March 27, 2012

Whistler

(Fifteenth in a series of stories about every bike I've ever owned.)


So named for the high-pitched whistle the fork emits in certain conditions, this workhorse of my stable is the first bike ever built for me. SOMA designs the frames in San Francisco, then orders them from Taiwan. Seven Corners in Portland helped me choose parts for it and built it up, including hand-lacing the bomb-proof Velocity wheels.

It's a plain silver tig-welded frame - nothing special at all. I upgraded the drive train from Shimano 105 to Ultegra last year. I wrapped the bars with alternating chrome and matte silver tape. I put three bells on it. And I put almost 12,000 miles on it (so far).

This is my dependable go-to bike for almost all conditions. The picture above shows it loaded up for touring. I've also done plenty of club & century rides, rando rides, and even raced on this bad boy. And, more recently, I've been riding it off road. What a machine!

1 comment:

  1. Doug here Maria;

    I had a fork that whistled like that on a mountain bike. It was holes in the fork that were whistling, mostly in cross-winds. I put some masking tape over them and it never happened again. I guess killing the whistle was a missed opportuntiy for bike personality.

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