Escort SOLD! Road bike, coming soon

I sold my Escort to a long-time friend and occasional commenter to this blog, whose current main mode of transportation is an inefficient-yet-handy GMC pickup. I isolated the source of the noise I was hearing from the engine and it was just a loose bolt holding a pulley. As it turns out, the clutch really was the only major thing wrong and I'm already prepared to help fix that up.

Today, while I was picking up my spare spokes, I checked the bike shop to see if the used Trek 1000 was still around. I didn't bother asking, but it wasn't visible. Since the Orange Trek 1000 was a wash, I went ahead and put a down payment on the closeout Trek 1200 today, instead. Effectively, I've put it on layaway. They also told me about interest-free financing for up to 2 years. After that, you get hit with uber-heavy interest rates. I basically put 40% down on the bike once you count taxes. Depending on our whole moving plan, I could have my 1200 paid off in a month or maybe two. If the financing goes through, I'll have my bike on Monday and be paying on it for a couple of months. If financing doesn't go through, I'll still be paying on it for a couple of months, and I'll get it when I've paid it in full.

Just to make sure it's the bike for me, they went ahead and fitted the bike to me, had me give it the initial shakedown run, and all that good stuff. Everything is so precise that it almost feels twitchy, but in a good way. It's also darn quick, very light, and a very different kind of fun than I'm used to having on a bike. I didn't get to put much more than a mile on it today testing it out. I'll be thankful for the triple crank once I find some hills. The gearing is really, really tall.