Friday, September 11, 2009

Adios Poprad

The Lemond Poprad is in transit to a new home. The new home will be in Portland Oregon. My brother in law moved there recently after graduating college and was in search of a serviceable bike for getting around and a bit of fun too. It struck me that I wasn't riding the Poprad much anymore, mainly because it didn't fit me very well and it never felt right. Luckily, Alex is about my size, or more specifically, his proportions are just enough different from mine such that the bike fits him perfectly. Furthermore, the Poprad is a cyclocross bike which translates well into a bike for both commuting and almost any other kind of riding except racing and technical single track - it's the kind of bike you'd want if you had just one. Alex took a look at the bike during a visit and was very happy with it. Perfect! Talk about an ideal transfer of gear.

I set about sprucing up the Poprad a bit with a good scrubbing and new cables, brake pads and bar tape. I rode it a bunch in the last few weeks just to reassure myself that the bike is sound. It survived some long road rides and rougher trail runs. In fact, the bike was terrific. I hate to brag, but I did a great job putting this bike back together. It works better than ever before; perhaps I have improved my tinkering skills over the years. I'm so pleased with it that I am a little sad to see it go, but I'm reassured in that it's new owner will ride it plenty.

List of likes and dislikes on this bike for posterity:
Likes: accommodates fat tires, fenders and a rack, climbs quickly, nice 853 tubing, good road feel, Vittoria Randonneur tires, Ritchey Biomax handlebars, cantilever brakes.
Dislikes: flexy around the bottom bracket which makes trimming the front derailleur a moving target, too short a top tube for my proportions, wimpy rack mounts, unicrown fork = ughhh, cantilever brakes.

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