It is rare that you see that the female spouse in the relationship equation have a bike = to or > than the male. Granted there are exceptions, but this is about the rule. That being said, most of the guys I know have significant that are the least bit interested in the latest tech, neither give a crap about inertia weight nor fork valving, they just want the bike to work. These are the girls relegated to riding leftovers from sponsorships, last years bikes or even worse, the oh-so popular Stumpjumper.
Things work a little different around the Bloomer household, I can tell you that. Sandi might have her fingers on the pulse of the latest & greatest, but she knows a good bike when she sees one. Better yet, she has ridden, raced and tested a lot of bikes, and knows what she likes. On my side, it works like this, if I want a new ride in the quiver, I have to tend to the queen bee first.
Last week I took her single speed out for a few spins, a sweet baby blue & pearl white steel Deluxe, I was jealous. Riding this bike put a huge smile on my face, handling was crisp and precise, slicing up the singletrack with the skill of a Beverly Hills surgeon. And it was smooth as a well aged bourbon, gliding over variations in the trail while remaining calm, cool and civilized.
The components are enough to make any bike-geek salivate with lust, matching pewter KING headset and hubs set the frame off framing the beautiful masterpiece of a paintjob courtesy of Sommerville, Mass. Silver Thomson Masterpiece post and X4 stem, along with the White Industries polished cranks dangle of the bike like elegant jewelry, The oh so comfortable, yet high performance Aliante Carbon saddle looks like it came from the Ferrari factory between the carbon and leather. Notice the ProtoTyres from Hutchinson, super soft tacky rubber that are a blast to push to the outlimits on any trail. The FOX F80X is all business up front, offering second to none suspension. The Magura Marta SL’s still set a high benchmark for braking performance and mesh into the overall bikes theme.
This bike is overall a bit short for me, but is still a blast to ride. It is one of the best handling bikes I have ridden, thanks to the perfect blend of steel selected by IF. It’s function is flawless, and will surely be in Sandi’s quiver for some time.
Before you run out to appease you better-half, take an example from this ride, and get her a bike YOU would want to ride. Who knows, you just might get lucky…
2 comments:
It is a beautiful bike...but i owuld not expect any less from the two of you: Styled bikes seem to be the norm. I am just looking for the post that runs through all your bikes in the household.
I am curious to see if you have changed your mind on the 29er.
Oui, oui mon ami. You are not the first to ask to see the inside of our toy room. The only problem is since we have moved to Germany, we don't have a toy room...yet.
But we will be at Eurobike, I am building the booth myself for ifbikes.de, and we will have all of our bikes there, if not in our booth, in other companies stands. That will be a good time to show our rides. I was thinking of inviting other IF owners to share their rides at the show as well, sort of a theme...
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