Kandi!

You know when you walk into a place and look across the room and there she is? Well, it really wasn't long after I had purchased Trixi (see my first blog post for a pic), my first carbon fiber bombshell that I saw her.  I have to say that I immediately felt I had to have her! (Mr. NYCBikeSnob be damned, I name my bikes.  It's just the way it is, fashionable or not, ridiculous or retarded as that may be, I do.) I recently sold Ginger, my Cannondale R600 to a friend from USGS who is tall enough to actually fit her.  That's right, I had been riding a bike that was too big for me for around four years. Sixty centimeters is just too big.

When I bought Trixi, my carbon fiber Specialized Roubaix, she was around 58 cm and quite the smooth ride.  She fit like a dream and had those ergo handlebars that are oh so sweet.  One day I noticed a crack in the Shimano rims and took 'er into the local bike shop where I bought her for a look.  They contacted Specialized and Specialized shipped a brand new set of Rovall Eschapees as replacements at no extra charge.  Now that's service.  Plus, the red and black spoke paint job set off the all black bike something special.  Trixi and I were in a TV commercial ad for Sound Bikes & Kayaks (for about 5 seconds).  I still haven't seen the footage as it was on cable.

Anyway, I like to go downhill fast. After all, when you weigh over 200, going up is work and going down is our reward.  Here in Port Angeles though, there are a few sharp turns on a few steep descents. Especially at the bottom of the bluffs on my commute to work. I noticed "it" on the first ride to work on my new carbon bike.  When in a high speed descending tight turn with a little front brake pressure applied, Trixi would flex and buck her front tire with a shimmy, shimmy, shake, shake that was downright unholy!  That's how she got her name.  You had to use back brake more and front brake less to offset this precarious characteristic.  But, that usually only happened at around 35+ mph in a rather tight turn.  Ginger had a carbon fork, but she never did this.

I figured it out. Tom Boonen was right. Once his team, Quick Step, signed Specialized as the team bike, he wanted the Roubaix redesigned. Guess when that happened?  Guess when I saw Kandi for the first time? That's right, Kandi is the result of that redesign.  On an XL (58cm) Roubaix, the distance from the down tube to the cross tube on the head tube is rather great, about 4-6 inches.  On aluminum frames, this is not a great issue.
Cannondale has a greater diameter down tube AND head tube.  Boonen's redesigned Roubaix completely addresses this in spades.  We are talking serious stiffening of the tubes in question as well as adding some rather uncommonly appealing design lines.  The curvature of the cross tube is a through back to the old Sting Ray days and is done so well that this bike oozes with . . . sex appeal.  Remember the 70's era Corvette?  Yeah, just, like, THAT!

So, I named this bike before I ever rode her. How'd that happen? Somethings you can tell from sight alone. She is lipstick red with white and silver trim, delicious like candy. Her design, sexy, light and smooth as silk but sturdy and stiff like, like . . . hard candy. I got a cavity just from lookin' at 'er! (It's true, I had it filled last week.) So, I had about two years of ogling over her and after a few more high speed shimmies on Trixi, decided I needed to look at upgrading to a (pardon the pun here) sweeter ride.

That chance came when my good buddy Mike McH. broke a crank on his '64 Masi during the Fort 2 Fort on the 6th of June. He had noticed a crack near the pedal mount but rode it anyway and lo and behold, on a climb up West Valley Road, the crank gave way and he went down.  He scraped his knee but no serious harm was done. However, he had to abandon the ride.

His wife, Nancy McH. knew I was in the market to sell Trixi as I had suggested so to Mike. She wanted to know specifics and I told her my issues and that ever since Matt, Mike and I rode up Hurricane Ridge and, in particular, down it, Mike hasn't wanted to ever go fast again.  That day Mike and Matt showed up to do the much anticipated torture trip and just as we were about to mount our steeds, Mike noticed his rear tire was flat.

He repaired his tire but failed to ensure the hub was aligned properly due to the nature of the "straight back" (single speed style) drop outs.  Well, coming down Hurricane Ridge at speed with a mis-aligned rear hub will put the fear of God into anyone!  He was white as a sheet when he finally arrived at the rest stop where Matt and I were wringing our hands wondering what the hell happened to him.  He was 12 minutes behind us for crying out loud!  That did it for Mike. I seriously don't think he'll ever be a downhill demon not that he ever was. But that trip was it for him.  To this day he's sworn off high speed descents (for life).

So, that makes Trixi a good fit for him.  He'll never push it like I like to (and probably shouldn't but do anyway). Nancy wants to buy Trixi for him for him for his birthday (don't worry Nancy, no one reads my blogs anyway, especially Mike).  I priced her to sell and believe that Mike will get many, many years of joy from riding that smooth as glass carbon frame!

Having said all that, my wife, Lisa, gave me the green light to go ahead and buy Kandi, which we did Saturday.  Then, we rode the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) from Port Angeles to Blyn and back.  We stopped at the Longhouse Chevron Station for a paninni per our usual.  Lisa needs to get miles under her to be ready for the Seattle to Portland (STP) so this was a planned ride.  Unfortunately, it was cooler and cloudier than Saturday (we rode Sunday) and by the time we got to Blyn, the weather was downright chilly willy!  Nonetheless, we headed back and heated up some as it is a slight ascent most of the way back.  Lisa suffered some pain nearer the end of our trek but managed to stretch AND tough it out.  She's a serious trooper!