Roughly 12 years ago I shelled out $4000 for a new custom built Ti Serotta. That's easily the most I've spent on a bicycle. I've never had many problems with it, just a broken front derailleur during a 600k and a broken rear derailleur after a crash. I recently started taking it to Don's Bike store in Redlands and I've have a litany of problems all related to errors made by their mechanics. I'll be blogging on that subject later, after I get the bike from their latest attempt to make it right.
However, they were good enough to loan me a Giant composite bike with SRAM shifting and a Giant saddle. I only rode 30 miles on it but it was enough to make me appreciate why it was worth spending $4000 on the Serotta.
The Giant appears to have an aluminum downtube judging from the diameter. Once you have an aluminum downtube no amount of carbon is going to unharsh the ride. It was painful. Add that vile saddle (I ride Brooks) and my rear thought I had ridden a century.
A lot of people don't care for SRAM shifting. Fortunately I had no problems although I did find myself reaching for the Campy upshift lever a lot. I still prefer Campy but, at half the price, SRAM is good value.
We ate at Kokomo's in Huntington Beach - a great place to eat and watch the beach traffic.
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