Hi eveyone
I thought I would post an update of my road bike. I posted this bike previously in the Post a pic of you and your latest purchase thread, and possibly elsewhere.
I bought it off a guy in Port Melbourne who was selling it very cheaply on eBay back when eBay was good like that and I’d cruise it when I had time during nightshifts.
Those of you who know me will know my cycling history. I’ve ridden bikes since I was 5 or so, but never been a racer. I hate putting myself in that zone that you need to put yourself in to win stuff. I’ve always commuted by bike, but it wasn’t until I picked up a bike or two at the tip shop in Darwin that I got sucked right into it. I was attracted to the fixie aesthetic that I’d seen on the internet at the time (2009) but that wasn’t physically accessible in my community. I got into touring really, and later; gravel grinders and Audax and that sort of stuff.
I never “got” road bikes. Why would you want to ride a bike with such skinny tyres? Such a saddle to bar drop? Surely weight isn’t everything right? But this Look came up and it was a bit exotic and clearly a bargain, so I got it. I rode it a few times but still didn’t really understand it, but I couldn’t bring myself to sell it.
I moved to Launceston in 2019 and rode a bit. Fair bit of mountain biking and some gravel grinding. Then I fell out of love with bikes for a bit. I wasn’t too worried. It’s happened before and I’ve always come back. Anyway, I got a bit fed up with the amount of focus required for mountain biking. I just wanted to zen out. My new guitar teacher rides 40km+ loops 6 days a week so I checked out where he went and figured I should give some a go. My rando bike was disassembled though so I put on some proper lycra, put my leg over the Look, and rode out to the Fish Shop (pretty quintessential simple roll along the river).
Such sensations. It felt great. I saw a glimmer of what this bike is sort of about so I rode it some more, on more challenging routes, and it was awesome. I ride it often now, mixing it in with the rando bike.
Anyway here it is. It’s good to be back into riding for fun. I wish I had more time to do it but I’m committing time to it when I can and feeling good for it.
The specs are:
10sp Chorus
Record cranks 50/34
Fulcrum Racing 1s (bought from Damian Drapac RIP)
Zipp Service Course bars (42cm?), stem (110mm?), seat post (thanks Asher)
SMP Dynamic saddle bought in hindsight from a dodgy guy in a 7/11 carpark
Some sort of lightweight tacky bartape (Lizard Skins?)
