So it's been about 10 days ago since I, 101bike.com,  got my wheels - Devinci.. The bike is good, and I am enjoying it. The suspension is a nice feature on the bike considering the bumps in the Toronto roads.

My brother gave me a speedometer for my birthday and it is quite awesome. Max speed so far has been MACH 0.042 .

It's getting hotter and hotter in Toronto, and working up a sweat is easy now. 

Cheers,

Mathijs

This is a pretty interesting material to use for your bike: wood. I wonder if there is a seasonal influence on the performance of the bike....

Another Dutch invention by:  www.jangunneweg.nl

Today was a wonderful day for 101bike. It was sunny in Toronto, we went to the street festival on Young street and had a great time. When I got home I decided that this had to be the day.

Maybe I forgot to tell you that a few weeks ago I had made up my mind and decided on the Trek 7.5, however after my bike dealer called Trek to order one it turned out that Trek was not selling this bike anymore because it ran out of stock and according to the guys at Sportswap I had to wait till the 2007 bikes came in.

When I came home I called the guys at SportSwap to see if they had any news on the TREK FX 7.5 bike yet, the 2007 model. Through some amazing fortune they  had a 2006 model in the store. So I told them to put it on hold.

I went to the store test-rode it again and just before I wanted to pay I still wanted to check their used bikes section. Mostly mountain bikes but also a hybrid Devinci Milano all the way in the back, which was just returned today. It was only $300 so I decided to take it for a spin and even though it was a 2004 model it still looked look and rode excellent.

So that's the bike I bought! I will now start riding (picking it up tomorrow) and still have plenty of money now to pimp my bike, get some good gear and see how I like it. A very rational and wise decision as many people would say.

Should I like bicycling, I can still sell the bike and move up to for instance a Cervelo?

Anyway, I am happy with the purchase and will post some pictures tomorrow so you can see what shape it is in. (The shape I am in will hopefully be better in a few weeks...)

So, I have been shopping around some stores again. Again I have been noticing a few Cervelo bikes and should at some point review them. Maybe test ride them even to see how the feel is of this winning bike. Maybe I should review all three, the P3C, SLC and the R3. In the mean time I am shopping in a different price range and do not know even if a used Cervelo is going to be within my budget.

It is always good to have an ambition!

Yesterday I popped by the Sportswap again and looked at some Roadbikes but also something quite different, which could be an alternative, and perhaps a good way of getting into cycling (in the meantime save up for the Cervelo). Cevelo

I tool a Trek 7.5 FX bike for a spin and actually liked it a lot.

The thing about it however is that it is not a real road bike. It has pretty good components but the steering wheel is straight. The bike is a bit heavier. But it is perhaps good to get into the sport this way.

To be continued.... 

Going to work I usually catch a ride down to King street and then take the streetcar to the West. While driving to Davisville we noticed it was extremely busy and yes -  the TTC was on strike.

I decided to go back home and take the Bike. Even though there was a lot of exhaustion it was great ride down. With all the cars practically standing still you could almost say they made a bike lane.

30 km/hr down Oriole Parkway...WITH THE BIKE!!

Another good read: Cyclist of the City Unite! in the Toronto Star. Click here.

Sunday Ivan Basso won the Giro d'Italia on bicycles that are assembled/made in Toronto by Cervélo.

A fantastic achievement for the athlete and also the manufacturer of these wonderful bikes. Congrats!

Not only did Ivan win the Giro, he also set the record for most wins on different bikes with stage wins on a R3 (stage 16 & 20), P3C (TTT) and SLC (stage 8)

  R3

P3

Soloist Carbon

Ever since I moved to Canada the Canadian Dollar (CAD) has gone up like crazy. A lot of Canadians I heard are now crossing the border to shop in the USA.

It's about 1.1 Canadian to 1 US Dollar (USD).or 0.9 the other way around.

So looking at buying a bike in the USA looks interesting / cheaper.  I was browsing some websites and comparing prices. A Trek Pilot 1.0 would cost in Canada Approx CAD $950 and in the US approx. USD $700.

Anyone experience doing this? Advice?

I am currently looking into 2 bikes which seem to have had good reviews and are also priced under CAD 1000.

The Specialized Sequoia or

the Trek Pilot 1.0.?

Does anyone have expereince with any of these bikes?

Or a better alternative?

Let me know: 101bike@gmail.com

Today I woke up and decided it's going to be a road bike. Sometimes it just hits you and you decide after all the information you gathered and things you have seen the past few months. 

Since I had a few hours for myself this afternoon I went out and strolled down Yonge street to SportingLife store and the Sportswap.

Ok so I went to 2 stores each having amazing bikes such as Cervelo, Trek and Specialized. It seem that I will go for a bike with a compact frame simply because it is more comfortable and people say it put less strain on my back.

Now it's coming down to brand and budget.

My budget is at this point not more than $1000. It can be either a used or new bike. I am probably going for a 58 cm frame, but want to also ride a 60 cm if possible sometime soon.

So, for the next few weeks I will start 'bargain' hunting. Please feel free to send me suggestions what to get and where to buy it. If anyone has a bike left he or she wants to get rid of....

Sponsoring deals, donations etc are welcome too.... :)

Cheers,

Mathijs 101bike

One thing missing....

For the enthousiasts, here are some detailed pictures of the Norco CDR 101bike.com rode.

This weekend I finally got down to some serious riding! I went to the Cyclepath on Sunday and picked up my super-de-lux Norco CDR. Took the subway down Yonge street (lazy bones) to meet up my colleague and his girlfriend.

We rode down to the CNE, which is the exhibition center here in Toronto. We did I believe approx. 15 rounds. It is very good riding down there, great asphalt and very quiet on the cars on Sunday. There was a lot of wind which meant automatically a good workout.

The bike handles very nice and after a few rounds I became more confident, even though I was not riding with the shoes you can clip on. The shifting of the gears did however not always go too smooth, but that is probably because it was a two year old rental bike.

Take a look at the bike in some detail here:

(More detailed pictures tomorrow)

It was great and I will soon ride again!

Saddles:

"What is good" is very subjective.  Shaping is important for some
riders, while width is the big issue for others, and padding thickness
(or the lack of it) is the important thing for still more.  

I find that I most easily adapt to a new seat whose rear area is
reasonably flat, whose center has a cutout, whose nose is slightly
below the level of the flat area, and whose padding is minimal but not
absent.  But this doesn't describe all of my saddles; there is
variation in the designs which is hard to account for.  I think the
real answer is that you know you've found a good saddle when you get
off the bike after more than 20 miles and have no problem with the
idea of getting back on again."

Durable...but comfortable?

There's short-term comfort and there's long-term saddle comfort.

Soft feels more comfortable for the demo ride, but long term, your sit bones
sink in to the hard part and the rest of the saddle is left pressing on your
perineum - where it shouldn't press.

If you only ride the bike to the news stand on Sunday mornings; soft is more
comfortable....

As the Comfy Chair????

This week I would like to focus a little on saddles. To me a very personal choice. Even though there are great designs out there is it true that form goes over function here?

I mean I understand the Aerodynamics side to it, but man it is not comfortable, is it?

Tell 101BIKE.COM your saddle (purchase & ride) experience.

Today 101bike.com (not shown in this picture) celebrated Queensday in Toronto. It was the first time in many. many years that I did not spend it in Amsterdam.

Check out this creative invention from a Dutch guy, an Ipod charger on your city bike. 101bike.com thought it was funny.

Check out his site and find out how to do this yourself.

I got some pretty interesting reactions on the groups.google.com. My question was:

I am looking into bike shoes. Is it the ...   more »