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Monday, November 12, 2007

New Bike!

I bought a new bike! See:

It's a Surly Cross-Check. I plunked my money down yesterday, and picked it up this afternoon with all my accessories installed (I got a duplicate pair of brake levers installed on the upper bar). I spent a long time deciding whether to buy it, but I definitely felt like I had made the right decision while riding it home today. It's so light and nimble, yet solid-feeling, compared to my old bike (which I'm holding onto for situations where it's called for). It'll be great to ride it to work, but it's a three-day weekend for us government workers, so I'm going to take it out for a big ride tomorrow (after the scheduled game of Risk with Zach and Adam).

7 comments:

lj said...

Congratulations! That's really awesome. Are you going the Australia route or the South American strategy? Do you guys play with randomly dealt countries or the round of picking?

The new bike is pretty cool, too.

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Teague! You're going to love it! And i think it's a good move to get brake levers on the top bars; that's where you spend most of your time. I've never seen a white Cross-Check before; it looks good! Now for that t-shirt...

Teague said...

Thanks! (LJ, we picked countries, and I ended up sticking to Africa, which never really works out.) And thanks for the encouragement, Hannah...I'm very excited about the bike. I took a ride on the Rock Creek Parkway this afternoon (it's closed to traffic weekends and holidays) -- the foliage was briliant, and I was swishing along very happily on my Cross-Check.

It's also pretty cool that you happen to be acquainted with the Twin Six guys...

Quigliscious said...

::drool::

::jealousy:-P

Andrew said...

Awesome -- best bike evar. I can't believe I got mine only 14 months ago ... I can't imagine biking without it.

Interesting... it looks like you have Tektro/Cane Creek brake levers, while mine has (and their web site specs) Shimanos? They're both very nice levers... maybe Shimano couldn't keep up with Surly's growing demand :).

Andrew said...

Oh, one other thing... if you ride in the drops much, you might be annoyed (like I was) at the shift cables -- you have to either grab them or slip your hands between then and the bars. I simply used some electrical tape to attach them to the bars all the way through the curved section; now my hands hardly notice them and they flop around less, too. Maybe I should send a picture.

Teague said...

Yeah, I'm really pleased with the Cross-Check -- thanks for letting me take yours on such an extended test ride while I was visiting last summer. Thanks for the hint on the brake cables...I noticed them when I was in the drops, but it didn't annoy me too much. I've even got some electrical tape, so I can make the adjustment if it starts bothering me.