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Seems only fair to keep the older stuff, but it’s totally outdated.  That Trek Fuel was too light.  It was like using a gazelle instead of a draft horse.  And either I’ve gotten bigger (certainly true), and stiffer (also true), or the bike has gotten smaller and more awkward.

New bike from the good old days of trying stupid stuff for fun and then bragging about the mishaps later.  The new dream ride is a Kona Primo Dawg.  Gorgeous and a dream to ride, even with the trailer/rack/and heavy human attached.

The only change — and it’s a big one — is that I feel compelled to swap out the hydraulics for cable-actuated brakes.  I like the trailside maintenance option and I think I don’t give up much stopping power.

So… check out the earlier version of the ‘dream ride plan’ below, but the bike went heavyweight.

The bike:  Trek Fuel 90 from about 2003.  Broke the main triangle and cracked a chainstay jumping off rocks.  It took a year, but Trek replaced both parts.  This is a lot like replacing the whole bike, except that they didn’t have an aluminum rear triangle handy, so this is actually a carbon rear triangle.  I still weigh about 225 lbs and I certainly haven’t become more graceful, so I’ve tried to be more careful with the bike.

Here’s the stuff planned:

  1. rebuild the front shock.
  2. get a trailer to keep some weight off the back.
  3. replace the entire chain/cluster/ring system.
  4. add a nice front rack (to keep more weight off the back).
  5. add more hand positions.
  6. add some appropriate tires.
  7. (pie in the sky) replace levers and shifters (beat up in crashes)

 

 

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