Kruisframe Impressions

Gracious, what a big enormous beast of a bike.  I feel like I’m perched on top of the world- because I pretty much am. I found myself at the same eye level as the drivers in  most pickup trucks and SUVs.  The steel frame combined with the big Schwalbe Marathon tyres, and the Brooks B67 minimizes road-discomfort, a good thing too, given the quality of the roads around here.

The Shimano Nexus 8 speed is interesting, it certainly has a lower bottom end than the Nexus 3, and that’s probably a good thing, given that hills are a bit more of a challenge.  It also has no freewheel noise.  I snuck up behind some of my coworkers who were on a stroll,  and gave them the bell at 3 feet.

There is a bit of plastic on it, in spots I dont like, and I’ll be working on replacing that with metal or leather, I’m trying to really make it more 1920s appropriate.
It feels like a comfortable assuredness, riding the bike. A certainty that as long as you keep leisurely spinning the pedals, it will take you to whatever destination you wish. I love it!  

I was skeptical about the Brooks B67, the first few rides were rough.  I spent several hours tweaking the positioning, and now it is pointed just right and pretty comfortable, even though the leather is as hard as a rock.  I ordered another Selle An Atomica Titanico -X anyways. I’ll see how it goes.  The bag on it is a Carradice College, ordered from VeloFred, I’ll do more of a review later perhaps. I can admit however that on Tuesday evening, I rode home with a rotissere chicken, cornbread muffins, a can of cranberry sauce, and a change of clothes.

I tossed a coin for which bike I would take to work today, and the Felt Cafe3 won. Getting back on it after 4 days of Kruisframing was an eye opener. How fast and agile and insubstantial it felt. How quickly I could accelerate. How bone-shakingly brutal the ride is. I went all over heck and back on it today, about 18 miles, and ended up having to tighten up the fenders- some of their bolts were loosening up from road vibration.  Need to get some blue loctite.  The Felt is a good bike, my gateway bike… and now I’m cyclo-addicted.

What next? well, one goal- if I manage to get back down to my ideal weight of sub 145lbs-  I’m going to reward myself with a Highwheel bike. Yes, just to be that obtuse.