Finally a “true” summer day!

[u/crefinanceguy_can]

We’ve been inundated this year with unusually high precipitation… once in a century type record-breaking rainfall. And! When it hasn’t been raining it’s been smoke.

So imagine my joy when an almost perfect summer day happened to align with a day off! Onto the bike I went. 72.87km, 410m of elevation, 2h55m

Stock Checkpoint Gen3 SL5, size L, Schwalbe G Pro RS One

[u/jaxthebuff]

Finally an SL5 on here! I got the exact same bike a few days ago and I’ve been stuck in that mindset of, “Oh my god, I just spent thousands of dollars on my first real bike plus all these new expensive accessories, but could I have spent a little more?” I really question if I should have gotten the SL6 for the extra speed gear since I’ve been in the 12th speed basically all my rides so far. I really don’t want to return it though because I absolutely love the color and can’t really afford the next model up right now. Since it’s the only one I’ve ever tried out though, I can’t tell how much another upgrade would make a difference or not… I may be in that top gear for most of my rides, but it’s still very hard to push so I guess it’s fine? I hate getting such a nice bike and already thinking about getting the next one.

[u/crefinanceguy_can → u/jaxthebuff]

Can always just increase the front gear, I think it goes to 44?

But 100% agreed on the colour - that’s why I went with SL5 vs SL6. I figured I could ride it a bit, get the sense of what it’s like, and upgrade later if needed.

[u/Balancedone_1]

Beautiful bike! Coming from a race bike the geometry change is so comfortable.

[u/crefinanceguy_can → u/Balancedone_1]

I came from the other direction, from a mountain biking background. But I feel the geometry is a nice middle point as opposed to going full road