There are several stories to share from the ride, I’ll share those that interest me most:
#1 Bryan Hollingsworth can put the hammer down. I hadn’t ridden with Bryan before so I was caught off guard when he showed up on a 1998 Seven Odonata Steel painted in remedios red. I used to detest remedios red, but after seeing Bryan's bike, I'm coming around.
While riding next to Bryan and admiring his build, as well as his parts pick, I have taken remedios red off my hated color palate, I am now officially indifferent. Bryan outfitted his bike with a variety of Mike Salvatore hand–me-down parts including some perfectly matching Mavic Ksyrium Elites, a Wound Up carbon fork, and matching red valve caps. Most impressive was that Bryan rode the entire time with what appeared to be a thirty pound messenger bag. Was he carrying his lap top? A bagged lunch? It was unclear and I didn’t ask. It didn’t matter, Bryan and his man purse were at the top of every hill first.
#2 Jenna Weikerth did an incredible job representing the female contingent on our ride. She showed up on her tried and true Axiom sporting a new pair of Hed Ardennes wheels, also hand-me-downs from the aforementioned Mike Salvatore. Perhaps with enough representation of his old parts we can actually get Mike to participate in a ride!
While this picture might make you think we were riding in Louisiana, it actually was taken on our ride while we pedaled through the Sudbury marshland. Jenna is the sales rep for many shops, but on Sunday she showed her love for her Laguna Hills retailer Edge Cyclesports. Pretty good looking kit. This was her first ride on the new Hed hoops and the wider rim profile was a hit. I'll get her to give us a full review soon.
#3 Neil is new to the area so it was fun to show him some of the country roads that are reachable from his house. We road from Watertown to Sudbury, to Walden Pond, and finally on to Concord before returning home. My only complaint of our loop was the general lack of climbing. On future loops we’ll be looking for some hillier routes to show Neil how we do things in New England.
The scenery was gorgeous, I really love the views around the marshes and the Sudbury River. Other than the unacceptable road conditions near Walden Pond, that once cracked a carbon rim of mine, I always appreciate a trip past Thoreau’s stomping grounds.
Here is our loop:
We stopped at The Main Street Market and Café in Concord for some breakfast before the final leg home. All said and done the ride came to about forty flat but scenic miles. I can’t wait for the next ride.
#4 Jenna and Neil can really take a turn in tandem:
Like soap on ice.
#5 Integrated Seat Post (ISP): This was my first ride on the ISP Elium of any distance. So consider this my official review of the bike.
The ISP looks exactly what I think a bike should look like. Like the Dude’s rug tied his room together, the seat tube lug ties the frame together like no seat post ever could. Ti posts belong on ti bikes, carbon on carbon, and ISP on carbon & ti, there’s no way around it. By eliminating the seat post, you also eliminate the seat collar, and about three additional colors on the bike. Let me start by saying that for the most part I am pretty low key and roll with the punches, but when it comes to bikes (and sneakers), I am picky beyond reason. So while you might select any old seat post, and call it good, I cannot. Here me out. The seat collar is typically a slightly different silver color than anything else on the frame. The bolt and washer add another two colors. The seat post can be any number of colors and the decal even more. That’s way too many colors. The final product can look good, but it’s potential is substantially lower than what an ISP can offer. The ISP perfectly compliments the look of the frame and your oh-so-precious color scheme. It simply can’t look better, with the very minor exception that I plan on proposing to Mr. Vandermark himself, a laser cut Seven emblem on the front of the seat top lug. Mint. I’ll let you know how that goes, and report back on whether or not there are lasers at Seven.
Once I got over the looks of the bike, I hopped on. Along the way I couldn’t help but look down at the seat tube lug. This is what my view looked like for most of the ride:
The ride wasn’t significantly different than a bike equipped with a seat post, but there were a few subtle differences, all of which I thought were niceties. Most noticeable to me and most appreciated, was the more pronounced feedback from the road. The extended seat tube adds a hint of harshness over chatter bumps, and makes fresh asphalt feel better than ever before. I found all of this information from the road a welcome addition to the ride. Again, the feedback isn’t unnoticeable on my ID8, it’s just a little more pronounced on the ISP. This additional response made me stand over more bumps than I would on my ID8 but was still more compliant than my previous all metal bikes. Saddle height adjustment, while limited to about 3cm, was a snap, and the new but ingenious saddle clamp assembly was simple. Adjusting the saddle angle is a separate process than clamping down on the rails which makes minor adjustments a breeze. You can do one without affecting the other…genius.
My only reservation is that I like to put my bike in the car when I travel to keep the bugs off. The ISP doesn’t allow me to stand the bike up in the back of a wagon using my customized 2” x 4” with a Yakima fork mount. With my ID8 I can pop the seat post out, and slide it right in, I can’t do that with an ISP. This will also make packing and shipping a bit of a problem. I'd rather not travel with an ISP than travel with a traditional seat post, you heard it here first.
As always, more to come.
