I want to get a preferably used rather lightweight bike for not to much money that I can use as a taining/rain/traveling bike. I have my dream Ti bike that with my various upgrades is now too nice to take out on the roads everyday. I am having a hard time taking it out on the the rainy NW conditions currently but need to get going. I have been using my Diamondback mtn bike for commutting etc but its not the best for longer rides.
I would want this bike to fit in a regular case for travel so no airline charge and possibly be good enough to use in an unimportant occassional race. Both of my current bikes have steep angles 78 & ~76 so I would want to stay with that. I also already have some nice 650c wheels and shimano 9 gear cassettes for various conditions and would like to take advantage of that. In addition I have a carbonearo 650c non threaded fork, an extra thompson seatpost with Selle Italia SRL saddle, Syntace C2 aerobars with bar end shifters and a Prima 99 road bar.
I looked at the Bike Friday but am not sure I like the small wheels etc. I also seen the Richey but its only in 700c, not steep angle and more than I have to spend. I seen where for about $350 one can get a frame coupled. I can’t see doing this to my QR and won’t work with AL so another bike is in order to meet the needs.
My dream bike is a 55cm QR 650c Aerial with rolf Vector comps as training and Zipp C,incher race wheels along with a Renn Disk and American Classic Sprint 350 front. It has an Oval fork, FSA crank, thompson seatpost, SRL saddle and Easton Attack Bars.
My old race bike now on the Computrainer is an 54.5 cm upgraded Cannodale R500. Now a 9 speed with a CF Profile fork, C2 aerobars bars and bar ends and Mavice cosmic expert wheels and a forward seat post.
Any thoughts ideas or suggestions would greatly be appreciated as I get going on this.
Barb