Hey Doofus!

[saab2000]

Mr. Dr. Doofus,

How do you like your Gunnar? Tell me 'bout it. What fork do you have with it? Is it a good racer?

[Dr. Doofus]

it does not ride as well as a CSi (board disclaimer)

however

it is stiff and lively

handles very well -- with a 43mm ouzo pro it has 5.5 trail, traditional intelligent angles and BB drop

same bike as waterford R-14 (but .5 difference in head angle...big woop)

not a fine-tuned gourmet bike

but

in this doof's opinion

good steel race bike, as good as any production tig'd rig (not made by dario)


but what you really want

is a 59 giordana

(will put the 02 on the gunnar probably and maybe sell the ouzo)

[saab2000]

I don't know what I really want, but probly another steel bike. The more I ride my Strong Foco the more I like it. It needs some minor design tweaking, but otherwise I am digging that steel, especially the fork.

Speaking of forks, my Ed Merckx Majestic Ti has a Looks HSC3 fork and it seems a bit flexy. Sure ain't as stiff as the steel one on my Strong.

[dirtdigger88]

I know several guys with gunners- they all seem to love them- personally I think they are a touch heavy- but that is being critical. I compared my Lemond to a friends Gunner- weight wise. There was about a pound and a quarter or so difference- Slight, yes. However, the Gunner has 9speed Dura Ace (compared to ultegra on my bike) and the gunner was a 53 compared to my 57. All other componants were near enough to call em even. Again- I am being critical. . . what did the frame run ya doc? Like $800 bucks or something like that?

Jason

[chrisroph]

My gunnar crosshairs rides ok with 531 fork but it is a bit heavy. Its chorus/daytona with paul b rakes, 32 handbuilts with op, 32 14-15-14, brass, heavy bars, thomson sp. The last time it was on the scale it was something like 21.5, way more than I expected. The 853 seems to ride a bit harsh.

Saab, HSC3 fork is quite a bit whippier than a reynolds or an f1 or for that matter a good steel fork. Tradeoffs.

[dirtdigger88]

my lemond is 853- so was my buddies gunner that I spoke about- I have never considered 853 to be harsh- :confused:

Jason

[IXXI]

I'm on my second Gunnar, a 'sport' model, 58cm. It is about as untechnical, non-bling as you can get, but there is something I really really like about its ride or the fit or something. I've commuted on mine for the past two years--and don't mind the little extra weight (esp. since I'm also loaded with panniers, lights, fenders, etc.) and have enjoyed EVERY mile. Its so weird... I pull out my Fina or Vanilla and love those too for dif't and obvious reasons, but it does crack me up how much I love that damn Gunnar! Got my frame and fork NOS on ebay for $450.

[Dr. Doofus]

"725.00 for the frame. I would love another one, but I don't think I'd be able to scrape togther 725.00+$ for an english BB and 1 1/8 headset (could probably find a 28 clamp for the 35.9 FD...and I do have an extra 43mm fork -- an 02 lying around...but anyay)...so when I can sell the Giordana I hope to have 500-600 to score some kind of 57 or 58 to ride and race on, just because I have the Chorus kit on the Giordana (say...what was the head tube on a 56 Cervelo Prodigy...a local shop has one for cheap).

My Roadie weighs 19.5 with Chorus 10 and Open Pros. So what. I've never ridden a Pegoretti, but I'll go as far to say that the Gunnar is as good a handling bike as the old 58 Pinarello and the 59c-t Colnago I had in the 80s. Get enough weight over the front wheel and its point and lean that sucker...front end is very stiff and sure going through crit corners at speed, chainstays right length for balance and the drivetrain is stiff.

really, I wish more bike companies did this -- have good design, good materials, good welders all coming togther to make good *cheap* bikes. Waterford does 'em to keep the cash coming in...and its the same bike as an R-14, with 3mm longer f-c (Waterford's race geo is a little too tight in front for my tastes).

I would love to see serotta or seven make a tig steel bike in a traditional italian geo with good tubes and a plain no-zoot one-color paintjob with no more than four decals that they could sell for 700-750...or some custom builder the level of a carl strong or dave kirk who would do a plain jane tig steel bike for maybe 800 bucks...personally, I don't give a rat's *** about the paint job, and I don't think custom geo is really needed unless the rider is skilled enough to know the difference (which doof isn't...he was a cat 2 when you got a 3 license for riding around for one year, and lucked into getting some points in the spring of 1987...and he is rightly placed these days as an old fart 4 who does some master's races too, and giving him a sachs would be like giving the doof's AP students Zbignew Herbert...sure he would ooh and ahh about what it looks like but he's not really good enough to appreciate the full artistry...if he ever had a really really good bike he would be like the vulgar bourgeois culinary hack ******* who takes a couple of food classes and then buys some vintage that someone else tells him to get and drinks it and it might as well be ripple to him, really, and in that respect maybe great builders really just build for themselves because if they built for the people who "get it" as riders then they wouldn't be building very much but anyway I am on a rant and really just guessing because maybe the great builder builds for himself first and then the customer because he's so sure of himself that if he's happy with it, the rider will be happy with it regardless of whether he's a hack or not and maybe as long as the maker is happy that's all that matters), so really what I want to see are affordable, bare-bones good biikes made by cats who know what good bikes are and then sell 'em at something less than vulgar bougie prices...like Gunnar does ...anyway...maybe Serotta will sell some steel TIG bikes in a race bike geo with a plain powder coat and then I will be back in the fold.

Anyway, the gunnar roadie is sort of the american standard strat of bikes. Better than most who use it, and within the grasp of most who want it. Cool."

he is

not

quite

right in

head

maybe

[William]

WORD!!!! :cool:

What the good Doc said.....

William

[Big Dan]

Doctor I had a 56 Cervelo Super Prodigy and it was light but a little flexy for my taste.
It uses a 1 inch fork......Anyways I'm pretty sure the Dr will fit on a 57 Lemond 853 very nicely, even the cheaper 525 frames are pretty nice....


Ride on... :D

Btw..Once I went to buy an American Std Strat and ended up buying a 1980 Strat that weighs a ton...what can I say? It was sweeter....... :banana:

[Climb01742]

doc, quit messing around. get a peg. end of story.