Originally Posted by
Rocket-Sauce
At 6'04", I am in a similar but much easier-to-fit boat.
One thing I have learned is that patience will pay off. I will not compromise anymore since there is always another bike out there. I know I am spoiled being in Boston, but so are you in the Seattle area. Loads of good bike pop up every day, and maybe once a week there is a bike in our size that is tempting.
If your list of acceptable bikes is very specific or narrow ("only Paramounts" or "only Colnagos"), then you will be stuck in a land of frustration. But if you keep an open mind, you will find more bikes that make you happy. Personally, I was very snobbish against Fuji -especially anything below their Team model. But then I had a bike stolen and needed a replacement bike fast. I ended up going with a Fuji Ace that I LOVED (still do). Now I look for any 62-64 cm bikes in my area. Frame size first, then everything else.
I am still just as narrow minded, but now with fit instead of builder.
I will echo being spoiled here in Seattle for choice, and have had that mindset for quite some time. I credit it and several key people for nurturing and allowing this whole bike thing to grow and become more or less self-sustainable for me.
As for bike snobbery, I'm in it for the fitment first, then brand/model next. Case in point: I spent a good amount of time digging around Schwinn catalog scans for 25.5" and 27" model offerings from 1981-1991. As we all know, anything above 26"/27" is always lower-end than higher-end. After developing a soft spot for Schwinns and, finally, later, very large (25"+) frames, they are lovable things. Thankfully a number of mid-level Schwinns (Le Tour) join the more humble Traveler and World Sport offerings, with the earlier 25.5" '83 Voyageur and Super Sport SPs being the most desirable to me (of course). I like pretty much any paint job they offered on any of these models. And a lower end bike can always be given a great pair of shoes, which will help it a lot, IMO.
My brother's Fuji Supreme was built as a road bike with period-correct parts that were mid-level or so, and the thing rode great. Crazy, but I liked it so much I wanted to keep it in the family. It was the second Fuji I had dealt with and enough to easily convince me that they ride a lot better than their 'station' suggests.
So I need to put some pictures up of the newly-setup Davidson as well as my back-with-me Land Shark.
Pardon the accidental white wall on the rear. The axle slipped when the fitter clamped the bike in using a different QR skewer (that should have been fine, but oh well), peeling away the rubber coating over the carcass. It's held up well so far, but I plan on swapping it out for a different pair of tires until I can find another Vittoria Open Corsa CX 25mm.
The very unique paint of the 'Shark is pretty tired as far as condition goes, and I'm still mulling calling John Slawta/Land Shark to see about a repaint. For now though, that idea is nearly in the trash bin because I finally wrestled enough black components together to see how it looked (vs. all silver, which looked lost against the paintwork) and boy oh boy does this thing look fantastic!
I accidentally set the saddle too high (gotta measure a million times) by about 5mm, and have lowered it, somewhat, uh, unwillingly (from an aesthetic point of view as it takes away "rake" just a (crucial) touch) but also willingly (too dang high!). Pretty much all of these components were slated to be put on the Prologue to be sold, but only the wheels and tires are a lock. Those 6700 Ultegra rollers are a feisty pair! The next-level carbon/aluminum Dura-Ace hoops (on the Davidson) are worth it for improved ride quality (aka quelling bumps and road buzz), something older rims are good at.
We're getting closer, folks.
