Musical Chairs.
As I was tripping over stuff in the garage and finding new excuses to buy stuff on eBay, I also made a note to do something about my Storck. As I mentioned Monday, Fathers Day was when I got around to starting the project. I could have followed my usual pattern of waiting until the last possible moment, which would have been a cold day in October. I probably would have been all kitted up before I realized that the bike was in pieces, and another bike would have been called into service. The Storck likely would have spent the winter on a pile of old wheel boxes while the replacement bike took the trainer abuse. Instead, I decided to get ahead of it and swap drivetrains with a couple hours of my precious free time.
I haven't ridden it on the road in almost a year, since the day its chain slipped off of the big ring and I was thrown over the handlebars. On the flight home TSA put a nice dent in the downtube that shaded in the cloud hanging over that particular bike, and I started casting about for its replacement, eventually ending up with my Russian titanium frame.
I re-taped the bars and re-adjusted what needed to be tweaked on the Storck, but ever since it has been relegated to the trainer. It's not like I was in love with any particular characteristic of the bike. The internal cable routing was a nightmare to sort out. The press-fit bottom bracket only made things worse. There was more toe overlap than I preferred. The fore-aft weight distribution for me was off, no matter what I tried. The more I tried to like the bike, the less I probably did. It performed well enough, and looked pretty snazzy when I cleaned it up, but for the most part it just wasn't the bike for me.
Since I'd done a whole lot of modifications to it, I figured selling it would probably be problematic. Besides, it makes a pretty good trainer bike. All it needs to do is mimic the saddle/bars/pedals positions of my other bikes. Handling is not an issue. Since it's not exposed to the elements anymore, cables and other consumables last a bit longer. The only exception there is bar tape. That stuff gets funky really quickly on a trainer bike.
The SRAM Red and Force parts gave way to Rival. Why go with top-tier parts on a bike that never moves? I had a good deal of money tied up in places where it was just corroding away under the sweat of countless Zwift hours. Weight doesn't matter here. Durability does. It will still be functional as an actual bike, but just not as nice a bike. This gave me an excuse to get back on the eBay box to pick up a few odds and ends, as if I needed one. I even picked up a new sweat shield for the frame when I was up in Palmer, to replace the oozing original. A fresh start. When the snow flies and I go turtle, the Stork will be waiting for me.
I'm in no hurry, though.
I haven't ridden it on the road in almost a year, since the day its chain slipped off of the big ring and I was thrown over the handlebars. On the flight home TSA put a nice dent in the downtube that shaded in the cloud hanging over that particular bike, and I started casting about for its replacement, eventually ending up with my Russian titanium frame.
I re-taped the bars and re-adjusted what needed to be tweaked on the Storck, but ever since it has been relegated to the trainer. It's not like I was in love with any particular characteristic of the bike. The internal cable routing was a nightmare to sort out. The press-fit bottom bracket only made things worse. There was more toe overlap than I preferred. The fore-aft weight distribution for me was off, no matter what I tried. The more I tried to like the bike, the less I probably did. It performed well enough, and looked pretty snazzy when I cleaned it up, but for the most part it just wasn't the bike for me.
Since I'd done a whole lot of modifications to it, I figured selling it would probably be problematic. Besides, it makes a pretty good trainer bike. All it needs to do is mimic the saddle/bars/pedals positions of my other bikes. Handling is not an issue. Since it's not exposed to the elements anymore, cables and other consumables last a bit longer. The only exception there is bar tape. That stuff gets funky really quickly on a trainer bike.
The SRAM Red and Force parts gave way to Rival. Why go with top-tier parts on a bike that never moves? I had a good deal of money tied up in places where it was just corroding away under the sweat of countless Zwift hours. Weight doesn't matter here. Durability does. It will still be functional as an actual bike, but just not as nice a bike. This gave me an excuse to get back on the eBay box to pick up a few odds and ends, as if I needed one. I even picked up a new sweat shield for the frame when I was up in Palmer, to replace the oozing original. A fresh start. When the snow flies and I go turtle, the Stork will be waiting for me.
I'm in no hurry, though.
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