Saturday, May 15, 2010

Stuff

For some time now, I've been thinking of getting a toupée. You know, I'm not so young anymore, and, er, um, padding in certain areas of my physique is not as thick as it used to be.

So, this weekend I finally managed to gather up the courage to get one. I walked into a cycling store (I'm such a bike geek that I do all of my shopping in cycling stores now), yelled out "Give me a toupée!" from the door and this is what they sold me:


It looks crap on my head though. Might as well screw it on the bike and use it as a saddle.

Ok, this play on words didn't work out as well as I thought it would. Man, this blogging is hard. You try it. And I still don't know why Specialized named their saddle "Toupé". If you do, please, let me know.

So, I got a new saddle. Because the old one (a Bontrager Race) was uncomfortable on longer rides. I even sat on a some kind of a gel bench in the store to measure the width of my sit bones. 140 mm, they told me. This saddle better be good. I went through all this trouble to get it and it wasn't cheap either.

I also got a bell for the road bike:


I got one of these for the commuting bike years ago, and I must say I've been very pleased with it. It's very robust and loud, and only the deafest of pedestrians fail to jump aside after only a ring or two. Actually, I'm astonished that most cycling stores here only sell those crap, cheap bells, with weak springs, that don't really make a decent noise. And I know because I've been looking.

But even the Cat Eye isn't perfect: the fastening system isn't designed for oversized handlebar diameter. I had to secure it in place with a cable tie.

And finally, here's a picture of my bike, complete, just washed with the new saddle and bell. Also included is the obligatory bike pic accessory: the disembodied hand holding the bike upright.


Oh yeah, I actually took the thing for a longer ride, the first time this season. It was great, and easy as well. Man, I'm in a great shape. Either that or there really was a significant tailwind on the return trip. There was only one thing bothering me though: a slight clicking sound on the right side when pedaling. When I got home, I found out it was the plastic part of the pedal.

Perhaps it could be resolved by oiling the moving parts, but if not, there's not much I can do... except walk into a cycling store, with a wad of cash in my hand, and yell out "Give me Dura-Ace pedals" from the door. Belligerent, but functioning.

2 comments:

opottone said...

I agree, many stores sell only crap bells, and I've been searching for a good one for quite a while now. It looks like that the one you found is not only robust and loud but also easily operable even with a bit clumsy gloves. So could you tell us where to buy one of these?

Ville said...

Yeah, it works even with winter gloves on. These are sold by Suomen Urheiluaitta, which is located on Annankatu, Helsinki.

http://suomenurheiluaitta.fi/urheiluaitta/