First impressions…
A few weeks in to having the Condor Acciaio and up to around 250 miles on it so far. I fixed the speedo too. It’s taken a while to get used to it really as I’ve been riding the fixed around town for a few years now and the mountain bikes off road. This certainly feels and handles very differently. For a start it feels much longer in the cockpit area than the other bikes. I had a proper fitting at Condor for the frame and components but I usually have a much shorter set up for riding off road. The fixed is also a frame size smaller.
The first thing I had to get used to was having a freewheel round town. To start with it felt like the bike was running away from me due to not controlling speed with my legs. I also found that riding through traffic was a lot harder as I found the lack of fixed made balancing a bit more difficult. Gradually I’ve been getting used to it and now feel a lot more comfortable riding it. I also find it physically more demanding riding to work. With the fixed you keep your momentum and it’s relatively easy. This just pushes you to go faster all the time. Being steel it does have that lovely snap out of the saddle and feels great when you get the power down. Overall it feels great and I’m definitely getting used to the more stretched out position.
Going to do a ride from Guildford to Emsworth this weekend with JIm and then on to Brighton the next day taking in some of the scenery on the South Downs. Should be great!
