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New year, new bike!
So after buying 2 bikes in 2020, last year, I resolved not to buy a bike, and I didn't.
Confession: I tried. When did it get so damn hard to buy a bike?
I am determined to hold my bike count at 2, so in 2020, when FOMO got the better of me, I sold my tri bike and bought a gravel bike. I rode on gravel a handful of times but otherwise used it as a winter commuter. And I missed my tri bike. So I sold the gravel bike a month or so ago, and started hunting for a new tri bike. Liv or Argon-18.
I contacted every Liv dealer in the Metro Vancouver area to try and pre-order a 2022 Liv tri bike... and couldn't! They all said they weren't getting any stock for 2022. Now trying to build a new Argon-18. Frame availability currently "maybe January or February".
I think it's really weird to be waving fistfuls of cash (or a credit card) and not be able to find a taker!!
Comments
Aren't you doing IM Alaska this year? Surprised you sold your tri bike, if you are.
I bought a Dimond Marquise frame the end of 2020 and built it up and rode it in '21. If I can get off my ass and clean it up. I'll post a picture in the BAAW thread. Maybe that will get @Matt back on the site.
Yes to IM Alaska. Sold my tri bike in 2020. Signed up for Alaska in 2021. I had every intention of using my road bike, and who knows, it may come to that.
Would love to see the Dimond. Did you buy used or new, and pick your paint?
Went with new. I had bought a used Brilliant frame a year earlier. The frame fit well but wanted the internal storage. Dimond gives you 50% off a new frame if you turn in a used one. Went with a solid blue color. Kind of plain but I like the color.
Just bought the new Jeep Gladiator truck so been wasting my money on parts for that I probably don't need.
Sold my wife's road bike last year and she's now on a gravel that we bought used (great deal despite Covid tax).
I'm holding off for another year or two on the new bike thing. I figure my next bike will be a custom ti thing that, to paraphrase Judge Reinhold, they will bury with me when I die. And this disc brake fad is probably going to pass soon. So I'm in no rush.
I stuck with rim brakes for my new bike. Didn't want to learn how to set up or bleed discs. I did go tubeless though, which was my big technological feat for 2021.
I love disc brakes. I live in a rainy region at the bottom of a mountain… changing to disc has made me a more confident descender.
I don’t know how to do any of the things you mentioned though. And I am certain my front disc rubs* and don’t know how to fix that.
*only when climbing.
I'm firmly in the "disc brakes are not necessary but nice to have" camp as well. And since I barely know how to do anything to my own bike anyway, paying the local guy a few bucks to fix them is worth it.
@P_Cottrell and I are almost exclusively gravel here, and I don't think you can bribe me with a shiny new bike to give up discs. I was running a pretty nice set of Avid shortys, and FSA S-LK Lights on my 2 bikes and they aren't even close to my rather cheap mechanical BB7 disc setup. Paul, with the nice hydraulic stuff would probably switch sports to croquet or even pickleball before going back to the old brakes.
https://www.facebook.com/sworrytrials/
https://www.facebook.com/OdetoLaz/
I've never really been sold on disc brakes being necessary for a tri bike, but the past two summers I've really gotten into downhill mountain biking so I can understand the benefits of discs. I think part of me knows that it's not realistic for me to upgrade my tribike in the near future so I don't want to admit that my bike isn't perfect.
@James Lange , honoured you are coming to the Ode. Remember, do the fun multi-sport stuff, if you can, on the days prior to limber up. We recommend old bikes. Wicker baskets on the front gain extra credit points.
https://www.facebook.com/sworrytrials/
https://www.facebook.com/OdetoLaz/
New bike update: "maybe January or February" for the frame arrival turned into not January or February. No idea what new delivery forecasts are but I feel a little bit of rage whenever Argon-18 makes an Instagram post. Stop trying to sell bikes if you aren't going to sell me a bike!
I stopped buying Argon 18 when they got rid of @Matt for spending 40hrs a week posting on this site.
Wait... Did they get rid of @Matt or did he get rid of them?
Obviously the place has gone to shit since he left.
I bought a new-to-me Giant TCX that had almost zero Covid tax to see if this gravel/cross thing is actually fun, or if gravel fans are simply the cycling equivalent of cryptobros in finance.
