop that's a hub for bike activists and other community folks.

So it's a Gary Fisher Tiburon (no, not a Hyundai Tiburon). A mid-to-low-range bike, but a huge improvement over my poor old green Trek. And I'm really enjoying the front shock -- the little "pfft" sound it makes when I hit the unavoidable bumps is more satifying than having it rattle the whole bike (and my whole body). There's one of those slightly dorky shocks in the seatpost, too.

As you can see in this photo, I got a new rack for it, because it turned out I had cracked the frame on my old rack by carrying too many groceries. (Plus, the screws were so rusted that no amount of effort or Tri-Flow could get them off.)

Anyway, I'm trying to take better care of my bike now that I have one that's in decent shape. I'm keeping it in the parking garage at work, and I've pimped the pantry to hold it, along with Dana's bike:

It's more effort to keep it inside, but it's worth it to keep it from the weather and the risk of theft. Anway, I'm excited about my new means of transport.