In the blog about the purchase of my new bike I promised a follow up review. One of my cycling minded readers has even chased me up!
The mishap I teased you all with at the end of the last post, was that when I got my bike home I realised that they had given me he wrong frame size (they'd given me a 56cm instead of a 53cm frame). This was especially annoying given all the fuss in the shop about frame sizes when I was buying the bike.
I thought this would be a real test of the service levels of Cell Bikes and to their credit they visited to my flat one evening to do the exchange. I am still a bit dubious as to how good their customer care will actually be, and have a free service which should give me some more reference points.
I have only been for two rides on the bike so far. On the plus side the bike is nice and light and seems rigid. The Shimano Tiagra parts are smooth. On the downside I am still getting used to clip in shoes and fell off at a set of lights on my first ride! Today was a lot better and I managed to do an emergency stop and unclip my shoes in one movement when someone swerved in front of me.
I think buying a road bike with clip in shoes was slightly impractical for a urban setting. I am going to go fo a few more rides to get my confidence up and then plan to join one of Sydney's cycling clubs to go on weekend rides.
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I have always been nervous of pedal clips for that very reason! I guess they can be got used to though, simply because so many people manage!
ReplyDeleteCycling club sounds good, I bet there are plenty of brilliant rides in the vicinity of Sydney.
Don't be ashamed of your fall, everyone I know (including,my dad, my cycling partner, myself, etc.) fell or nearly did so on their first stop with cliping pedals. You get used to them very quickly thereafter, and the pedaling efficiency gain is MASSIVE compared to standard pedals. It was a good move, you will not come back to these.
ReplyDeleteHey i am also feel shame for falling from the pedal clip but after that i got that every fall is the next step for the raisin.
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