{"id":186,"date":"2010-01-29T14:03:38","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T14:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/?p=186"},"modified":"2017-01-12T04:40:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T04:40:52","slug":"sad-loss-happy-beginnings-new-bike-bought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/sad-loss-happy-beginnings-new-bike-bought\/","title":{"rendered":"Sad Loss, Happy Beginnings? New Bike Bought<\/b>"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Sad Loss…<\/h2>\n

I’ve been agonising for a while about my lovely old Haro.\u00a0 She’s been complaining and displaying all the signs of her old age.\u00a0 A couple of months ago I took her wheels in to be trued and they couldn’t do it.\u00a0 At that point I began to accept that her days were drawing to a close.<\/p>\n

So, it is with a heavy heart and a much lighter wallet that I have to tell you I’ve ordered a new companion.\u00a0 This weekend’s ride will be my last on my trusty Haro.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Haro<\/a>

RIP My Faithful Haro Friend, Out To Pasture After 10 Years<\/p><\/div>\n

The frame’s still bombproof, but the wheels, brakes and bottom bracket are knackered.\u00a0 I’ll pass it on to some deserving soul or put it on Freecycle<\/a>, unless anyone has any better ideas…?<\/p>\n

…A Happy Beginning?<\/h2>\n

I’m a bit scared.<\/p>\n

I’m a bit scared of how easy it was to spend my money with Wiggle<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 I simply used the affiliate link from Fight Bad Driving<\/a> and was logged into my Wiggle account automatically.\u00a0 The bike I’ve chosen was already on my wish list so, what seemed like 4 nanoseconds later, I was looking at the “Thank You From Wiggle” <\/em><\/strong>screen and experiencing early-onset-post-purchase-dissonance.<\/p>\n

Here’s the beast:<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

Focus Fat Boy 2010, My New Steed<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Why A Mountain Bike?<\/h3>\n

I thought long and hard about getting a road bike, but I need a family-friendly ride.\u00a0 We live alongside a canal so we ride as a family along the towpath, regularly.\u00a0 Everyone else has an offroad-style bike: even the young girls have fat tyres.<\/p>\n

The roadie option was to buy a decent road bike, then get my Haro updated with some inexpensive new wheels and a new bottom bracket for the family rides.\u00a0 This would’ve cost the wrong side of \u00a3100 on top of a new roadie for sure.\u00a0 Shed room would also have been an issue.<\/p>\n

So, the MTB won the day this time.<\/p>\n

Why The Focus?<\/h3>\n

I’ve read reviews on Focus’ road bikes and MTBs, from last year and this year.\u00a0 Focus bikes are German, and those Germans are pretty good at engineering, whatever you say about their sense of humour.\u00a0 Wiggle are selling a lot of their bikes (which must be a good sign, surely<\/em>) and the more recent reviews have been very good.\u00a0 On the 2009 models, it seemed that they were trying to cut costs by providing lower-priced components.\u00a0 OK, this year’s Fat Boy is \u00a3100 more than last year’s, but the components are good.<\/p>\n

Oh, and I loved the paint job.\u00a0 How cool is it? Really? I mean, How Cool<\/em> is THAT<\/em><\/strong>?\u00a0 I’m a sucker for a nice white frame, me. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Let me know what you think … and if you know any good cause that’d benefit from a Haro Escape 7.0 which squeaks a bit, let me know.<\/p>\n

Share with your friends:<\/h3>