Hello from sort of a newbie. I used to be a total bike head when I was younger but the past 2 decades have seen little riding. Well after 25 years - I'm finally back to riding a good road bike. And man it feels great!
I used to race road bikes when I was a kid. I worked in a bunch of bicycle shops as a mechanic (from 15 till I was 20). Some of the shops were pro shops. I worked for the importer of Coppi bikes for a while in the mid 1970's. It was there that I really developed a LOVE for fine road bikes with Columbus tubing and Campagnolo parts.
I've owned a Bottechia with a mixture of Campy parts since I was a teen. It has sew-ups, and fairly light components. But the old girl is tired, so I decided to splurge on a couple of new high end road bikes for our 20th anniversary. My wife and I eat well and exercise so we haven't let middle age kick our butts too badly yet.
I got my wife and myself 2 new Orbea Spirit-Carbon's. They both have Columbus Spirit tubing, with Columbus Muscle carbon seat stays and a Zeus carbon fork. They have the Campy Veloce groupset, with Campy Vento wheels.
I decided to match both of our bikes, because I didn't want to handicap my wife with a lesser bike, even though she's not yet as serious about riding as I am. I figured it would be easier for her to get into riding if she had a nice bike.
My wife is short and the 48cm frame with the right bars, stem, and seat are perfect for her. I've got stumps for legs so I'm on the 51cm frame. The bikes look hot - and they ride even better.
A lot has changed in the past 25 years since I last worked in a pro bike shop. The new stuff is so hot! Our new bikes are GORGEOUS. And the ride is highly responsive yet smooth. I'm loving getting back on the road again. It's been too long!
The Orbea Spirit Carbon frame is SWEET. The old familiar feel of a steel frame but with awesome new geometry and the smoothing effect of the carbon too. Wow is all I can say!
We've had the bikes since Tuesday. I've already made a couple of short 9 mile rides. Then this morning I hooked up with four friends for a Sunday morning ride. We rode 25.5 miles today. The Orbea Spirit Carbon frame just soaked up the road - I'm not even sore - dang. Yet it was very responsive too. Two of my friends are very active cyclists and I was amazed that I was able to keep up with them for almost the entire ride (of course I was drafting most the time). But I was pleased to see that I could still get on it after 25 years.
I'm looking forward to getting a lot of pleasure out of our new bikes. My wife is excited about it too. Guess it's never too late to get back on the saddle.
I'm also looking forward to getting into this forum. It looks like the best message board I've run across for cycling. So hello.
I used to race road bikes when I was a kid. I worked in a bunch of bicycle shops as a mechanic (from 15 till I was 20). Some of the shops were pro shops. I worked for the importer of Coppi bikes for a while in the mid 1970's. It was there that I really developed a LOVE for fine road bikes with Columbus tubing and Campagnolo parts.
I've owned a Bottechia with a mixture of Campy parts since I was a teen. It has sew-ups, and fairly light components. But the old girl is tired, so I decided to splurge on a couple of new high end road bikes for our 20th anniversary. My wife and I eat well and exercise so we haven't let middle age kick our butts too badly yet.
I got my wife and myself 2 new Orbea Spirit-Carbon's. They both have Columbus Spirit tubing, with Columbus Muscle carbon seat stays and a Zeus carbon fork. They have the Campy Veloce groupset, with Campy Vento wheels.
I decided to match both of our bikes, because I didn't want to handicap my wife with a lesser bike, even though she's not yet as serious about riding as I am. I figured it would be easier for her to get into riding if she had a nice bike.
My wife is short and the 48cm frame with the right bars, stem, and seat are perfect for her. I've got stumps for legs so I'm on the 51cm frame. The bikes look hot - and they ride even better.
A lot has changed in the past 25 years since I last worked in a pro bike shop. The new stuff is so hot! Our new bikes are GORGEOUS. And the ride is highly responsive yet smooth. I'm loving getting back on the road again. It's been too long!
The Orbea Spirit Carbon frame is SWEET. The old familiar feel of a steel frame but with awesome new geometry and the smoothing effect of the carbon too. Wow is all I can say!
We've had the bikes since Tuesday. I've already made a couple of short 9 mile rides. Then this morning I hooked up with four friends for a Sunday morning ride. We rode 25.5 miles today. The Orbea Spirit Carbon frame just soaked up the road - I'm not even sore - dang. Yet it was very responsive too. Two of my friends are very active cyclists and I was amazed that I was able to keep up with them for almost the entire ride (of course I was drafting most the time). But I was pleased to see that I could still get on it after 25 years.
I'm looking forward to getting a lot of pleasure out of our new bikes. My wife is excited about it too. Guess it's never too late to get back on the saddle.
I'm also looking forward to getting into this forum. It looks like the best message board I've run across for cycling. So hello.
