Price Paid:
$1199.00
at (Ginger) Bob''s Bicy Favorite Ride:
I'd hate to pick one having seen so little of the area, but the West Orange Trail is very nice. Bike Setup:
Bike is equipped with Shimano 105 drivetrain, Ritchey
seatpost, stem and handlebars, Selle Italia s Summary:
I wanted a good bike set up primarily for day tripping and running
small errands, and my dealer guided me to this bike. She pulled
the Jamis catalog out from under the counter when she realized that
I wanted quality and value, and was not brand concious.
I'm an engineer and looked at the latest materials and still
decided that steel is hard to beat. I consider the 631 steel
frame to be one of the highlights.
Between 2000 and 2001, the Quest went from triple-ringed to
double-ringed. I understand that the 2002's will offer triple
again. I needed triple, and my shop made the swap for me for an
additional $50. This bike seems to have an identity crisis -
is it a light tourer or an entry racing bike? The ad copy says the
Cosmos wheels are "better suited for for real world, every day use" and
that it's "supple for all-day comfort" which sounds like light touring,
but dropping the triple makes it sound like a racer.
I was concerned about the waify-looking Cosmos wheels with
a novice of my weight (215#/100kg) in the saddle, but after 350 miles
and some good instances of running off the road or hitting
speed bumps and potholes full-bore, I can't find even a fraction
of a millimeter of untrueness to the wheels. I would be concerned
about taking these wheels on a long tour, as the spokes don't appear
roadside-replacable. Actually, the rears don't look bad, but are
straight-head spokes. I haven't a clue how the hub ends of the front
spokes attach - they just disappear into the hub.
This bike is nicely equipped with braze-ons for racks, fenders
and bottle cages. It would be nice if the front fork had rack attach bolts,
too. Strengths:
Value value value. I did the exercise where you
add up the retail value of the components, and reached the
retail price of the entire bike before accounting for the frame.
It's like buying the parts and getting the frame and support for
free. It has Shimano 105 components like a Trek 2200,
probably better wheels, is several hundred less expensive, and
has a repairable frame.
The bike is beautiful. Everywhere I go, other bikers
just stare at it and repeat, "That's a beautiful bike."
I can't complain about the component selection. The
105 components are swappable any part at a time with
Ultegra and Dura-Ace if I want to upgrade a bit at a time.
Rack, fender and bottle cage eyelets and braze-ons. Weaknesses:
The rack bolt on one side of the seat stays is
useless because the brake interferes. I have the 50 cm frame.
Another customer at my shop has the 59 cm frame and has
the same problem. It seems thay can be raise. It seems
pointless to put the bolts lower on the frame than the top of the
wheel.
The STI shifter cables and my handlebar bag didn't play
well together. Within 100-200 miles, I sheared through the plastic
shifter cable ferrules where the cable enter the downtube stops.
My shop installed longer cables and metals ferrules. Looks good so far,
but the metal ferrules would have been better to begin
with. Even without the handlebar bag, the front brake
cable severely bends the right shifter cable when the wheel is
turned to the right. A better solution would seem
to be to route the left cable down the right side of the down tube
and vice versa, but the lack of cable stops near the bottom bracket would
make this difficult without redesigning the bottom bracket
cable guides.
My dealer said the crossing cable problem is mostly
with shorter bikes like mine. Similar Products Used:
I was considering Giant OCR 1, Trek 2200, LeMond Buenos
Aires.
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