No, I am not on stage, receiving applause. My Encore, however, is shipping, soon to be in my possession, after months of waiting for them to be released for sale, and then only a short delay for the batch my order is in, to be shipped and built, and shipped again. And honestly, the delay was short--and it is the price you pay for being an early adopter of what is possibly the coolest production recumbent bike yet!
What makes it so special in my mind? Several factors, actually. First, it is a full carbon frame, but at the cost of an aluminum frame. Second, is its flexible mission parameters. What's that mean? Well, you can run it as an uber-fast race bike, going for the complete ultralight set up. Or you can set it up for randonneuring, or touring, or for gravel grinders. The Encore is designed, with the right fork, to handle tires up to 42mm, and a variety of wheel sizes if disc brake equipped. Third, while it is a production bike, it is optimally-sized to the original buyer (think custom fit). You submit your measurements to Schlitter Bike, and the frame gets laid up to fit you best, with optimum weight distribution. Yes, you can move the seat to accommodate different riders, so if you opt to sell it in the future, you won't have to rely on someone being just your size to purchase. And finally, it's light weight! It should bench out at just about half what my old steel Giro did. It should be a joy to ride, with the light weight for climbing the rollers around here, and to ease transportation, plus the carbon frame will soak up a lot of the buzz from chipseal roads.
The bike should arrive early next week. I'll be sure to take pics of the unboxing at my LBS, since they are acting as the receiving party for the shipping company. Guess I'll have to bring another bag of bagels to the guys there!
Only a few more days to wait...YAY!
Hurray!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah...just in time for Winter...:)JP
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