Looking For A Bike – Part I

I’ve been working downtown in Canton over a year now, so what’s that mean?  Well, let’s see, first I’m extremely familiar with all the taverns, bars and restaurants from Brewers Hill to Harbor East without a doubt.  I also see so many people on bikes who ride to work, ride to lunch, ride to meet a client, ride to get a coffee, ride to the tavern.  I must admit something… I’m feeling a little left out!  I want a bike and I want to now.  So I did the fastest thing, I borrowed one from my friend Ryan, a Nashiki Mountain Bike.  See, I would have just bought one but I can’t decide what to buy.

Looking For A Bike

In the city most of the bikes are cruisers and modified road style bikes, single speed’s and a very traditional look.  I never really was a roadie and all my experience of bikes has pretty much been mountain bikes. My last mountian bike was a Trek Carbon Fiber Y-22 with a RockShox Judy XC in the front with a Fox air shock in the rear.  It was great in it’s day and I ebay’ed that thing about 12 years ago.

Trek Y-22 [Old School Full Suspension]

Yesterday, April 26, 2014 my wife and I went to pick up brew supplies for next weekends brew day in Columbia, MD which is on the other side of Baltimore from where we live.  On the way back I figured why not stop at HUB C/ville Bikes.

We met Scott who owns the place and he was very helpful.  I was able to throw a leg over a few different bikes.  One that I really like is the Cannondale Trail4 29er. Ridged tail, front suspension with lockout and full hydraulic brakes, for around $900

Cannondale TRAIL4 29er

Raleigh XXIX

There was the baby blue Raleigh single speed with a Fox front shock that looked killer.  It was the XXIX model. This bike has a belt drive system that I’ve never seen before. Very unique and I would love to see how well it holds up.

* above belt drive photo from Vintage One Blog

Carver Fat Tire Bike

This was Scott’s personal ride and I must admit I love it.  This was the first time I had seen a fat tire bike in person.  It was everything I imagined and more, especially with the Cannondale Lefty fork. OMG this bike was absolutely the coolest thing.  At home I did some searching about this bike and came to the conclusion that setup the way it sits it’s about $3000 retail, maybe a little more.  Notice the Go-Pro housing on the neck.

What Next

I have decided to do 2 bikes.  Most likely I’ll buy a new mountain bike, maybe that Cannondale. Trail4. For my city riding I’m going to buy a used road bike and make it my own by stripping in down and building it back with just the bare essentials and pretty sure it’s going to be a single seed.  I’ll be posting more about the bike search as it happens.

Location, Location, Location

The Hub & C’Ville Bikes
821 Frederick Road
Catonsville, MD 21228
410-747-7433
Website http://www.cvillebikes.com/
Face book at https://www.facebook.com/cvillebikes

Next -> Looking For A Bike – Part II – The Fixie

Click Here!  For the follow up post titled Looking For A Bike II – The Fixie