My new commuter bike

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Hey everyone.  Back again for a quick visit.  Been under the weather today and taking it easy as a result, so I thought I'd drop in.

My bike spree has slowed considerably, except for a new commuter machine I finally picked up, a Soma Double Cross.  It's replaced my old 10 year old Specialized hybrid as my commuter bike; the Specialized is now relegated to beater-bike duty for stuff like shopping and running errands around town.

I've had her for one month now, and put about 400 mi. on her so far.  Here are a few pics.




(This one shows the Minoura accessory mount and my trusty Zebralight SC60w that serves as my ground-level light)


I've got a new rack on order to replace the cheesy one on her now, a very nice German touring rack made by Ortlieb, a Tubus Logo Evo (in silver, so it won't get the wear spots in the black anodizing like the current one got after only a few weeks...  )

While I like the SRAM Apex shifter-brake lever combo levers, I'm going to pull the 105 STI levers off of my Fuji and swap them onto this bike.  The reason is the Apex levers are 2 - 3 oz. lighter each, and the 105 levers have a larger grip space for my hand; so, I'll save some weight out of my race bike, and get more comfortable levers for longer hauls on my Soma. I'm going to replace the cheesy, stock cables and housing as part of the process as well.  I've got a set of Jawire Racer Pro compressionless housings with teflon coated cables coming in the same order as my new Tubus rack.  That stuff should be here in a few days, and I'm setting my entire day next Saturday aside to do the work.  I'm not really a Raiders fan (not since Al Davis sold out the bay area and moved to LA), but I like the silver and black color scheme on this.  In another month or so I'm going to swap out the brakes as well... I've only used Avid BB's so far, and while I'm not going to hydraulics, I'm going to order a pair of TRP Spyders to replace the BB7's currently on the bike.  They're slimmer, and both pads actuate, instead of just the one, so I'm hoping it'll cure some of the howling problems BB's are notorious for.

[Gareth]

Good to see you around buddy.

[jerseydevil]

Good to see you Paul!    I'm seriously considering buying a new bike myself.......

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Thanks guys.

Tom, if you need any advice, just let me know.  You need to decide two basic things when picking out a new bike; 1) what you'll be using the bike for, and 2) what your budget will be.  Figure out 1) first, because that will also influence what kind of accessories you'll need, which will have a big effect on 2).

For example, if you wan to to commute, you'll need a rack and panniers at the least, so that cost and any other accessories will have be figured into your budget.

LMK. 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Beautiful looking bicycle mate. There's something special about old style frame designs, as I'm not a big fan of rising or compact frames

Hope she rides as good as she looks

I'm trying to decide between a Kona Sutra, a Ridgeback expedition or a Dawes Galaxy Classic at the moment and its not proving easy lol

Lovely rig again mate

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Thanks, Mike!  Yeah, it's a very traditional frame... high end steel tubing (Tange Prestige) and a traditional square taper bottom bracket and cranks!  It never rains here in the summer, so I'm going to be pulling the fenders off soon; probably when I do the shifter swap and re-do my cables and housings.  It rides like a magic carpet... very smooth... really takes the edge off all the irregularities in the road.  I'm still getting used to it actually; I've been riding AL bikes for ten years, and I'm used to a much stiffer frame and fork.  I want to upgrade the fork actually too... the traditional style fork that's on it is a bit soft for my tastes... with the disk brakes it tends to shudder a bit under heavy braking... makes it feel like my headset is loose, which is bothersome to me.  Soma makes a straight blade disc fork for this frame, which is supposed to be a lot stiffer, although a little bit heavier, but I'm hoping it will be worth the trade-off. 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Id swap weight for comfort any day mate. I rode aluminium bicycles for years then in 2009 i bought a Brompton and since then all my bikes have been steel

Bicycles are never finished are they?

Sent from my Windows Phone 8S by HTC using Tapatalk

[sawman]

Nice setup you have there Glad you stopped by

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Hey guys, thanks for the compliments.

I have a new cargo rack now, a Tubus Logo Evo... I paid through the nose for it, but it's easily the nicest cargo rack I've ever had... the thing is totally bomb-proof!

Here are a couple of pics.