@Martin, please visit in July, we're surrounded by gravel, and it's the most fun. Think of us as the cashless cycling society here.
https://www.facebook.com/sworrytrials/
https://www.facebook.com/OdetoLaz/
"Restructuring" for 6 of us in late September 2018. I've been with Craft Sportswear (Canada) since, much to @Martin's delight.
Still new-bike-less and contemplating Plan B. Kicking around a couple of options, and aside from not looking as stunning as the Argon-18, both have things I wish were different but I'm not bike-smart enough to know if the difference is really that big of a deal. So bastions of knowledge and good advice:
Plan B - option 1 has disc brakes but they're mechanical disc. My road bike has hydraulic disc. I've googled so I'm clear on the difference in terms of how they work. But would I be likely to feel a difference with a mechanical disc brake? One article I read said mechanical are easier to maintain but there is no danger that I am going to maintain my brakes, I've got a guy for that.
Plan B - option 2 has 650b wheels. I had 650s on my first tri bike and I know they kind of disappeared (actually had even w hen I bought it used); I see 650s are a thing now with gravel bikes so when I went to see how hard it would be to get replacement tires if needed, my LBS had a few options. For gravel bikes. Wondering if it is a bad idea to go down this road and paint myself into a 'hard to find what you need' category down the line.
Plan A definitely looks the best of the 3. Costs the most by far. No idea when it's coming.
Plan B option 1 looks pretty good. A few grand less than Plan A. Delivery at 3-5 weeks.
Plan B option 2 looks OK though I vacillate on colour. A few grand less than Plan B option 1. Delivery in 1-2 weeks.
What would you do?
@kjrunnin This is a tri bike, isn't it? Are the wheels 650b or 650c? Option 1 sounds better to me. Colour is more important than braking on a tri bike. And you can spend the savings on a training camp or wine or something.
Yes - tri bike and yes 650b (per the website: 650B DT Swiss wheels with 50 mm rims which was not listed in the specs and was fine print that I would have missed had I not read the reviews which included a couple of unhappy folks who didn't know they were getting 650s until their bikes arrived).
You make a good point about wine the relative value of braking on a tri bike.
I would rather walk.
Definitely not in my contingency plans.
The feel and power of the hydraulic brakes on my MTB are better than the mechanical discs on my gravel bike, but the mechanicals are more than good enough. I got lost and was about to say go 650b cause it makes the gravel feel so much better on the wider tires ----- then back to reality, it's a tri bike.
I'm all with @Martin , color is paramount, braking is irrelevant, and wine money is most critical.
Seriously, adjustment and maintenance on the two types of disc setups are irrelevant.
Go with the bike that you look coolest on - that's worth a couple of watts. So excited for you to get a new bike!
https://www.facebook.com/sworrytrials/
https://www.facebook.com/OdetoLaz/
It’s been 7 hours and 35 days…
[did you read this to the tune of Sinnead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U? Am I aging myself?]
…my bike shipped!
It was an exciting many hours of waiting for DHL notifications… until the first one, letting me know it missed its flight and is hanging out in Cincinnati for an indeterminate period. Bah!
Such a roller coaster.
Called DHL this morning. Explained I've been getting the same message every morning for 3 days that my item is delayed, and now there is no longer an ETA (up until this morning, it's been yesterday). She asks for my tracking number. I give it to her.
Agent: it's waiting clearance. Have you been contacted by our brokerage team?
Me: No. The messages say further information is required. Do you need information from me?
Agent: No. No information is required.
Me: Do you need me to make a payment for duties/taxes?
Agent: No. Nothing is due on this.
[pause]
Agent: You can sign up for notifications.
Me: I am.
Agent: OK.
[pause]
Agent: If the status hasn't changed by the end of the day, call back and we'll open a ticket. I could do it now but I don't want to.
And they say customer service is dead.
Oh we LOVE dealing with DHL for shipments.
Has it arrived or are DHL toying with you still?
It has not arrived.
I called back Thursday morning and the DHL customer "service" person I got said I should have opened a ticket the day before since the delivery was supposed to occur Tuesday. Right. Not like I didn't try.
Anyway, that person texted me their direct number so that they could directly not answer any future calls from me. And every day they text me telling me they've asked the facility to arrange delivery, that I should monitor online, and that they'll follow up the next business day by 2 pm. It's like Groundhog Day.
Could be time to start the complaint procedure!
OMG.
After all that. It's actually here.
"And that was the last day without rain that Vancouver enjoyed in May 2022..."