New ride...

Due in part to my friend Curtis and his willingness to sell me his race bike from last season, I now have a new bike to ride post accident. I finally was able to get it, and take it out for a spin yesterday, and I've got to say, I love this bike already. It seems to be a bit slower steering than say, the Giant TCR, but then again, what bike doesn't steer slower than the Twitch-master 2000 that the Giant TCR really is (which is one of the reasons that I loved that bike, and that frame design for many years now). Anyway, Pinarello, I think I'm hooked on it already. We'll see how I feel about in a month or so from now, but I suspect that I will feel the same way even next year at this time. Chances are good that even though I'll most assuredly get more new bikes, I might be keeping this one for awhile. I always need to have a spare, or find it a good practice to have a spare hanging around. I imagine that after serving duty under my butt this season, this bike might go into the "Sunday Ride" bin of use, meaning, keep it clean and super shiny, and only break it out once a week for a slow Sunday rider, where there will no doubt be a coffee shop stop somewhere along the way. Anywho, check out the picture of the new ride.

Now there are some of you out there (ahem, Jason) who will no doubt criticize the now existing Sram component group that is on the bike, and the future Dura-Ace components that will be going on the bike. Some will be yelling for Campy to be placed on the bike, mostly because it's Italian damn it all, and deserves, and actually demands Italian components. I would love to have a full Record group to place on this bike of course, but since I don't, and don't want to spend the coin to get said Record group, I will put the Dura-Ace group on there. Which in this case, I am assuming that it's going to be OK. Why you might ask? Well, let me tell you. This frame, even though it comes from an Italian company, is indeed built in Taiwan. So, technically, the Shimano Dura-Ace group, produced in Japan, is a lot closer to where this frame was made, as opposed to Campy components which are still made in Italy, at least for now. That being said, I wouldn't have a problem placing a Campy Chorus group on there as well. Another nice component group that is probably the equal of Dura-Ace as it pertains to performance, and about the same price, but it does have that Campy carbon look. One group that won't be gracing this bike will be SRAM Red, mostly, because it is incredibly and ridiculously expensive for a bike group. But hey, if you want it, and have the money, don't let me dissuade you from paying your hard earned dollars for the SRAM Red group. I think though, that unfortunately, the SRAM Red group falls into the same state of mind of Serotta frame purchasers, which is, more money than sense.