Pimp My Ride

A few months ago my son and I were channel surfing and a came upon a show called "Pimp my Ride". They took junker cars and made them into something spectacular by customizing them for their owners.

Although it doesn't take as much effort, I thought I could do the same thing for my bike.
I had an old rusty silver Cervelo P3 in the garage. It still functioned well but I don’t think I could have gotten much out of it if I sold it. This bike just wasn’t that attractive. It was just downright ugly. So I thought, why not pimp the ride.

I looked up painters on the internet and came across a place called “Hot Tubes” in Pennsylvania . I broke the bike down and sent it off with instructions to paint it yellow with fade to orange and red metal flake. It turned out great. Paint makes such a difference on a bike. The pictures above just don't do it justice.

I upgraded the components to DA 10 and bought a set of new Profile Carbon handlebars and Zipp Vuka clip on extensions. A mmuch better set up than the old version. It gets me a lot lower.

This winter I purchased another bike for Dana. A new Cervelo P3 Carbon. Since there are no Cervelo dealers here in Tulsa, we made a road trip to Austin Tricyclist. While we were there I had my Orbea Ordu fitted and outfitted with a new cockpit.

I was looking at my photos in Kona and I was so upright I might as well been riding a road bike. This is the first time I have been fitted on a bike and I feel so much more comfortable now. The position is much lower. I have the elbow pads 12 cm below the seat now. With the new position, I am putting out 30 to 40 Watts more power. Don, the owner, spent an afternoon getting things right for me. If you have not been professionally fitted, I highly recommend it. It makes a world of difference.

So we have spent the winter pimping our rides. Hopefully faster bike splits will follow this year.