A short intro, & a question about hiring/borrowing

Hi all

Have been lurking here for a while, but time to introduce myself..

Been riding for several years now - MTB's mainly (currently operating
Marin Rift Zone), and do general XC trial riding, and commuting from th
east to the city..

My degree of bike commuting is about to ramp up a notch with the Mrs no
on maternity leave and I'm playing about getting a bike more suited t
commuting than the duallie (although it actually does very well - I'
just more concerned about wearing it out on road

I've played with a few ideas including adapting my old 21 spd stee
hardtail, or modifying a 50 yr old 3spd sturmey-archered road bike
acquired... But before I do anything I'm tempted to give a nice roa
bike a go to see what I think, but don't know anybody who has one... Th
old road bike probably doesn't give me the best impression of what i
could feel like

So - (and finally we get to the question) - Is there anywhere i
Melbourne where you can hire/borrow a decent road bike for a week or s
to get a good feeling for it

Nice to be here/meet you/read what you're all saying :


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a zillion elements to consider (but that's half the fun, aint it...

what are youre road/path conditions like? How much you gonna carry? Ho
fast do you intend going? Budget

I think BikeNow in Sth melb may do i

checkout

http://www.bv.com.au/download/ACFC562.pd

the 21spd mtb may very well do you well (especially with the hounds o
winter beying at our doors...

whack some slicks on (check out hippy's site for more details on slicks
and scars for that matter :-) ) and you wont go that much slower wit
less punctures and more comfort. rigid forks will make life easier to

where east are you riding from/to


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To be honest, I'm pretty chuffed with how the duallie handles my ride.
ride from Mont Albert Nth to the City, via some backroads, Balwyn Rd,
bit of cycle path, Kew Junction, and Bridge Rd, etc... So it's mainl
road but with a bit of kerb hopping along the way where need be. I jus
carry me and a backpack, not too heavily and zip along relativel
speedily (only get passed by one or two riders max!

I already run slicks and the Marin is fast without too much suspension
wasted energy. The hardtail is looking like an option, and rigid fork
would be the go... Has anyone ever mounted drop bars on a MTB? I picke
up a set of the funky tri-style bars (that seem to be all the rag
amongst Finnish bike couriers!) at Bicycle Recycle on Saturday and a
tempted to see how they'd handle it..


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eddiec wrote:
To be honest, I'm pretty chuffed with how the duallie handles my ride. I
ride from Mont Albert Nth to the City, via some backroads, Balwyn Rd, a
bit of cycle path, Kew Junction, and Bridge Rd, etc... So it's mainly
road but with a bit of kerb hopping along the way where need be. I just
carry me and a backpack, not too heavily and zip along relatively
speedily (only get passed by one or two riders max!)
I already run slicks and the Marin is fast without too much suspension-
wasted energy. The hardtail is looking like an option, and rigid forks
would be the go... Has anyone ever mounted drop bars on a MTB? I picked
up a set of the funky tri-style bars (that seem to be all the rage
amongst Finnish bike couriers!) at Bicycle Recycle on Saturday and am
tempted to see how they'd handle it...


fitting the shifters may be the problem, but maybe you can hook up som
barend style ones ( there's a melb courier with this setup. 1 baren
lever and 'aero' brake levers on what look like tandem 'stoker' bars )
Perhaps go and talk to the lad at pushi (King St). saw him putting Sor
STIs onto drops on a mtb for someone. cable pull for your, presumably
VBrakes will be an issue tho. Diacompe do a 'aero' brake lever whic
marries up to V's/canti's pretty well (refer On-one website for details

I run just the big chainring at the front and a 12-30 cassette for
decent range and less things to go wrong (refer winter comments i
last post

I live up at the 48tram terminus (well, just a few blocks away) Gotta
whole myriad of routes to/from city to try ou

for eg, today Doncaster Rd/Kilby/bikepath-river/kewboulevard/bridge t
Fairfield hospital park/dight falls/round back of VicPark/back sts o
Collingwood/Fitzroy/Gertrude/Exhib Gardens/Latrobe/Queen. Freewa
bikepath would avoid a lotta hills for you..


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We don't live that far away. I'm up on Belmore Road just past the roundabout/Bi-Lo... I used to take a similar route to your one when I lived in Nth Balwyn - Now I just take Belmore/Winmalee/Balwyn/Gordon/Bike path past cemetery/Kew Junction and down to Bridge Rd, then Highett St to avoid traffic and pop through Fitzroy Gardens... Not that many hills!! Besides, they're supposed to be good for you!

I'll play around with the bars this weekend and experiment with a fe
options and report back

Then it'll just be a matter of retraining the bum to not expecting th
suspension to take the hits


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