This Space for Rent

Out on the line

The project bike at the top of Marmot

I took the project bike up Marmot Road today to see how it would feel when riding a longer (~110k) and steeper loop than my regular perambulations around Portland. It worked out quite well(and, as is traditional, the biopace chainrings made climbing easier than it usually is; I did the entire loop using the 48t chainring, only dropping down to 48:26 on a couple of fairly steep sections) and aside from a few minor quibbles (the narrower saddle on the bike is made of very stout leather, so it’s not as comfortable out of the box as the saddles on the MLCM and Trek are; the lack of mudflaps does not work well when I’m running through mud and gravel; and the fork crown bolt worked its way loose, which meant the porteur rack flexedplaned even more than it normally does for about 70% of the loop) it looks as if I’ll be able to test it out on the next 200 I ride (maybe next weekend?)

And then when I came home I had to go out shopping on the Trek, and discovered to my intense dismay that the formerly just right feel of the xtracycle now feels like its too small. Sigh. The first casualty of the project bike may be my seat adjustment on the other machines.