So, back to June 2014! You may remember I'd been slowly accruing the kms on my (t)rusty old flat bar hybrid, but was finding it difficult to go much beyond 30km rides.
So, after a little internet browsing I decided to visit The Edge Sports in Cork City. They have a great range of bikes and also offered a free bike fit, plus a free service after a month or so of use. The place was crammed with pricey bikes and I wandered about for a while getting scared by the large price tags and ambience of expertise amongst both the staff and other punters.
Eventually a young (well, younger than me!) sales assistant asked if he could help, pointing me in the direction of a cube road bike going for about a grand. It looked fine enough (not that I knew what to look for), but only had two front chainrings, and I'd convinced myself that I'd really need a triple in order to get over all the lumpy hills of West Cork.
Hidden away in amongst the pricier models was a nice-looking black and white Scott road bike, a Speedster 50 no less, which on closer inspection had three front chain rings. A good start, I thought, as I knew that Scott bikes had a good reputation for building mountain bikes back in my student days.
I was informed that as well as being "entry-level", this bike was the previous years model, and therefore probably nearly obsolete or something. However this had the added advantage of being that bit cheaper - always a good selling point to a fellow of Scottish extraction.
I decided to take it. Other than quickly jumping up on the saddle for a quick sit-down to check the frame size, I was too self-conscious to ask for a full bike fit, and the sales assistant didn't offer it. I handed over my credit card and hurried out of the shop, before anyone could notice that I'd bought last year's model! Looking back, this was a bit daft. I should have asked for the full fit, as it is important to make sure everything is set up right. I was still spending several hundred euros so should have got my moneys worth of added extras!
It took a few ham-fisted minutes to dismantle it enough to get it into the car, but just over an hour later I was back home, with the bike reassembled and ready for an initial test ride...
I went round the usual roads but hit a problem changing down from the big front chainring - pressing the thumb button wouldn't do anything! I limped back home and gave the shifter a squirt of WD40 and then discovered that if I kind of jiggled the brake lever as I pressed the thumb button, the shifter would work and I could change gear. Not ideal, and although they tried to fix the problem on the first month free service, this little glitch would remain for the next 12,000 km! Luckily I just got used to it! The second test run that afternoon was a great success - the road bike was sooooo much comfier and faster to ride than the old hybrid - now the fun could really start!
Edit - I've just noticed that this post was written exactly three years to the day that I bought the bike! Spooky!
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