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!