Aubey's getting a sibling!
I love Aubey. Ze's been a faithful steed while I've figured out this whole "biking" thing and decided if it's for me. The answer: YES. IT'S FOR ME. And I'm realizing that, as lovely as Aubey is, it's time to step things up.
Over the next few weeks, months, whatever, I'll be doing test rides. I'll post noodlings about my rides here, mostly to keep my impressions in order (of course, I welcome hearing from any of you who have opinions on the bikes I test--or others I ought to test!).
Friday's lucky contestant (only one, 'cause I got off to a late start and had to get to work), the Trek 700 WSD, which I liked far more than I expected to.
Trek 700 WSD
13.5" frame, "Trek steel"
550 wheels
7 gears; twist shifter
step-through frame
Pros:
+ fast!!! ZOMG fast!
+ lightweight. I could do some serious slinging of that thing on and off bus and train racks.
+ stepthrough
+ upright posture
+ inexpensive
Cons
- Though I'm having trouble pinning it down, I'm pretty sure "Trek steel" = hiten.
- In this case, "inexpensive" may equal "cheap"
- My pant leg kept getting caught in the chain. I bike in those pants a lot, and I've never had that problem with Aubey. I would have to wear a whatsit--thing. Cuff. You know. Thing.--pretty much all the time. Not a dealbreaker, but a definite annoyance.
- comes with no "extras" and may not be compatible with some of the things I'm interested in.
I would have to add racks and panniers or baskets, fenders, skirt guard, &c. That would make it heavier; not sure how much. Must remember this when comparing it to other bikes I'm looking at which may be heavier because they have a lot of that stuff integrated.
NOTES: I keep seeing the Trek "7"s (700, 7.x, 7xxx, &c) described as good for people "starting to get serious". Though that describes me, I might like to skip that step, so I'm not doing this again in three years. I want a bike that's going to last for a goodly while, and I'm not sure how well this one would do that.
RANKINGS:
- Trek 700 WSD