Centurion Pro Tour All-Arounder
In the winter the Centurion became the trainer bike. I think we decided to put it on there because it has a friction shifter and a quill stem for easier up-down adjustment. When spring hit I just wasn’t all that excited to get back on the Centurion for some reason. Which is strange, because how many carbon rim brake 650b converted fully chrome sportifs do you see out there?
Then I realized that four 80’s/90’s/00’s 26’ers was just way too much, even though they are all really cool. But there’s only so many hours in a day, and basically anything I’d want to do on the Fuji Mt. Fuji I could do on one of my Stooges, the Bridgestone NB-26 (which was a gift and means a lot to me) would be a better Clydesdale than the red Hard Rock, and the HRXC was a bit too similar to the Stooge Rambler and Centurion. So I traded the HRXC to my mother-in-law for our old grey Hard Rock, which I quickly sold to a friend. The red Hard Rock is getting setup full 26” and is getting set up Rivendell style to sell. The Fuji will be getting sold too. So the Centurion had to take daily driver duty.
Goodbye old friend! Single speed ATB dreams await our friend.
After taking it out for the first time this year a few weeks ago, I was extremely pleased with how it rode. It’s also my only bike with proper slick road tires, and they are an absolute joy to lean over on paved corners. I decided to put my Buffalo Bar & Ale Bag “permanently” on the saddle to hold my lock, flat kit, and other things I don’t need to access while riding. And to keep the sport in sportif I opted for the Wald 1372 up front instead of the 1392. The bike is still really light, sporty, and responsive. And it handles quite well with a pretty heavy grocery bag up front. If I need more space I’ll run my Buffalo Big Bag out back, front and/or rear panniers, a Wald 139 up front, or some combination of the two.
sportIF
On the first rides of the season this year I realized that I really wasn’t digging the Brooks bar tape on the handlebars. It’s a little slick, and the reality was that it was uncomfortable on my wrists. Grant Petersen says that if your wrists hurt on your bike there’s no bar tape or grips that will solve that; you just gotta raise your bars. But my body position feels really good, so I went digging in my parts bin and found my old Oury grips that stretched to 23.8mm on my medium width Towel Racks, and cut the Brooks bar tape to install it.
And that was the final piece of the puzzle. It’s a night and day difference. The comfort is through the roof, the bars feel a hair wider and taller, which is much more confidence inspiring and less dainty feeling. I took it on some haggard gravel that is honestly a bit too much for this bike, but between the delicious Tange Champion #2 tubing + 1” threaded head tube + Oury grip Albastache bars, the bike held its own. And it’s an absolute dream on ch0nky roads.
Make every ride a gravel ride, even commutes to dinner.
For the first time in a long time my all-arounder is, well, a pretty normal bike for riding around town. I’m completely bought into the whole wide tires being as fast narrow tires, and all of my previous 26’ers were setup really well, but riding silent 38mm slicks around town on a non-overbuilt frame with just enough luggage capacity is such a joy. I’ve ranted about the Albastache bars in this forum before, but they’re even more comfortable in the flats now, and I really enjoy having the 33cm “hoods” comes in handy quite often given how windy it is here. I wouldn’t mind a slightly lower trail fork but it’s totally fine as it. And having 4 less bikes is nice too. I’m really happy I’m riding it more.
