04.28.07
Ridley--Integrated Seatpost

There was no question about who would be the first, and possibly only, HarperRide cyclist to show up on a frame with an integrated seatpost, and there he was. Fresh off the plane from his new home in Florida and with the flowing locks of a Southern beachgoer, Tom showed up on his shiny new Ridley carbon fiber frameset equipped with the newest and coolest Record components and gold Campy Shamal wheels. What made this frame the Bike of the Week? The integrated seatpost. With not much messing around with seat height and little chance of unloading your used frame to someone else, this bike is perfect for Tom, who is known to have as many as two new bikes each season!

Of course, Tom jokingly looked down at the other Bikes of the Week. Pulling up to the stoplight at Route 59 behind Rich and Jason's Solis bikes (see below), Tom said, "How do you guys like those Meijer bikes?" After a laugh, Jason responded with, "How do you like having spent a lot more on a bike built in the same factory?"

After everyone was done laughing, all agreed that Tom's bike, with its integrated seatpost, was the Bike of the Week!

04.21.07
Time--The Other "World's Best Bike"

On Saturday, April 21st, as usual, Andy was aboard his Colnago C50, widely hailed as the "world's best bike." Today, though, he was joined by the other best bike in the world, Time's full carbon frameset, which was ridden by Tim Henry. Tim's new bike looked very cool, and Rich Delgado claims it to be the nearest rival to the C50. Even in shorts on a chilly morning, Tim rode well on that new bike, which is equipped with an almost complete SRAM gruppo. Asked about how he liked the 'no-trim' front derailleur, Tim said, "I have an Ultegra front derailleur on." Good thinking... This fast French flyer was most definitely the "it" bike on this week's HarperRide.

04.14.07
Verner's Cervélo AND roof rack!

With the first-ever non-bike winner, Danny V receives the Bike of the Week award for his roof rack in honor of Friday the 13th. Trying to keep the Hyundai Santa Fe Team Mack team car in good shape, Dan stopped for an oil change on the way to the ride before heading out for the next day's time trial. Handing his keys to the polite young man at the Jiffy Lube, Dan was horrified to watch him drive Dan's bike straight into the top of the garage.

The bike--unscathed! The rack--destroyed!!!

03.24.07
2006 Solis Nitro

That's right! Back-to-back Bikes of the Week for the same model, a blue and black Solis Nitro. This time, there was no Richie, but Andy and Jason were out on their new bikes. Jason's was sans-handlebar tape since he had just finished building it in the middle of the night, and Andy's wins the award for being the coolest of the three with new Record components versus Jason and Rich's Dura-Ace. That new Record crankset is lovely!

To sum up, the quality of this light, stiff, and relatively inexpensive frameset was a comment Jason made to some other riders as they group rode down Ela in the finale, south of Palatine Road. He said, "I thought I'd like this bike, and I was hoping for an A- after riding the Colnago, but handling, weight, stiffness, fit, geometry, it's an A+. I can't believe it." Again, this week, riders wanted to know where, when, and how they could get their Solis frameset!

03.10.07
2006 Solis Nitro

"What's a Solis? Is it new? Is it Italian?" These were the questions that greeted Rich's arrival on the HarperRide with his Solis Nitro. What Rich should have asked in response was, "Have you heard of Giant? Orbea? Colnago?" All of these manufacturers make coveted 100% carbon frames in China. Solis is made by the same hands in the same factories as these brands.

Solis Bikes were new as of 2006, and they were created by Rav-X, makers of high quality, inexpensive components and accessories. This same philosophy permeates this frameset, which is also being ridden by Andy and Jason in 2007 (though Andy showed up at Harper on a decades-old TVT hoping to be the Bike of the Week). At approximately 16 lbs for Rich's bike, this bike will not hold anyone back on the hills.