She's here!  She's here!  Just look at her!  Even if you don't get into bikes, it's okay..look anyway..

                                  

She's a 2013 Ridley X-BOW and light as a feather!  Okay..maybe not to a weight weenie, but it's a heck of a lot lighter than my fat bike.  I'd actually gone into a LBS to get a 29er set up for my Muk after selling my Fargo.  I knew it would cost 500-600 dollars and realized I couldn't do it.  What I wanted was a lighter bike to ride the roads.

First LBS had a 2012 Kona "Jake the Snake" in a 56 but it felt so big and stretched out but the components were Ultregra and the price was really hard to beat.  I didn't have enough money at the time and figured I could save up for it.  I sold several things and finally had enough to buy it yesterday.  

I went online and checked out the geometry of the "Jake the Snake".  It really was a large bike.  I had also looked at a Surly Cross Check but after my Fargo I have no desire to deal with bar end shifters.  It had better geometry and that's why it felt more comfortable.  

I knew I didn't want a Trek or a Specialized bike and Salsa pretty much starts out at 2000 when I looked at their bikes.  Surly bikes have crappy components for their high prices and most have bar end shifters.

When I did a search for bike shops in Lincoln a store I'd never heard of popped up so I figured I'd go check it out.  After some test rides and swallowing the over-priced Ridley bike with only Tiagra components I realized it fit the best out of all the bikes I've tried.  And yes, I just complained about high priced bikes in the paragraph above.       

It's been a couple of years since I've had a road style bike and after today's ride of only 5 miles I'm hobbling around in pain.  It's not a plush comfy fat bike for sure.  I had to go back home after three blocks to get my padded shorts. 

I'm still concerned about the fit and it's the drop bars/stem combo that are driving me nuts.  The drop bars just feel to far away from the bike via the stem, but the reach to get to the hoods even if the stem was shortened would still be hard.  I hope I didn't get the wrong size bike.  I felt if I went to a smaller frame, I'd be cramped and still not be able to reach the hoods/shifters with my knees into my chest.  I'm wondering if I have a long torso but short arms and my hands are small.  

Do they make WSD drop bars?  My Woodchipper bars were perfect and I may have to save up for another one but I don't know if they would change the handling of the bike.