Those aren't bikes. This, is a fucking bike.



None of your poncy continental foppery here.

Ptang ... it's blue!

I don't ride and the main reason being is that I find the seats very uncomfortable.. I've had this idea of a "U" shaped seat.. Has such a thing been invented- if so, why isn't it more popular?
Yes I am quite serious here..

I do like that del Tongo top.

I am still on course for the Col de la Croix de Fry. I did fear that I wouldn't have a bike for it, but now I'll be driving through France heading for the Alps.
Work is horrific at at the moment so I cannot wait to go.

That is a fucking bike Hobbes.
What's wrong with blue Jorge? It's a boy's bike.

Dynamo - Seats on these bikes are a funny thing. the only to do is toughen your arse up. Assos cream is great but you just need to harden up your perineum.

Or build up such enormous, powerful buttocks that your perineum never actually makes contact with the saddle.

Just got an email from AW cycles saying that they haven't got my bike in stock and can't get it. 14 days after I ordered it. Useless eh?

So back to the drawing board.Not sure what to do not. I can get a Colnago with a sloping top tube. Not sure what that will do. And if I'm useually a 56 top tube , would a 52 sloping tube be the same?

Advice gratefully received.

How annoying (and not just for you - for all of us who are living vicariously through you).

Slope varies between manufacturers, I think, but according to this chart...



... you're right, a 56 looks equivalent to a 52 with Colnago. Oh, and check your PMs.

Thanks for that Baff. That's really helpful. Just got my pm. Thanks ever so much for the offer. I'll try and reply this evening, although I'm going to be pushed, but I'm going to Cardiff on Saturday to a Colnago dealer and I'm going to try out a few bikes. It's probably for the best because at least I can try them and then have them set up for me. Well, I'll see anyway. Thanks for your generous offer though.

Went to Cardiff today and the kind man in the shop took me around the back and showed me a CLX COlnago and offered to take £650 off it for me. It was the right size and I felt it would be rude not to have taken him up. So I am now the very proud owner of this bike. Can't change the bloody pedals though.

Bellissima!

Why can't you change the pedals, though?

(and what pedals do you use, incidentally? I'm an old-fashioned Look man myself - I'd think about upgrading to the Keo, but it's too handy to have the same ones on an old bike at home in Dublin)

Basically they're a bugger to shift. I'm a Look man also. I was going to just take my old, scuffed ones off my Cinelli but do you know what, bollocks to it, I'm going to get a new shiny set this morning and stick it on the never never?
I'm up so early because I'm excited and I thought it was only fair to let my wife have the bed for a bit (she had to sleep on the sofa last night, the Colnago was with me).
Oh boy it handles like a dream. What a difference, even for an amateur like me.
I finish work tomorrow in a job/school I loathe. Alpe D'Huez on Wednesday and 5 weeks hoilday. All the crap I've had to deal with over the past couple of months now don't matter.

Illic est a Deus

Bought a decent pedal wrench today and I was able to change the pedals straight away.
I went for a short ride today. Ah man - what a bike. It's as twitchy as a ferret with fleas and handles beautifully. Surpassed my previous fastest time on the flat with no warm up and minimum effort. Here comes the summer.

Blimey. Bike porn alert. I'm pleased for you. And jealous.

(And curious as to what you did to get a £650 discount...)

Well Baff, I did have to go upstairs with the mechanic. I also had to leave my 7 year old son in the workshop while I went for a test ride ( I came back and he was chatting with the two mechanics - on the way home he wanted to know why the two men were arguing over Campag and Shimano - what did it all mean?)
I did ask the bloke why he knocked off £650. Basically he knew that was how much I was willing to spend. That was a 2007 model and it hadn't been sold. Colnago are tricky people to deal with apparently, in that they aren't keen to supply the dealers unless they sell all of their stock. He said they are also a nightmare to get hold of and that 'Nago (as he called them) wouldn't continue with him as a dealer unless he shifted the units, man.
I went out again on it last night. Wow, what a ride.

Bought a pair of these today. Pretty sexy I think. I was given a cheque as a leaving present from work. I'm not sure what they'll make of the fact that I bought white pedals, but it's what I wanted.