My GT ZRX

I recently sold my road bike of the past 4 years (a Lemond Zurich that I assembled from the frame up) and was in need of a decent replacement. I'm quite the craigslist feind so as I was browsing one day I saw an ad for a full Shimano Ultegra equipped GT road bike with no picture attached. What grabbed my attention the most, however, was the price - listed at $350. The listing had appeared more than once over the course of a few weeks and by the time I first saw the ad, it was a couple of days old. I sent an email to the seller but I didn't really expect to hear back. That same evening, I got a response that indeed the bike was still available. When pressed for more info, the gentleman told me that the bike was a GT "2RX" and that if I was interested in seeing it, he would knock $50 off the asking price if I wanted to buy it. WHAT?!!! I was positive I would be the owner of that bike in less than 24 hrs! I told him I'd be out the next day to look at it, and in the meantime I tried to do some research on the model. Google revealed nothing about a GT 2RX. I later learned that it was a GT ZRX - a cyclocross bike. The guy selling it was as tall as I was so the 58cm frame fit me just fine. He really liked to ride upright and had a crazy almost vertical stem on the thing (which I promptly removed as soon as I got it home) and had every inch of the uncut steerer tube.

Once I replaced the funky stem, this is what the bike looked like...

It was indeed full Ultegra except for the front derailleur, which was a Shimano LX. The crankset was once a triple but the outer, larger ring had been removed for some reason. In addition, it had a Thomson seatpost, a Specialized S-works front wheel, carbon fork, and Avid canti-lever brake calipers. Not bad for $300!!!

I am a bike snob and a bike does have to look good to me before I will want to ride it on a regular basis. When I bought the bike, the tires did not match (and where huge - 700c x 28 - I might add), the steerer tube was waaaaaaaaaay too long, and the crankset just made me cringe to look at it's pathetic, modified state.

My friend Dan and I chopped almost 2 inches off the steerer tube and re-installed the star nut. I then ordered Vredstein Fiammante tires with white accents from Performance Bike online. I robbed the awesome Bontrager RL saddle off my Pake track bike and bought some white cork tape. I "borrowed" the VDO C-1 bike computer from my wife's bike and I went out and bought a lightly used 53 tooth chainring to make the bike more road-worthy.

After I installed a new chain, this is what the bike now looks like...

Me likey!

How I became a sales representative

As I was reading through an issue of Bicycle Times magazine earlier this year I came across an article about a folding bicycle that had been reviewed by one of the publication's product testers. The bike was labeled as a Melon "Slice". I was immediately interested in the bike for several reasons. One; I'm a pilot by trade and am always looking for ways and opportunities to take a bike with me on trips. Second; The "Slice" was a very attractive ride. The paint and decals complimented each other and the actual geometry of the thing just looked nice. Finally; As I read the article in it's entirety I learned that Melon bikes was headquartered less than 10 miles from my house in Asheville! I knew I had to learn more. I went to their website and explored every page and every link. I told my co-worker Larry about the bike and about the company and how close they were to us. Larry and I had talked about getting some sort of folding bikes to keep in the airplane we fly and take with us on long trips to bike-friendly cities. The Melon Slice was a born-natural choice for us. We began scheming about how to get our hands on a couple. The price of a fully equipped Slice is $499, originally $599 - not bad at all for a well - and I mean WELL-equipped 7005 aluminum-framed folder!

Although the $499 price tag was extremely reasonable, I don't often have 500 bucks to spend on my passion. I entertained thoughts of offering to "test" one of the bikes and write a review about it and how well it worked for us in the aviation industry. But after talking with Larry more and more we thought we might see if we could try and sell them for the company on our travels. Phone calls were made and we soon discovered that the company was more than willing to bring us on board as sales reps and put some bikes in our hands! The rest, as they say, is history. I went out to the main office yesterday and returned home with a brand-new-in-the-box Melon Slice. I'll take this bike along on trips with me and try my hand at being a salesman.

Here's some pictures of the whole thing. All I had to do was inflate the tires, attach the front wheel, and install the pedals. Easy-peasy-lemon squeezy.

None-too-big box with the clever Melon logo

There's a whole bike in there???

There she be. Looking fine!