Testing, Testing

As I mentioned yesterday, I've got a new testcycle, and I've just returned from Day 2 of intensive backwoods testing in the wilds of Westchester county where I duly put the bicycle through its paces on the forbidding Trails Behind The Mall:

I'm still waiting for the go-ahead to reveal the make and model of the bicycle, but so far I'm enjoying it greatly.

In the meantime, while we're on the subject of testcycles, I should probably apprise you of the status of the other bikes I'm currently evaluating.  By the way, this is as much for my own benefit as yours, since I've got a lot of bikes on loan and it's getting increasingly difficult to keep them all straight.  Anyway, in addition to the Mystery Bike I've also got the Islabikes Luath 24:

Naturally this bike required a test pilot more diminutive of stature, and so I've engaged my 8 year-old in that capacity.  (Child labor is both free and legal when you're the parent.)  The bike was an immediate hit, and he's taken to it like a Fred to Lycra--although I'm sparing him the indignity of Lycra:

Drop bars certainly aren't for every child but this one seems to have inherited the cursed gene that causes some of us to gravitate to them.  They're very natural to him, and it's heartening to watch him master the various hand positions and learn how to remove and replace his water bottle while riding.  Also, if you're grooming a juvenile Fred or Frederica, here's one bit of advice: keep a safe distance.  As a parent I prefer to ride behind my child so I can keep an eye on the situation at all times, but they're completely incapable of taking your presence into account when braking.  (Or at least this one is.)

Anyway, $800 is certainly a lot to spend on a kid's bike--unless you're sure they've inherited the gene, in which case you'll find a way to justify it, and I don't see how you'd find a much better 24" bike than this one.  Single ring, integrated shifter, cantis...basically it's the all-around bike you'd want for yourself, only smaller.

Moving on, I have of course also been testing the Renovo Aerowood since last November:

As I explained recently, I've come to love this bike.  As I've also mentioned on many, many occasions, the bike needs a damn water bottle on the downtube.  In fact, just this past weekend I partook in a race in Central Park.  In something like 20 years of park racing I've never dropped a water bottle, but guess what I managed to do on the second lap of this particular race?  Not only that, but the bottle kind of danced around between the seat- and chainstays while the spokes batted at it, and now the rear wheel has a blip in it.  Nevertheless, I did manage to finish the race, albeit parched and with my mouth nearly glued shut as I had nothing to wash down my energy gel.

Other than that, it rides like an absolute dream.

Then of course there's the 1950 (or 1957 according to one commenter) Drysdale from Classic Cycle:

I have been dying to get fully wooled up and take this thing out for a proper ride, but as of yet I have not made the time to do so.  The period between the end of school and the start of camp is a busy one for a parent, but now that camp has started this ride will happen very soon.  (I'm thinking a little jaunt to Stone Barns for an artisanal lunch would be perfect.)  I also plan to ride it to the site of the old Drysdale workshop, which I believe was in Hell's Kitchen or something.

Of course what I'd really like to do is try to race on the thing, but frankly I don't know if I've got big enough testcycles to try it.

So for now I think that about covers it.  (Note I'm not including bikes like Ol' Piney, which started life as a testcycle and then got absorbed into my permanent collection, or the Brompton, which they'll get back over my dead body.)  As someone who loves bikes I probably have no business testing them since unless the bike's a true piece of shit (like the Base Urban, what a piece of crap) I basically just enjoy the hell out of all of them, but I'm not gonna let that stop me.