Answer: My new LeMond bicycle!
After 12 years on my faithful Specialized Allez, yesterday I finally broke down and bought a new road bike. I've been semi-seriously shopping for the last couple of seasons, but wasn't finding much out there that truly lit my fire; and my lugged-steel Allez (which I'm keeping) fits and rides so well that I was having a hard time justifying a new bike. But a test ride on this baby was all it took to make up my mind.
(Sorry about the blurry picture ... not sure what went wrong.)
For the gearheads: this is a leftover 2005 Buenos Aires model, size 59cm. The fork is carbon fiber, which is pretty much SOP these days, but the frame is an interesting mixture of carbon fiber (charcoal gray portion) and steel (yellow portion, excluding the fork). LeMond, which is part of the Trek family, calls this its "Spine Design" combination. A lot of manufacturers are building multi-material frames these days but all the bike mags say that LeMond has hit upon one of the best arrangements for which tube is made of which material. We shall see.
The components are a mixture of Campagnolo (old world Italian) and Bontrager (Trek's own in-house brand). As pictured the bike is bone stock except for the addition of the pedals, computer/HRM, and bottle cages. I still need to install my favorite saddle, and will put on a set of more durable Continental tires when the lightweight Bontragers wear out.
Naturally it's cold and rainy here today, so I can't go for a ride.
After 12 years on my faithful Specialized Allez, yesterday I finally broke down and bought a new road bike. I've been semi-seriously shopping for the last couple of seasons, but wasn't finding much out there that truly lit my fire; and my lugged-steel Allez (which I'm keeping) fits and rides so well that I was having a hard time justifying a new bike. But a test ride on this baby was all it took to make up my mind.
(Sorry about the blurry picture ... not sure what went wrong.)
For the gearheads: this is a leftover 2005 Buenos Aires model, size 59cm. The fork is carbon fiber, which is pretty much SOP these days, but the frame is an interesting mixture of carbon fiber (charcoal gray portion) and steel (yellow portion, excluding the fork). LeMond, which is part of the Trek family, calls this its "Spine Design" combination. A lot of manufacturers are building multi-material frames these days but all the bike mags say that LeMond has hit upon one of the best arrangements for which tube is made of which material. We shall see.
The components are a mixture of Campagnolo (old world Italian) and Bontrager (Trek's own in-house brand). As pictured the bike is bone stock except for the addition of the pedals, computer/HRM, and bottle cages. I still need to install my favorite saddle, and will put on a set of more durable Continental tires when the lightweight Bontragers wear out.
Naturally it's cold and rainy here today, so I can't go for a ride.
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