Keefer Madness

A Couple of Firsts in Bike Components For Me, Planning for My Cycling Future

// November 23rd, 2008 // Cycling, Personal Crap

So I’ve finally entered the realm of owning more than one wheelset for my road bike, meaning in theory my days of dropping out of a criterium because of a flat are over. A friend from a local bike club I ride with cleared out some old equipment from his garage, making me the proud owner of a Bontrager Select wheelset. While these aren’t the greatest set, I now have a backup set of wheels, and ultimately, these wheels will become my workhorse off-season and commuting wheels on my ol’ Specialized Allez Comp steel-framed road bike.

I still have my sights set on getting a set of Easton EA90 SL’s to utilize as my racing wheels in 2009 crits and road races. Eventually, those wheels will move to a new bike solely for racing/training – hopefully a Specialized Tarmac Expert Double, or maybe a Specialized Tarmac Pro SL SRAM.

Regardless, the plan is to eventually move up to a carbon fiber-based bike for racing and training, while making my Allez my occasionally training bike, with its main duty shifting to bike commutes.

In the meantime, I’ve got a dual setup of wheels. I also installed my first bar tape this evening on my old road bike in the trainer upstairs. Doesn’t sound like a big deal right? Ultimately, it isn’t. But it’s something else I was able to install and do on my own. We also had a bit of difficulty getting that new (to me) set of wheels setup with tubes and tires on them. Both the wheels and bar tape couldn’t have been done without the wife’s assistance, which I’m very grateful for. The bar tape, I could have made work on my own, but watching 24: Redemption tonight (very enjoyable by the way), I got so frustrated trying to get a pair of Specialized Armadillo tires on those rims. I really wanted to do it all myself, but got so fed up with them. I dread ever having to fix a flat tire on that wheelset/tire combo. Here’s to hoping that never happens.