PolarLava::Blog

So nearly two years ago I bought New Pedals and Shoes!  Apparently I never followed that post up, but I ended up returning both.  The Cannondale RP 2000 shoes were way too narrow so I initially exchanged them for some other shoes.  I don't recall what those were, but they didn't fit right either.  I also decided I wasn't completely enthralled with the Time RXE Composite road pedals either.  Thus I sent it all back.  Frustrated and not really needing to spend the money in first place, I opted to just stick with my old Shimano shoes and the SPD pedals I had been using.

But all has changed for my 2009 season.  For Christmas my parents bought me the Look Keo Classic pedals that I've been eying for a longtime.  No, the're not the super spiffy, super lightweight carbon fiber and titanium ones.  That's way serious cash and honestly I really don't need anything like that anyway.  These meet my needs; reasonable price and a wider platform than the SPD's I have been using.



As for shoes I've opted for a pair of Shimano SH-R131S racing shoes with a carbon sole.  It's revolting just how worn out my previous shoes are after slipping these on!  They're a far better shoe than old ones —comparable to the Cannondale's, but with the bonus of actually being wide enough to get my foot in!  The carbon sole wasn't a requirement, but is certainly welcome.  But what was a requirement for me this time was shoe with a micro-adjustable buckle.



Now I just need to get all of this put together on the bike and dial in the setup.  But before I can do that I need do some serious year-end/year-start maintenance.  Oh, and get some jobs around the house done so my wife might actually let me outdoors!

So back in early August I acquired a Centurion Ironman Expert and began rehabilitating it.  It was in very good condition other than having been unused and stored for a number of years.  So a good cleanup, a full lube job (which really didn't need to be done) and replacement of some of the dry rotted rubber and plastic bits and it's been good to go for a while now.  Items replaced and/or added:

• 2 - Vredestein Rocorso 700x25 folding tires (dry rot replacement)
• 2- Standard rubber presta value inner tubes (dry rot)
• Nashbar 6/7 speed chain (clean and stretch free)
• 2 sets - Shimano brake pads (dry rot, pilfered from another bike, not new)
• 1 - Blackburn Mountain silver water bottle cage.  (Only had one, I wanted two and this was a cheap alternative.)
• Nashbar racing saddle (Narrower and harder, to replace the softer one that was on here.)
• Profile Design Bar Wrap Handlebar Tape (Hot pink because the yellow didn't match!)
• Profile Design Aerobars (old set I wasn't using)
• Time petals (pilfered from my LeTour)
• Sigma Sport BC-800 bike computer (older, pilfered from my LeTour)

Today I said goodbye to my old friend, my Schwinn Continental II.  This was my first road bike which I rode extensively in my formative years.  I had been working over the summer on converting it to a commuter bike, but decided it wasn't really going to work out as I had hoped.  So I began looking for something else and then acquired my Centurion Ironman Expert.

So not having a need for it and at my wife's encouragement to get rid of it, I gave it away today.  Hopefully it will see some practical use as I gave it away to a college student who was looking for a cheap bike to get around on.  So now it is gone and I'm moving on with "only" 4 bikes…for now.

I've wanted to start riding a bike to work for a long time.  And when gas started to skyrocket I tried to setup my old Schwinn Continental II.  So I tuned it up, put a rack on it and took it for a test ride.  That lasted exactly 1/10 of a mile before the front tire blew out.  It was heavy too which didn't thrill me.  So I began to watch the Buffalo bicycles on craigslist for a suitable but affordable replacement.  A few thing that intrigued me, but nothing that was right for the right money.

So out of the blue, Rob pinged me a couple of days ago to see if I'd be interested in his old road bike.  Well, uh, yeah!  We're about the same size although his legs are a bit longer so I figured it might work out.  So he dropped it off last night and as I suspected it's a bit bigger —56cm, than what I usually ride —54cm…that's about 3/4 of an inch which is alright.  Anyhow, so now I'm the happy and proud owner of a 1987 Centurion Ironman Expert "Dave Scott" bicycle:



It's been sitting unused for a while so the tires and brake pads need to be replaced due to dry rot, but overall it's in nice shape.  And how can you possibly go wrong with that hot 80's paint scheme?

So although my initial thought was to make this my commuter bike, I've scrapped that idea now as my Schwinn LeTour is better suited for that roll primarily because it's drilled for a rack mount.  Thus the Centurion will be fixed up for duty as a replacement for the LeTour as my wind trainer bike.  But it also should be well suited to doing double duty as a secondary/foul weather bike when I don't want to get my Trek 2120 all grubby.  At least that's the plan until I can get a new primary bike to replace that one…which hopefully will be next season.

A followup post(s) will be made on the Centurion's rehab once I get some parts and start making some progress.  And always remember, one can never have too many bikes…contrary to what mothers, fathers, wives, sister, brother and others may say!!!

Came across a rather interesting story earlier today about a dual suspension road bike from Bianchi ridden by John Museeuw in the 1994 Paris-Roubaix race.

I found this a rather interesting read and a combination cool/weird looking.  I was also a bit surprised that I had never seen or heard of this anywhere before.