When last we met I'd been getting acquainted with two (2) pieces of bicycling equipment. One was the Jones H-Bar, with which I equipped my 27.5+ all-terrain bicycle:
And the other was the Renovo Aerowood, a complete bicycle featuring the latest in Fredware such as crabon wheels and electronical shifting, as well as plenty of, you know, wood:
So did I get a chance to spend more time with this stuff over the American Thanksgiving Reese's? Yes. Was it as much time as I would have liked? No. Do I ask too many rhetorical questions? Absolutely. In fact I feel another one coming on as I type this. So let's start with the Aerowood, shall we?
Now keep in mind this is in no way meant to be a comprehensive review, or really any kind of a review. Indeed, I don't believe you can even begin to review a bicycle until you've worn through a set of tires and at least one (1) chain. So consider everything that follows sort of an "advanced first impression." (My actual first impressions are here in this Outside column.)
Appearance
Appearance is of course subjective, and to be perfectly honest if you gave me a big pile of cash on the condition that I had to spend it on the coolest-looking (to me) bicycle I could find or else you'd burn it all, this would not be the bicycle I'd choose. As far as velocipedes go, swoopy and woody is not my thing, and I prefer round tubes made of metal. A matte finish is even better, and silver drivetrain components better still, which is why as far as road bikes go I've always been pleased with the look of my Milwaukee:
Nevertheless, when face-to-face with the Aerowood there's no denying this is an impressive piece of work, and while it may not suit my almost pathologically modest and stodgy aesthetic sensibility it's quite obvious why plenty of people would find it highly desirable, especially since it's so unusual. Indeed, I'd even go so far as to say it's exquisite:
I also fully admit I feel like hot shit while I'm riding it, despite the fact I've let my leg hairs grow back and only have like two pairs of bib shorts left that don't have holes in them.
Ride Quality
Here's how VeloNews ranks bicycles:
Just stop it.
As far as the Aerowood, it fits me well so I'm very comfortable on it. It also feels very fast and smooth, and I could happily spend all day on it. Could that be because of the frame material? Sure. Do the ostensible aero properties of the bike and wheels contribute to this sensation? Quite possibly. Is this rhetorical question thing becoming a serious problem that may require some sort of aversion therapy, perhaps a small electrical shock administered whenever I depress the "?" key? Almost certainly.
Keep in mind however I still haven't swapped the wheels with my other bikes or done any of the other stuff you need to do to properly evaluate a bicycle. Indeed I'm fairly confident that if you bolted some crabon wheels and push-button shifting onto a BikesDirect special then that would feel like a $10,000 bike too. I should also point out that when I hop back onto my metal road bikes those also continue to feel awesome, despite the fact that they all utilize primitive alloy rims and require me pull my derailleurs across my gears by means of levers and cables.
In short, the bike feels great, but I'll soon put some cheap-ass wheels on it to see if it still feels great. I'll also see if one of my other bikes feels differently great with the crabon wheels from the Aerowood. (The only reason I haven't yet is because I've been too lazy to swap cassettes and brake pads.)
Quirks and Quibbles
1. The bike only has mounts for one water bottle. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, as a recovering Fred still trying to divest myself of my lingering Fredly tendencies, I happen to believe in riding with only one water bottle because it encourages me to stop. On the other hand...come on now. Only one water bottle, really?
2. The bike I'm testing has 23mm tires, which are like sooo out of style, and due to the aero fairing-type situation out back it can't clear much more than that. Of course this isn't a problem in practice since the bike rides great with 23s (contrary to current tire fashion sensibilities 23s are still perfectly fine for most road riding), but you still want to be able to go wider for the same reason you want to be able to use more than one water bottle--and to that end Renovo have since updated the clearance, rendering everything I've just typed moot:
The Aerowood sports a shrouded rear wheel (newly updated with clearance for 28mm tires) and aero downtube with a carbon-fiber layer inside to enhance ride quality as well as an updated seat mast fairing to reduce wind resistance.
They've also got all sorts of other all-terrain bikes so the arborphile who requires additional clearance is more than covered. Presumably if your road bikes involve lots of dirt then this isn't the model you'd pick anyway.
3. I am currently experiencing loud creaking when climbing, and while I'm sure it's the bike and not my body I haven't yet determined its exact source. My suspicion is that it's the rear wheel, though I'll find out for sure when I finally swap wheels, and I promise to keep you posted. On a related note, there's also a tiny bit of play in the headset I haven't been able to adjust out, and I'll have to pop another spacer on top of the stem to see if maybe it's just a steer tube length issue. Finally, while toeing in the brakes did mitigate the ungodly shrieking I was getting when braking, it's not gone altogether.
So as you can see I've got some work to do before I can consider this thing "dialed in." That's fairly typical of any new bike, though it would be nice not to have to deal with it at all.
Price
The bike I'm testing is expensive:
Is it more than I would pay for this bike? Yes. Is it more than I would pay for any bike? Yes. Am I starting to kind of enjoy the electrical shock administered every time I depress the "?" key? Sorta.
But how expensive is it really in the exotic Fred bike universe? Well, here's what you get in a high-end plastic racing bike for approximately the same price:
On one hand, the plastic race bike is lighter has Dura Ace instead of Ultegra, which I suppose means something to the anal retentive set but doesn't mean shit to me. On the other hand, if you're paying $10,000 for a road bike you probably crave attention from strangers, and you'll get a lot more of that when you roll up at the group ride straddling a maple tree that was hand-hewn in Portland. And perhaps most crucially, Renovo is having a sale:
So yes, obviously you can buy a top-notch metal bicycle and have lots of money left over for what you'd spend on a Renovo, but as I pointed out in the Outside column it's really no more expensive than any other performance status symbol, and at least you're paying for the crafstmanship and not the pro racing team the company sponsors like you are when you're buying a Pinarello or whatever.
I'd rather keep some Potlanders in after-work craft beers than keep some Euro-pros in Ferarris.
(Actually I'd rather keep the money for myself, but there are people in this world who like to buy expensive bicycles and that's ultimately a good thing for the rest of us so long may they spend.)
Anyway, I don't want to overwhelm you so soon after the holidays so I'll leave it at that, but I'll report back tomorrow with my take on the Jones bars.
