WEIR'S
CYCLERY

Portland's Oldest
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WEIR'S - Portland's Oldest Bicycle Shop

Having been a roadie since I got my first Schwinn 12-speed back in the day, I finally got the itch to see what Forest Park was all about after I moved downtown. Thinking I could compromise and get the best of both worlds, I traded my Specialized racing bike in for a Trek cyclocross bike. A whole new world was opened up to me: miles of well-maintained wooded trail a stone's throw from my house! I was happy. For a while.
But riding on the road with a cyclocross bike wasn't the same experience. Plus, this year I intended to do Cycle Oregon, and when you're spending hours in the saddle for a solid week, a compromise just wouldn't do. It was time to get a real road bike and become a bike collector. I had already turned my ancient Fuji road bike into a city commuting bike, so a road bike would be the third addition to the stable. However, none of the production bikes available suited my needs and preferences. No one made a road bike under $1,000 with steel tubing, double chainrings and just the right combination of components. I really wanted downtube SIS shifters, but I knew I wouldn't find those on a production bike! I was going for the classic, reliable, retro-looking bike, but no one made it.
Enter Surly. An affordable steel frameset made for long hours in the saddle called the Pacer fit the bill perfectly! Downtube shifter bosses, rack mounts, slightly relaxed geometry - perfect! Now I could build it up the way I wanted. Plus, this year QBP (Quality Bike Parts, a big distributor in the bike biz) offered a new build-to-order service, whereby a customer can pick out his components and frame, and QBP would build the wheels, assemble the bike, stretch the cables, etc. and ship it out - the same week! Now I can get my downtube shifters, double cranks and everything just how I wanted! I could even pick the color of the handlebar tape!
Thanks to John and Steve at the new Weir's in St. Johns, I figured out which components went together and how best to get things set up. The order went in, and a week later my bike was waiting for me in the shop! A couple of minor quibbles which John fixed as part of Weir's usual full-service bike assembly, and it was ready to ride!
What can I say? It rode just like I intended. A plush steel frame soaked up the road while being stiff enough to float up the west slope. Wide 28c tires felt like I was driving a Cadillac, while 105 psi prevented them from wasting energy. A double crankset saved weight yet still gave me just the right gear ratios, thanks to a wide 12-25 cassette in back. Aero brake levers contributed to the retro look and the Dura-Ace downtube shifters eliminated the usual spaghetti of cables. They're more reliable than STIs and give the bike that retro look I was after. However, retro is just the look; threadless headset, index shifting, SPD pedals and Specialized Body Geometry saddle made for a nicer and lighter ride than my old Fuji road bike from back in the day! You can't help but take a second look when I pass you on this bike!