New Bike Fever

"New bike"!  What a seductive siren call.  The phrase can only be matched in my heart by "used boat cheap" or "free u-pick fruit".

What to get?  I ride mostly on the road but I do a bit of off-road too.  Nothing too gnarly but the occasional dirt road or walking trail.  I didn't want front suspension and I preferred drop bars.  But I didn't want a delicate road bike with no space for fenders, an aggressive riding position, etc.

Really I wanted a nice new version of my ten speed.  I love that bike with its slack geometry and 30 mm tires.  There are some retro bikes like that ( e.g. Rivendells) but they typically ain't cheap.  I didn't want to spend much more than a grand.  I'm middle aged with shrinking dreams and growing equity but spending more wasn't  aesthetically pleasing.

So it had to be a non-custom off the shelf bike. Fortunately there are a some bike categories on the market that seemed promising.  Touring bikes are comfy and stable but my friend's Trek 520 was a little too train like.  Cyclocross bikes are good on the dirt but they can be as twitchy and fender-hostile as any road bike.  The new "gravel", "adventure" and "endurance" bikes seemed most promising.  They are like the love child of a cycle cross mama and a tour bike papa.

I tried this bike, a Specialized AWOL and I loved it.  Old School mountain bike geometry, road bars, tons of wheel clearance and a tough looking matte charcoal paint job.  It was $1500 and there were none available in Edmonton.

Sorry Senhor, you can't get there from heere.  

Sigh.