I’ve had the new bike for a few days now but until today I haven’t really had the chance to ride it properly. Today I took it for spin along The Waterlink Way.
When powering out of the saddle the Dew Drop feels incredibly tight, compact and solid, much more so than my faithful Ridgeback Velocity. It is a twitchy beast though due to the drops I think. I have lost my cycle computer so couldn’t compare speeds but it feels fast and rolls along very smoothly. You do feel every bump and wrinkle though which could be down to the highly pumped tyres. My old Ridgeback and this one are aluminium so the shock absorbing qualities should be similar. In fact the Dew should not be as harsh because the forks are steel and therefore should soak up a little road buzz.
As far as tweaks are concerned all I’ve had to do is set the seat height because it was initially way too high and adjust the handlebars to make riding on the hoods more comfortable.
It will take a while to get used to a road bike again. The last time I rode a bike with drops was back in the late 80’s when my daily transport was a bright red Raleigh Ace. Back then bikes were made from steel and the gears were on the down tube. I do miss the double action brakes so that you could brake while riding the flats.
In normal traffic the safest option is to ride on the hoods where the brakes and gears are accessible. This can compromise your field of view. In that respect a hybrids’ flat bar is much better. I suppose though it will be a case of learning to ride a different way and once I get used to it there will not be an issue. I do like getting into the tucked in position on the drops. You instantly pick up speed but I am not sure if that position would be comfortably for long.
The Avid BB7 Road disc brakes are superb and offer excellent stopping power, far superior to the old v brakes on my other steed. I had a go at adjusting the rear disc brake and it is quite straightforward. You just need to make sure that the gap between the disc and pad on the inner side is twice the distance as the outer side. This is easily dialled in using adjuster wheels.
My only issue is the fitting of mudguards. The rear shouldn’t be a problem but the front will involve some bending of the struts because the only available fixing is halfway up the fork.
I will be ordering a nice disc specific rack. I really wanted to go for the Tubus Disco but it is quite pricey so will opt for the LifeLine disc rack which is a fifth of the price and for day-to-day commuting should be fine.