Raleigh Rx1

I didn't know I wanted a cyclocross bike! What I did know was the a road bike would not go off road and a mountain bike is way to heavy for touring. With this in mind I went to my LBS and told them my dilemma. After considering a Trek FX fitness bike which was the only bike even remotely close to what I need, the salesman told me about the Specialized Tricross a woman had ordered that just came in. When he rolled this bike out of the back room I knew that whatever this bike was, with it's drop bars, 700 wheels, skinny but not to skinny tires and racing geometry and paint, that this is what I've been looking for. My first thought was "why the hell is this the first I'm hearing about this style of bike". For 1. I don't think half the people buying their first mtb are getting what they need. They want a bike that works well on semi ruff trails but most the time they will be riding around the neighborhood or on local roads. 2. This bike doesn't really have a designated name. You could call it a touring bike as they have rack mounts or a ATB but they are know as a Cyclo-Cross bike that is race specific. SOO...unless you've ever heard Cyclocross, you would generally be looking for a road, mt, or touring bike.

Unfortunately major companies are only designing 2-3 cross bikes per year but on the bright side their are more quality bike manufactuers than ever. I will put it bluntly "I am Broke", as many of us are. As much as I would like the newest Cannondale TJ or Ridley X-Night, spending $5000 starting out isn't practical especially if I eventually want a road or mt. specific bike. I want to tell you how I decided on the Rx1 to help you get the most bang for your buck.

I first went through every catalog my LBS carries. Prices will very from dealer to dealer and 09 models were way above my budget i.e. what I consider even asking my wife for permission for. Then I thought I will go to Ebay to find a great deal. The problem with Ebay is 1. Quality bikes hold there value even after a 1-2 years of hard cross racing. 2. A great deal on a full Dura-Ace bike has the potential of either the rim or frame being bent or it was stolen and I don't trust thieves. Craigslist will have bikes in your area that you can see before you buy but they may still cost just under retail. What I found is that there are 4 price ranges starting at $650 for a Motobecane from Bikesdirect.com to the Scott Addict around $5000. My price range I decided would be the $1400 range since anything under $100o came with the Shimano Sora group or less, like the Shimano Triple sti shifters. Here is what I came up with-

Surley- Long Haul Trucker- $1000-$1100
Cross-Check -$300-$1300
Redline sport $900
conquest $1700
Trek XO 2 $1550
Cannondale xr7- $1650
Ridley Crosswind-$1300-$1900
Giant TCX- $1250
Raleigh Rx1-$1350
Specialized Tricross sport $1450-$1600

OK, you can do your own research as I'm sure you will but this is how I broke it down.

Surley LHT is for touring
crosscheck will work but no carbon fork
redline conquest sport sub par group, frame, fork to the pro

trek XO I found for a steal at a certified trek store for $950 closeout but no layaway on closeouts...DAMB I trust the technology on the frame but retail 09 price went up

Cannondale- They seem to have the best aluminum frame considering the smooth flawlessly butted joints but the x7 doesn't have the same fork or 105 shimano

Ridley- winner of all the recent giro podiums, on the low end the crosswind is nothing like those that stand on the first place bucket

Giant TCX - Actually, if you can find the TCX 2 08 model on closeout with 105 and tiagra- GO FOR IT

Specialized Tricross sport- Because you can only afford the sport, they charge an arm and a leg for a carbon fork they make themselves- It has some weight to it, sub par parts.

That was a lot to write out for a blog but you are worth it

Soooooo..........Why the Raleigh??????!!?
1. its yellow. I don't wear yellow, don't even like it but on my bike it works i.e. Lance's New Livestrong

2.The Easton EC90 carbon fork is the same as the cannondale TJ WTF plus Raleigh has the exclusive white color. Cannondale knows what raleigh knows about this fork.

3. Raleigh usa knows how to make an aluminum frame, do some research, they know what they're doing!

4. 105 rear de and tiagra sti shifters- Try finding a bike with this fork and quality frame with these decent components...Dare Ya

5. PRICE- this could be 1.2.and 3. but lets face it color is important and RX1 comes in red, blue and yellow. $1350 for the 09 BUT WAIT... you are not going to buy the 09... not until the 2010 comes out then you will be able to get the 09 for about $2-350 less.

THE FORK ON THIS BIKE RETAILS FOR $450
I PAID $900.................. how did I do this????????

Here you go.. A BIG tip...
Your state is big with alot of small bike shops.
If you have a favorite bike. Since LBS can't legally ship out of state, Google every single local bike shop in your state and ask them what they have in stock, on sale, or closeout. You will find your bike, maybe not your size at first but find your size then find your price then- GO BUY IT.

