A couple of weeks ago I found myself without a road bike and order a 700C R--I've decided the "P" should be dropped from the 700C model.

Last Saturday I took it out on a 50 mile ride with the local cycling club.  Between moving, new business and a young child I haven't taken many long bike rides this year.  Actually, I had taken none over 15 miles since last December.  I took the bike on an 12 mile errand a few days before the ride, just to shake it down, and everything felt fine.

I honestly expected to hurt a little more after the ride Saturday, but I had absolutely no problems.  The ride was pretty, rural, and flat, which is about the best you can get around here without driving a good distance first.  I stuck with the middle 17.5mph group and the ride was extremely easy.  No suffering, met a lot of local riders and fielded lots of questions about my "touring" bike.

I'd like to credit all the ease of the ride to my superior bike fitting skill, but the bike has been easy from the first test ride.  It has Cypres tires on it at 75psi rear and 65 front, with an M12 rack and large Berthoud handlebar bag.

On Saturday at 16-18mph the front end would shimmy a little no-handed.  Nothing too bad, not even bad enough that it kept me from riding no handed.
Here are the steps I took to eliminate the shimmy.

Removed the handlebar bag to test the bike and found the shimmy was still there, though ameliorated.
Removed a strap which I had been using to compress the bag and clear space for my knuckles while riding the flats.  This strap was very tight and ran from the decaleur mount on the bag and the tongue of the front rack.  Removing it reduced the shimmy, but it was still present.
With bag still attached by decaleur but not the strap, I tightened the headset.  The shimmy is gone.
I put the strap, which I've decided I don't need, back on the bag and fastened it tightly to the rack just to test it out.  The shimmy was still gone.  I think it was my headset the entire time with the front load and tight fastening of the load exacerbating the problem.

I'll post some pics of the bike when it is finished.

Anthony

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Longleaf Bicycles
805 B North Fourth St..
Wilmington, North Carolina 28401
910.341.3049 p
910.341.3059 f
longleafbicycles.com