Tuesday, January 23, 2007


My Next Bent - Bacchetta Carbon Aero

Several weeks ago while riding the Silver Comet Trail in Atlanta, John Schlitter, Bacchetta RAAM team member and co-founder of Bacchetta Bikes rolled up next to me. What a pleasant surprise. John was in town riding with the Atlanta Bacchetta group. We spent the next 15 miles or so riding together and chatting about his Carbon Aero and my VK2. The Carbon Aero is a very impressive looking bike and I learned plenty about it from John. Following the ride, we had an exchange of emails which resulted in my visit to Bacchetta Bikes in St. Petersburgh in mid-January. We spent a pleasant couple of hours discussing potential setup issues and I returned to my home in Sarasota with visions of Carbon Aeros dancing around my lustful brain. A couple of days later I pulled the plug and ordered one.

I am hoping for delivery in mid-February. Some of the special features will be:

  • Nimble Crosswind 650c tubular wheels with Tufo S3 lite tires
  • A custom headrest
  • A light mount with a Dinotte taillight attached to the back of the headrest. We are still trying to figure out how to do this
  • A Terracycle accessories mount for a Light and Motion headlight attached to the front derailleur post
  • A FSA carbon crankset with 53-40-30 Q-Rings. I bought this crankset for my VK2, but due to the steep angle of the VK2 front derraileur post, shifting onto the ovalized Q-Rings does not work properly. So I am putting this FSA/Q-Rings setup on the Carbon Aero.
  • Water bottle holders attached under the Bacchetta seat.
  • Shimano Durace bar end shifters

I plan on spending lots of time in Florida during the next few years. I received my Medicare card today as my 65th birthday approaches. The Carbon Aero is my birthday present to myself. Afterall, if we have to get old, we might as well go in style.