No-Coast: First Ride Update

The new Shogun 1000 fixed gear bike has been ridden now. I have some thoughts on this bike and I will get to those in a bit here. First I wanted to cover my initial set up of the bike. Much of the basics were shared in Thursday's post which you can see HERE. But I did add a couple of things which I wanted to talk about. 

I needed to add some repair gear, just in case, so I decided on the Velo Orange Burrito Supreme handlebar bag. That worked great as I utilized the stock headset mounted reflector as a sort of decaleur. Then I found one of my frame pumps that fit and I was set with the repair stuff. I pumped the tires to slightly above 40psi and off I went. 

My first impression is that old school hoods and levers are really skinny! I'm not sure those levers will last long here. More substantive levers have a much more ergonomic feel and make you want to ride. Then there is the traditional bend handle bar with zero flare. Ach! I really don't like that. My mind was immediately looking for a Midge Bar to appear on the front of this bike! So, I may be doing some switching up on stem/handle bar/lever combos in the near future. I know this may mess with the classic look, but I have to want to ride this bike and these current components are not lending themselves to this goal.

The fork must have a pretty short offset as I have to back my foot up on the pedal to prevent toe overlap. Not a really big deal there, but it is annoying. I suppose I could find some shorter cranks or a fork with more offset. 

The Brooks Professional is what I expected. Nice and comfortable! When it breaks in to my anatomy it should feel awesome. I may have to tip the peak up more on it, but it is darn close to where it needs to be right now. 

The brake pads are original to the bike with embossed "Shimano" logo on the aluminum brake block holders. I hate to get rid of them but in typical Shimano fashion, the pads are like bricks and there is zero modulation due to that. With only one working brake, I may need to compromise there. 

I haven't ridden far on tires this skinny in a long, long time, so that was a bit of an eye-opener. I will say that 40psi is about the maximum I'd pump these 700 X 32mm Pasela tires up to because I still could feel every sidewalk crack I rode over at that pressure. 

I picked up right where I had left off with fixed gear riding. However; I went pretty slow and steady on this bike to get acquainted with everything which was going on with it. The wheel base is short, so I had the back end come up when I dropped into a grassy field. A longer wheel base would have helped to keep the bike planted there. The skinny tires were barely hanging in there on the descent down the dike, which I took at an angle. I could hear the tires cutting the grass in places when my weight pressed the tires down into the brown grasses. The term "pizza cutter" came to mind. 

The bumpy grass field exposed the short wheel base in the form of a pretty rough ride. I was happy to get off that bit, but the bike did handle it just fine, considering what I had to work with. The 39T X 20T gearing, close to 2 to 1, was about right for this bike, I think. I could climb and start from a stop without feeling like I was going to pop a knee cap or something. 

I finished off the ride by cruising some alleys and back streets. Then I headed back to the house to consider my ride and what I might want to do from this point. 

My first order of business will be to address the handle bar and stem. I think if I can get a slightly longer stem and maybe add a stem with a bit more height,(this current stem is set to maximum height already), maybe that might work. I also have a stem insert with which I could then utilize any threadless style stem I choose which opens up a lot of handle bar choices. That may take away from the classic look, but make the bike feel much better. 

But after some time on the bike on other short commutes since this first ride I came upon an idea which I am pretty sold on. A mustache bar! I'll try to source one soon. I think that would really be ideal on this bike. 

If all that went well enough and I grew to like this bike a lot, then I might look for shorter cranks to alleviate the toe overlap. As it stands, if I scoot my foot back so my toes barely overhang the fronts of the pedals I am okay. But I'd rather not ride with my feet so far back on the pedals if I can have that option. I'm not too worried about this as the bike will not be ridden longer distances at this point. 

So this is where I am at with the bike so far. I think it has potential, but I do wish it had fatter tires, a longer wheel base, and a bit higher stack height. If something else comes along that fits this bill, well, we'd see what might happen then. But for now? I think this might just work out okay for a while.