The Utopia: As comfortable as any other bike i own. Its great when you can un-box a bike, build it, test it with a loop around the parking lot then hit 40 miles on it the very next morning, All in utter comfort. I was very pleased with the handling and feel of the bike and if i hadn't know any better i would have assumed i was on my normal road bike (Paragon). I got this bike because its priced right and offered me fender mounting and a small suspension fork (63mm) for the sloppy rough roads here in Northern Butler County. As you can see by the photo i have not installed fenders yet so i used a set of the Bontrager XR1 29"tires in place of the factory LT3 700cc tires that came on it. However i will more than likely migrate over to the LT3 sometime soon. I meet up with a friend today and we battled the windy conditions for almost 3 hours. getting off of the bike felt like any other ride. Its amazing how well i know my bike measurements for set up. I did stop once just to raise the saddle height a little because i had used measurements from my mountain bikes which are noramly a little lower because of trail terrain. other than that it was free rolling for the day!
I highly recommend this bike to anyone who wants to stay riding in the winter months but want s to avoid riding sloopy trails and who doesnt want to swap tires every week to ride on the roads. Its got a true Moutain bike feel but just enough suspension to easy the bumps in the roads without being overkill.
*stork
It seems awesome to try that! It's pretty difficult to find a ride that feels just like an extended part of your body when you maneuver it. I feel the same way for our pickup, which we use often in rough-driving and camping trips.
Posted by: Lucas Rosenzweig | June 10, 2011 at 07:57 AM