I think I liked the last one better.
The last one had up/down-lever shifters, and this one has the rotate-a-section-of-the-handlebar shifters, which I haven't had before. I'm not used to them, but I think I'll get used to them eventually.
But they made my wrists hurt. I usually rotate my handlebars up and forward a little bit, so that I'm holding the bars at right angles (my elbows are bent but my wrists aren't.) It looks like that will be somewhat harder to accomplish with these shifters. I'm also not crazy about having to basically let go of the grips in order to shift, it was definitely less disturbing to use a finger for that.
It has front shocks. Last time I got a bike, I had them replace the shocked fork with a solid fork (had to wait two weeks for them to order it), and they looked at me like I was crazy. But yeah, I should have done that again. I just fucking hate the feeling of riding with shocks. Boing boing boing boing boing boing boing boing boing boing boing boing boing, it drives me crazy. That's what flat tires feel like. I'm told I can probably tighten them enough that I won't notice, but maybe I should get a solid fork instead.
I also still need to get the quick-releases out of there. They didn't have the right kind of bolts to do that at the shop, and told me that for the wheels, I'd have to replace the whole blah blah which I have trouble accepting. I don't like quick-release anything, because there is (let me check, yes) zero chance of me ever taking off a wheel or carrying a seat around with me, so I prefer the security of a really tight bolt.
So I think all these things are fixable, but I guess I'm pickier about bikes than I thought I was. Maybe I am Bike Nerd Man after all.
Oh, and I kicked a dent into the fender panel of a red-light-running station wagon on my ride home. Yay me.
Okay, so I just got the same bike that you have, and I was wondering, did they tell you how to work the quick release for your wheels? I don't own a bike rack, so if I knew how to take the wheels off that would be helpful, but I'm fairly sure that I will F*&k it up if I try to do it myself. So, even though you will probably never have to use it, do you know how to do it? Just wondering, and thanks!
You just pull out on the lever and unscrew it by hand while holding onto the cap on the other side. Which I did, then went into the hardware store, and found a replacement nut/bolt combo that was the same length/thickness. The rear wheel is the same: just pay attention to how the chain goes through the spring-loaded small gear arm and you can get the wheel off without getting greasy.
Thanks!