I made a joke recently regarding this bike that the 12 year old me would have repeated over and over to his friends until they told said 12 year old me to shut up. It stated the difficulty of riding such a bike with a raging “you know what”. Here’s a hint: it rhymes with “loner”, which is what I’ll be if I continue to lift my jokes from the pre-teens at the movie theater snack line.
Of the four bikes now in my posession (a number my wife did not agree to but alas, I am a ninja of the mind), this is the bike that will be ridden the most this year. It is my newest (for now! see below…) steed and I am in love with it. Not in the same way that I am in love with my wife. This type of love involves staring and daydreaming about our future together… which now that I think of it is very similar to how I fell in love with my wife…
Anyway, of the 50 miles spent on this bike thusfar, I can already say it is my favorite bike. It fits like a glove, although the standover is a wee bit higher than my last ride (omg omg again, see below!). This will surely result in many a testicle being assaulted when I bail on that rock garden at Maybury… again. That’s what I get for making a joke involving the male anatomy.
I’ve never ridden a full suspension bike before, so naturally my first encounter with this magical feat of engineering was nothing short of “OMG”. The bumps just disappear. The curbs I used to test the suspension usually jar me to my core if I don’t stand up. Needless to say, they shall jar no more.
I had been concerned about my cadence and how it might affect my ride on such a bike. I’m not very graceful, so I tend to mash. I’ve heard this causes quite a bounce on a FS bike, and I was a little worried that I would be riding a trampoline. I was relieved to find that, while some bounce was present, I wasn’t going to be bucked from the ride.
Everything about this bike is wonderful. By comparison, my last ride – while fun – wasn’t a top-end race bike. I’ve made quite a leap into the next range of equipment, and I’m certain it will make a huge difference. It doesn’t hurt that it’s sexy as hell, either.
Now about the other bike. I know, I’m as excited as you are!
When I tore down the old bike to set up the new one, Daniel (owner of Cycle to Fitness) noticed that my Marlin frame was cracked. Being that it was a Gary Fisher, I knew I had a lifetime warranty on the frame. I wasn’t thrilled since this was going to be my new commuter for the year and the warranty process would affectively hault my commuting for a few weeks until it was sorted out… OR SO I THOUGHT.
I took the bike to RBS to have it warrantied. A few days later they called me up with some very good news: Gary Fisher was not only replacing the frame, but the WHOLE BIKE! A brand new ’09 Marlin is on its way. I’m almost as excited about that as I was about the BMC… almost.
Here’s the new soon-to-be-commuter:
Decked out pics of this thing to come…