Yesterday I picked up my new bicycle. It is a BMC Gran Fondo GF01. It has Shamal Campy wheels, Super Record Campy components (compact chainring, 12-29 cassette), Look pedals, Continental 4-season 700 x 28 tires.
I had extreme hesitation taking the bike out, since I really felt washed out on the last ride (see my last post), and hadn’t ridden at all otherwise since my right shoulder dislocated (again, see my last post). I also had not ridden hard in over a month, from before Jonny and I went to Germany. I had visions of my wheels slipping out, and re-crashing. The memory of the e-bike incident stuck hard in my head with numerous flashbacks. So, I approached the ride with extreme caution. My highest speed was 64 km/hr. I purposely attacked a series of hills having 18-20% grade. I went a little over 68 km. The ride can be seen on my Garmin page…
Assessment. . .
1. It’s the most comfortable bike I’ve ever ridden on. Many of the roads were in terrible shape, and the bicycle handled bumps quite nicely. The frame has enough give to give a smooth ride.
2. The handlebars were several centimeters closer to me than I’m used to. I’m not sure if that is good or bad.
3. Shifting is awesome.
4. I bicycle is very comfortable on hills. It has a slight tendency on the steepest hills to want to do a “wheely”, but the bicycle is also the most comfortable I’ve ever ridden while peddling in the standing position.
5. The bicycle has an incredible response to pedaling. This was a most favorable feeling; when you kicked up speed, the bicycle was not sluggish in accelerating.
6. Downhill handling was comfortable. Though I could have gone faster, never did I feel the bicycle wobble or give a sense of instability.
So, I think it was a worthy purchase. I still love my Steelman, and will use both bicycles.
