My new day to day ride...... Been cycling for over 60 years, since self taught (copied mates) as a 7 year-old kid. Have usually owned or had the use of a bicycle most of those years, but bikeless for the past 18 months since I returned to home to NZ late 2019. Got into a situation to be able to put that to right recently I acquired this Trek FX2, and for the first time a helmet, legally required to be worn on a bicycle in NZ nowadays.
Along with many other products, bicycles have been quite scarce in NZ in these COVID disrupted days. I was lucky to get hold of one of the last three FX2s available in the country with a medium sized frame, which Evo Cycles ordered in for me.
A few firsts on this bicycle for me.
Made of aluminium, it does not absorb vibration from coarse tar seal used on many NZ roads compared to the high tensile steel frames I am more familiar with. Fortunately, now there are many more smooth concrete or asphalt bicycle tracks now, on which it works well.
I liked the cantilever brakes working on the rim of my last bicycle, but got through 2 or 3 sets of brake pads a year... and wore through rims after several years. The Trek's hydraulic disc brakes work at least as well, and should require less maintenance.
With 24 gears, it has more than twice the number I have ever had available to me, but more suited to the more hilly terrain where I am at now. Just six gears on the $150 Chinese cheapie I had for 16 years in Phuket (replaced every moving part at least once) and three speed Sturmey Archer hubs on the bikes I had in UK (7 years, off and on) and Japan (2 years) were OK for the relatively flat terrain where I lived there.
Most bicycles I have owned, borrowed or rented over the past 25 years or so have have a basket on the front, a practical feature I came to appreciate. Also a motorcyclist, I feel the vehicle should carry any load, not my shoulders. With front carriers hard to come by at present, and suitable baskets even more scarce, I found a crate woven from water hyacinth (a serious weed in some waterways in SE Asia), which I have bungied on the rear carrier. It works well for my needs, and does not interfere with mounting, so I will probably attach it more permanently.