Hell just froze over

I headed to Cahaba Cycles in Trussville after my ride to look at a potential new toy. I had been tossing around the idea of getting a road bike for a while. I had a set of road wheels and tires for my old bike, but when I got the new one with the thru-axel it would mean at least buying a new front wheel. I really hate swapping out the rubber, especially with the tubeless as I have to remove the valves as well to put road slicks and tubes in the wheels. A road bike seemed to finally make sense. I had been fighting it for a while, but about a month ago started looking.

I spoke with Barbara at Cahaba about it and she mentioned her son and Chris Leven would be selling their road bikes (about a year old). I talked to them and both were a little more than I wanted to spend. Chris let me know about a week ago that he had gotten back one of his old bikes that he would be getting rid of soon. It happened to be a 60cm Independent Fabrications Crown Jewel. He sent me info on the bike and of course I researched it. It is a beautiful bike (steel and carbon fiber) and also is slightly rare. It was still a bit more than I was wanting to spend, but it appeared Chris was selling it very cheaply.

I got to the store and Chris let me look at it and ride it. This is the first time I have ever even ridden a road bike. It felt really strange with the road handles and I couldn’t seem to get my hands in the right place, however it was FAST. It accelerated very quickly and actually felt good over the slightly rough back street. I think I scared Chris as I was coming down the road after the test ride and almost didn’t make the turn into the parking lot.

I decided to go ahead and get the bike and carried it home with me.

I stopped at my parent’s house as they live in Trussville and they were cooking dinner. I at there and watched a movie before heading home. I will have to try out the bike some other time as it is too late to do it tonight.

I will have to get pictures up later.