noglider 

Keep us posted, complete with pictures.

cat

Well...I made a decision and picked up a Schwinn Slicker when it was on sale at Nashbar for $380 the other day. I finally had time to get it together and take it on its maiden voyage around the neighborhood this morning.

The good:
- I like the frame a lot. Very comfortable, keeping in mind that I've only ridden it about 4 miles so far.
- The rear derailleur is 105 and there is no front derailleur (1x9).
- The microshift bar end shifter seems fine.
- I swapped the wheels off of my old bike, so all is good there.
- It's solid, but heavy.
- It's set up with cable stops for a front derailleur, if I decide to go that direction in the future.

The bad:
- I find the gold anodizing rather obnoxious, so that has to go. I'll replace the brake levers with some Cane Creek ones that I found on CL and I'll eventually replace the crankset.
- The brakes are Promax and actually seemed to work pretty good, but use a 10mm nut to adjust. Not something I usually carry in my fix it kit. It looks like new brake pads come with an Allen head? Is it just a case of replacing the pads?
- The chain guard is warped. Not enough to cause problems, but enough to bug me.
- It's heavy, but solid.

Changes I'm planning on making:
- Replace gold brake levers with Cane Creek.
- I hoped to swap the brakes from my old bike, but they had too short of a reach. I'm going to replace the brakes with Tektro R539.
- Replace the crankset with a single speed set (no guard). If I have chain dropping problems, I will likely pick up a Paul's Chain Keeper.
- The seat seems okay, but I'll try out my Honey Brooks B17N on it to see if I like that.

Overall, very happy at this point, but still have some work to do to make it mine.

RubeRad

Since you're planning already to swap the brake levers, you might consider a pair of Retroshifts to move your barend shifter up to where you can reach it. They have a $99 set for your 1x, or $129 if you want to keep your options open for a front derailleur.

noglider 

At that price, you did well, and you can't really complain about the bike being heavy.

I'd bet you'd be satisfied with the brakes if you just put Kool Stop pads on. There is no better brake pad, and they're inexpensive at $8 each.

I can't blame you for putting a B17 on any bike. I have them on two of my bikes.

RubeRad

For a second I thought I read that you liked B17 so much you put two of them on a bike! That would be something to see (unless of course it is a tandem)

noglider 

Well, I confess I do have a pretty big butt.

PennyTheDog

Maybe you could mount one on the handlebars and carry passengers.

PennyTheDog

I like it-- I'd never seen that model before!

RubeRad

Haha! Now I want to see somebody weld up a y-shaped double seatpost and mount a Swallow for each buttcheek! That's sure to be the next revolution in bike saddle comfort!

noglider 

Sounds heavenly.

cat

I saw those for the first time not too long ago...pretty slick!

Y'all are killing me!

cat

I like the Brooks (brown, not honey, I believe) on the Slicker. Now I need to get a new one for my Sawyer!

More photos...again not too fond of the gold anodizing, but very happy overall.

noglider 

Very nice machine there. I think you're going to enjoy it. Be sure to protect it from theft!

cat

Luckily, it will live in my office with me during the day. Now I have to wait until next week to actually commute on it...meetings out of the office tomorrow...

RubeRad

I agree that the gold accents are gaudy and ugly; I hate that look on cars too, it seems to have been very common on a certain vintage of Lexuses (Lexi? Lexae?) Fortunately it doesn't affect performance, so you can take your time to shop for well-priced replacements.

cat

1st commute on the new bike today. Seemed to be a bit smoother on the rough stretches of road, and that's with the 25s it came with. I'll go with these for a few weeks and then switch to 28s and see how much of a difference that makes. Everything went well on the ride, but the chain did come off to the inside when I was trying to bunny hop a pothole. There's a guard on the outside, but nothing on the inside, so I'll have to do something about that.

I spun out on a couple of the downhills with the 1x9, but this was over 30 mph, so I don't really feel the need to go any faster. I had enough gearing for the one steep uphill as well. So I think gearing should be in good shape. I'll know more after the ride home. Overall, my average speed was 18.9 mph, compared to 18.1, 18.9, 18.6 and 18.3 over the last several commutes on my old bike (lighter, but much stiffer aluminum).

Last thing...the gold may be growing on me...we'll see...

Here she is parked in my office:

RubeRad

Hmm, I've never had a chain drop from just impact (and I have a manhole-from-hell on my evening commute that I have to bunny-hop every time the traffic doesn't let me take the lane), for me it's just from downshifting too decisively. Maybe it's a one-time occurrence?

noglider 

I'm glad it's working out for you so far. And I'm glad you can bring the bike all the way in. I've had jobs like that, and I've really appreciated that.

treadtread

Just out of curiosity - did you weigh the bike when it was stock? I suspect I'd find the gearing steep going uphill .. good that you had no issues with it!

.. now if only there was a way to remove the gold anodizing

cat

I was in a fairly big gear when it happened, so maybe the chain was just too slack. I might be able to remove a few links and see if that helps.

Agreed...I wouldn't like leaving any bike outside...the AZ sunshine can kill things quickly, not to mention theft.

Unfortunately, I didn't. I wish I had, although, only the wheels and saddle have been switched out at this time. I haven't weighed it at all yet, but I can tell a difference picking it up vs. my old bike, which was about 19 lbs. I would guess this one is around 24 lbs or so. I'll try to weigh it one of these days and see what the scale says.

cat

A couple updates...this weekend I switched out the gold brake levers for some black Cane Creek ones, added an Italian Road Bike Mirror, switched out the 25mm tires for 28mm and removed the stickers from the wheels. Next weekend will be the black cranks. A couple new photos and I'll give a review of the mirror once I commute with it tomorrow.

PennyTheDog

That looks really nice! What bar tape is that?

cat

Thanks! It's a marble brown cork tape off of ebay. I'm very happy with the tape. Here is the store I got it from:

https://stores.ebay.com/Abaxo/Grips-a...=p4634.c0.m322