Saturday, May 31, 2008

Test Rides

Yesterday I went for a short 40mi, redline the heart rate the entire time ride, and at the turnaround point decided to take a detour and visit Piermont bike shop in Piermont, NY. I knew they sold Cervelos among other brands like Cannondale. The Cervelo RS was recommended to me as my 'ideal' fitting bike by Mike Sherry, the guy who did my bike fit about a month ago. I never really looked in to it because I knew the frameset alone retailed for $2200 and there were probably no deals to be had through the internet.

Naturally, Piermont had the Cervelo RS built up already in the size I needed. A measely $4k for the entire bike, Dura-Ace, et al. They kindly offered to let me take it for a test ride so on go my Speedplay pedals and out the door I went. The first few pedal strokes I thought the bike was trying to jump forward. It's like it was accelerating with more than what I was inputting through the pedals. Impressive. It also has a snazzy paint job. The ride was slightly better than my current bike, but no reason to upgrade just for that. The fit, however, felt much better, and this was with a too long stem. Mr Sherry was clearly spot on with his recommendation. I need to set up a paypal donation on my blog. C'mon people let the $'s pour forth!

I also test rode a Cannondale Synapse. It was very black in color. It had a much cheaper build hanging on it, Shimano 105, and the price tag was $1900. It also fit me better than my current ride, and felt smoother, too. It did not have the snappy acceleration of the Cervelo, but I'm unsure whether that impression is due to the less stiff crankset or the frame itself. If it's not raining later I will go test ride a Synapse with a Dura-Ace build to see if it feels more like the Cervelo. This bike I could realistically swing financially without your kind Paypal donations:)

And back to reality...

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