Tight.
The last couple days I've been riding the Storck. I installed my Quarq RIKEN instead of the S975 (which didn't fit), touched a few minor things, and took the sucker for a ride.
Despite being a complete disaster initially, the bike is a lot of fun to ride. I've never ridden an aluminum frame that is this responsive, mostly because the majority of aluminum frames I've ridden have been on the lower end of the spectrum. The nicer ones I've ridden were designed less for performance and more for comfort. The one bike that I've ridden that was along these lines was a Cannondale CAAD 9, but it was hampered by less-than stellar components, so a real A/B comparison isn't possible without building up a bare frame.
What I can say is that this bike feels "tight". Not in an over-torqued headset way, but rather it feels like everything is machined and aligned perfectly. I feel directly connected to the bike.
The downside of this is I feel directly connected to the bike. I took a three hour ride today, and the road vibrations that are usually attenuated by all of the carbon I sit on were transmitted through the aluminum frame to the aluminum seatpost, stem, and handlebars to my dainty little contact points. I could have added a bunch of carbon parts and mitigated this effect, but I didn't. It's not abusive, but I do feel a little more tired after a couple hours in the saddle.
This bike would be a great crit bike. It will probably serve well as a beat-around bike, even though the anodized frame coating scratches in a stiff breeze. It climbs and descends well. It's just plain fun to ride, which is why I buy so many bikes- to find the fun ones.
The Cannondale System 6 was sitting there built up with nobody to ride it, so I passed it on to Pete so he could ride it during the Tour of Anchorage. Unlike me, Pete keeps his bike-related purchases sane, and is riding the same bike as he was when I met him back in 2008. Granted, only the frame, seatpost, and Wolverine action figure zip-tied to the top of the seat stays remain original. Impressive fiscal restraint that I could never muster. I think that's called maturity, which is something I've thankfully never been afflicted with.
The Tour of Anchorage is just a couple days away, and hopefully I can rest enough to ride well. My past history with target events indicates I won't, but there's always a small chance I will narrowly avoid getting in the way of my own success.
I guess we'll see...
Despite being a complete disaster initially, the bike is a lot of fun to ride. I've never ridden an aluminum frame that is this responsive, mostly because the majority of aluminum frames I've ridden have been on the lower end of the spectrum. The nicer ones I've ridden were designed less for performance and more for comfort. The one bike that I've ridden that was along these lines was a Cannondale CAAD 9, but it was hampered by less-than stellar components, so a real A/B comparison isn't possible without building up a bare frame.
What I can say is that this bike feels "tight". Not in an over-torqued headset way, but rather it feels like everything is machined and aligned perfectly. I feel directly connected to the bike.
The downside of this is I feel directly connected to the bike. I took a three hour ride today, and the road vibrations that are usually attenuated by all of the carbon I sit on were transmitted through the aluminum frame to the aluminum seatpost, stem, and handlebars to my dainty little contact points. I could have added a bunch of carbon parts and mitigated this effect, but I didn't. It's not abusive, but I do feel a little more tired after a couple hours in the saddle.
This bike would be a great crit bike. It will probably serve well as a beat-around bike, even though the anodized frame coating scratches in a stiff breeze. It climbs and descends well. It's just plain fun to ride, which is why I buy so many bikes- to find the fun ones.
The Cannondale System 6 was sitting there built up with nobody to ride it, so I passed it on to Pete so he could ride it during the Tour of Anchorage. Unlike me, Pete keeps his bike-related purchases sane, and is riding the same bike as he was when I met him back in 2008. Granted, only the frame, seatpost, and Wolverine action figure zip-tied to the top of the seat stays remain original. Impressive fiscal restraint that I could never muster. I think that's called maturity, which is something I've thankfully never been afflicted with.
The Tour of Anchorage is just a couple days away, and hopefully I can rest enough to ride well. My past history with target events indicates I won't, but there's always a small chance I will narrowly avoid getting in the way of my own success.
I guess we'll see...
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