My first racing bike

As a child I loved riding around my neighborhood, on the dirt trails near my home and on long rides with my brother. I never had much more than a hand me down with a banana seat until my parents opened their wallet and got me a $60 Huffy BMX which was fine with me as there was a bike thief that lived 2 houses down. My brother had his bike stolen 3 times in 2 years. I didn't get my first mountain bike until I was 19, just after I moved to Austin. I bought a Univega mountain bike from University Cyclery I rode to work 3 miles up hill ran or shine. It wasn't great but for $250 I thought I was spending enough for it to ride like a dream, needless to say, it didn't. First of all I didn't mostly road riding or on sidewalks. I did take it to the trails in north Austin near the ACC Northridge campus but without a front shock I bent the rim the first time one the trail. It never road the same again. After my roommate thought I skipped town and out on my rent he went ahead and slashed both tires on my bike and all four on my car. I didn't pay rent before moving out and sold my now flat tire bent rim bike to the pawnshop for 40 bucks.

My first long ride

I took my (new) bike out for my first long ride of the season. I wouldn't call it new exactly considering I took this circa 1995 Huffy out of the garbage this past winter. I will post pictures later as this is a must see it to believe it bike. It had almost no wear on it's flat 26 inch tire's knobs. which is about the only thing it has going for it. After changing its tube and filling the other with air I had to remove the front derailuir and front brake due to the rusted out cables that made them inoperable. This may be considered a good thing since the bike weighs around 34 pounds and this was a weight savings of 1 pound, so now it's around 33. I moved the chain to the large wheel on the front and now have between 3 and 4 gears depending on how well the remaining derailieur works that day. Both wheels have a nice wobble but because the rear brakes hardly work at least they don't rub the wheel every spin. The frame has a well maintained coat of black spray paint over the remaining decals that has bubbled up all over but has yet to reveal the covered rust.

The reason I am blogging about such a crap bike is because I am saving for my Raleigh RX1 which has been in layaway since my first payment from my soccer coaching check I received in Oct. of 08. Family money is for everything from new kids clothes to new IPod apps for the kids and hair dye but when it comes to money for dads new bike, well that comes once everyone else has everything they need, which is never.

I think this is where this blog should be very interesting. To go from training on a beat up garbage bike to competing in races in the fall on a bike that has a fork alone that retails for $500. If the thought of finding the $700 remaining balance of my RX1 isn't daunting enough, I now have road bike fever! More on that later.

This winter I realized that if I haven't ridden at all before getting my new bike , I would be so out of shape I wouldn't appreciate it when I finally did ride it. Luckily my (luxury) apartment has a gym with a stationary trainer. It is fairly nice with a recumbent type chair rather than a seat and various settings. This was my first training in years other than a 56 mile ride I took last fall on my mom's Giant Sedona hybrid with front shocks. I road 30 min. to start then hit the stair master for 15 min followed by weights. I did the same workout for a couple weeks upping my cycling time to 60 min at varying resistance. I road to my dads house about a month ago which is about 15 miles round trip.

So this weekend with the kids at their grandma's I knew I was going for a ride. I decided to head to downtown Flint to see the trail of a 50-60 person group ride I was invited to the following day. The trail heads north which is out of my way so I headed to the towards my dads to fill up my water bottle.

On the way I passed by the skate park I have been wanting to see since it was built. The skate park replaced the tennis courts I used to play at while my parts played tennis. Mountain bikes and skate ramps don't really go together but that didn't stop me from taking a couple jumps. I saw a kid on the side who seemed reluctant to take his BMX on the ramps so I asked him whats the deal. He said the rules said the no pedal bikes are allowed. I couldn't believe it. Skaters break the rules all the time by skating where it is clearly posted that it is not allowed. Rob from Rob and Big on MTV skates with a body guard for the specific purpose of fighting off security guards in such areas. I asked one of the skaters if he would mind if the little guy road him bike and he said "well the sign says no bikes" I said "but you don't mind do you, skaters are supposed to be cool". I couldn't believe it! Skaters being rude to BMX kids. I left telling the kid to makes sure he sticks up for himself.

My dad was asleep so I didn't get to rest as long as I would have like. Rather then turning down my road I decided to head to Assenmachers to try a real road bike. Of course they were closed so I went 5 miles out of my way wish I hadn't done because the headwind on the final 3 miles of my 40 mile trip was so bad I had to walk at a couple points to stop my legs from burning. I also was feeling the fatigue of the day.