Today I went out and rode the Devinci’s. Wow, are they awesome!
Also, I’m off the disc brake bandwagon for now. I told the sales guy that I wanted the discs, or at least the option to add them later and I could tell he had his answer ready.
He said that what makes them awesome and better than conventional brakes for big heavy mountain bikes with very large tires, is that there is a lot of tire surface area & weight to grip the usually softer/sandy surface. But on a road bike, where the bike is light and the tire is skinny, there is very little surface area gripping the pavement. So I guess just because the wheel has stopped doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting better stopping power on the small tires because you’d be skidding for some distance?
Who knows, but I thought it was an interesting way to look at it. What do you guys think?
So I rode a 2011 Amsterdam and a 2012 Oslo (I think). I really loved how light it was and it feels really solid. The Amsterdam was a medium and I thought it was perfect, but the sales guy suggested I try a large just to be sure. Good call. It looks like I’m right in between a medium and a large, but the large feels a lot less cramped. It was nice because I got to spend quite a bit of time jumping back and forth between the M and L just to be sure.
I really liked this shop and the sales guy...the only negative is location. It’s in a really inconvenient spot for me to get to for maintenance/ tune ups, especially after work but also on weekends. But it seems like the only Devinci dealer around so we’ll see.
Thanks to Pylon for mentioning your Devinci a few pages back. I actually saw your post before I had decided to start riding to work and thought your bike looked awesome...nice work. I doubt I’d have even been considering them if it wasn’t for your recommendation, so thanks again.
After that I went back to try the Specialized again and take it for a longer ride. It’s awesome. I also wanted to try a large and do the same back and forth comparison. I definitely like the large better.
Finally I went back and rode the Giant Seek 1 again. After riding the Devinci and Specialized earlier in the day, it just felt too heavy and bulky, so it’s no longer in the running.
I also took a Cannondale Quick for a ride (another Pylon recommendation).
http://www.cannondale.com/2012-quick-sl-1-20947 It was nice but just didn’t really do anything for me. It would be at #3 right now, but I doubt I’ll be riding it again.
So that’s where I’m at tonight. Mostly I’m interested to hear what you guys think about sales guy’s disc brake theory. Thanks.