Crunching the Numbers

Further to yesterday's post, in a fit of extreme dorkitude I delved deeply into the geometry numbers of the Milwaukee and the Renovo to see if they indeed quantified my impressions of how each performed in a race.  Here's the Milwaukee product page:

And here's the Renovo page:

Furthermore, by way of having a full-on Fred racing bike to compare them to, I used a Specialized S-Works Tarmac:

By the way, here's the Milwaukee in its current state, plastic saddle, excessive road grit, and all:

Anyway, here's what I found:

• The front ends of the Milwaukee and the S-Works are pretty close in terms of geometry, meaning the reach, stack height, etc. are all within a couple millimeters of each other
• While the front end of the Renovo is more upright than the other bikes, the Milwaukee has the longest chainstays and wheelbase, followed by the Renovo, then the S-works
• Dr. Pepper is delicious

So what is all this supposed to mean?

("'Supposed to mean?'  'Supposed to mean?'")

Well, to me the Milwaukee felt "racier" than the Renovo when putting the hammer down (by which I mean giving it all I had to keep dangling off the back), which I guess makes sense given the reach and stack height.  In this sense the Renovo's aero profile and demeanor are a bit like the spoiler on a Toyota Corolla, whereas the more sedate-looking Milwaukee is indeed the racier of the two.  (Renovo do describe the Aerowood as an "endurance" bike, so there you go.)

Yet as spirited as the Milwaukee is it's got like two centimeters in wheelbase over the S-Works, plus those mid-reach brake calipers, which accounts for the ample tire clearance and competence on those mixed-terrain rides that are so popular with the millennials today.

All of this is to say I'm kind of falling in love with the Milwaukee all over again--though I'm also waiting for the ground to dry out so I can get back out there on the Jones.  Indeed, between the two bikes I'm like 99.9% covered in terms of all my recreational riding (plus the Milwaukee and the Jones together still cost like half what the Renovo does), which is another way of saying I'm like 500% over-biked.

Oh well, what are you gonna do?