So a year or so ago, I was pre­sented with a Her­cules bicy­cle. It’s a really reli­able cycle and stood me in good stead over quite a few long trips that I made. Of course, by the end of the trip, every mus­cle of mine would be strained, but at least I was get­ting some good exer­cise in the bar­gain (and burn­ing more calo­ries too).

But I fig­ured that it was time to upgrade. Espe­cially see­ing folks talk lov­ingly about their Treks and Meri­das made me also think of tak­ing a step up in the cycling world. Of course, it’s always dif­fi­cult to make that deci­sion. Which bike to buy?
~ Road or MTB or hybrid?
~ How much should I spend on a bike?
~ Which brand? Trek/Merida/Cannondale/Bianchi/Hero/Firefox?

So as you can see, it wasn’t easy reach­ing a deci­sion. I had rid­den a bor­rowed hybrid bike once on a long trip and found it really smooth and com­fort­able. As the Duathlon event came closer, I thought it was high time I finally got myself a bike. So I mailed the nice boys at Bums and Sad­dle to check if they could pro­cure one for me. After a few mail exchanges, it seems they were get­ting a con­sign­ment of the Trek 7100.

Rohan Kini of BOTS fame (a very nice young man, I must add!) even sent me the link of his review of the 7100 so I was already con­vinced. It is always eas­ier to make up one’s mind when some­one else has already done the homework.

Then a few days later he said he might not have the bike in my frame size after all. Rather dejected, I decided that I would give the Duathlon a miss.

And then on the Wednes­day before the event, I get a mail say­ing the bike was ready and in the size I needed!

I was thrilled to bits.

I went to the store and checked out the bike. Sleek, sexy and very smooth.

And then on Sat­ur­day, the day before the Duathlon, I was at the BOTS store at 11 am to pick up my brand new bike. Look­ing at the queue there, it seemed like there were many more peo­ple wait­ing for their bikes too.

Sid­dharth and Vasu tin­kered with the bike and fixed the height and other cool devices like a tail-light :-) I got myself a hel­met and a lock and I was all ready to take on the world. Or the road, to start with.

The traf­fic is pretty scary out there but I am hop­ing I get used to it after a while. I am going to make a brave attempt to cycle to work once in a while. And ride longer dis­tances at least once a month. And cycle to Cub­bon Park on one day of the weekend.

So here I am — the proud owner of a Trek 7100. Yippee! And here’s to much more cycling :-)

Use­ful Links

Wheel­sports
Bums and Sad­dle
Ban­ga­lore Bik­ers Club
Ride a Cycle Foundation

So a year or so ago, I was pre­sented with a Her­cules bicy­cle. It’s a really reli­able cycle and stood me in good stead over quite a few long trips that I made. Of course, by the end of the trip, every mus­cle of mine would be strained, but at least I was get­ting some good exer­cise in the bar­gain (and burn­ing more calo­ries too).

But I fig­ured that it was time to upgrade. Espe­cially see­ing folks talk lov­ingly about their Treks and Meri­das made me also think of tak­ing a step up in the cycling world. Of course, it’s always dif­fi­cult to make that deci­sion. Which bike to buy?
~ Road or MTB or hybrid?
~ How much should I spend on a bike?
~ Which brand? Trek/Merida/Cannondale/Bianchi/Hero/Firefox?

So as you can see, it wasn’t easy reach­ing a deci­sion. I had rid­den a bor­rowed hybrid bike once on a long trip and found it really smooth and com­fort­able. As the Duathlon event came closer, I thought it was high time I finally got myself a bike. So I mailed the nice boys at Bums and Sad­dle to check if they could pro­cure one for me. After a few mail exchanges, it seems they were get­ting a con­sign­ment of the Trek 7100.

Rohan Kini of BOTS fame even sent me the link of his review of the 7100 so I was already con­vinced. It is always eas­ier to make up one’s mind when some­one else has already done the homework.

Then a few days later he said he might not have the bike in my frame size after all. Rather dejected, I decided that I would give the Duathlon a miss.

And then on the Wednes­day before the event, I get a mail say­ing the bike was ready and in the size I needed!

I was thrilled to bits.

I went to the store and checked out the bike. Sleek, sexy and very smooth.

And then on Sat­ur­day, the day before the Duathlon, I was at the BOTS store at 11 am to pick up my brand new bike. Look­ing at the queue there, it seemed like there were many more peo­ple wait­ing for their bikes too.

Sid­dharth and Vasu tin­kered with the bike and fixed the height and other cool devices like a blink­ing tail-light. I got myself a hel­met and a lock and I was all ready to take on the world. Or the road, to start with.

The traf­fic is pretty scary out there but I am hop­ing I get used to it after a while. I am going to make a brave attempt to cycle to work once in a while. And ride longer dis­tances at least once a month. And cycle to Cub­bon Park on the weekends.

So here I am — the proud owner of a Trek 7100. Yippee! And here’s to much more cycling :-)

Cycling Links
Wheel­sports
Bums and Sad­dle
Ban­ga­lore Bik­ers Club
Ride a Cycle Foundation