Check back for new trip reports from Bilenky bike adventurers everywhere.
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Stephen,
How are you? Hope everything is going well for you and the crew. Karen and I went up to Mt. Diablo today and took some pictures of her beautiful bike. She has another bike which has been gathering dust at home, and I quote "I love my orange bike, don't touch it".
Thanks,
Ron
Bina,
Hi. Thank you for the email. Attached you will find four pictures of Karen and I took a camping trip to Angel Island in Bay Area. Please tell Stephen our bikes perform wonderfully. Handling is great and we have to stop a few times so others can ask about our bikes.
Thanks,
Ron
I notice from your website you had a Bilenky. Would you recommend it?
I am thinking of getting one. Anything you wished you would have
added or that was overkill?
Thanks, Stephen
I love mine. Nothing was wrong with the components it came with (Shimano
105 and LX) but I recently upgraded it to DuraAce and XTR components and
new Topolino wheels. Haven't even ridden it with the new wheels as they
just arrived yesterday. Point is, I use the Bilenky as my everyday bike,
as well as travel, and like it so much that I upgraded it to top of the
line components and wheels.
Buy one, you won't regret it.
Lamar
Steve,
The trip was awesome. The Bilenky is a
great bike. There was one other rider (of 13 total) who had a Comotion
Touring bike with S&S couplings. His was set-up with front and rear
racks for panniers, while I pulled a Burley Nomad trailer. My bike was
much more aero-dynamic allowing me to coast past him on the down hills
and to ride the same pace as him on the flats and in high winds, while
doing much less work.
Thanks for asking.
Lamar
Stephen and Simon,
It's been slightly more than 1.5 yrs since you coupled my white Concorde SL frame for me. I'd thought I'd drop you a line to let you know how the bike has been holding up and where it has been since it left Philly.! Below are pictures of the Concorde (mostly) on the many trips I have taken with the bike since you cut and coupled it -- I post full reports of these trips here (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=663557#poststop) where you can see many more pictures. I also make sure to mention Bilenky whenever people ask me who did the coupling!
The frame made it back with me to France where I built it up w/ some spare Campy bits and pieces I had laying around (picture #1)
First trip: Italy and the Sorrentine Penninsula and Amalfi Coast (pictures 2 and 3). Picture 2 is atop Mt. Faito looking down on Mt. Vesuvius and Pompei and # 3 was taken on an early morning ride along the Amalfi corniche -- absolutely stupendous riding!
Second Trip: Italy again -- Genova and Cinque Terre
Third Trip: Athens and the Attican penninsula
Fourth Trip: Japan, Izu Penninsula (first picture is to show the width of the roads!)
Fifth and Sixth trips: Catalonia (Barcelona and Girona)
Seventh trip: Azerbaijan, Baku and the Absheron Penninsula
Eighth trip: Italy, Tuscany
Ninth Trip: France, Saint Tropez
And finally, yours truly w/ my daughters
What can I say? Thanks to you, I am still able to train and stay somewhat competitive after 20+ years of road/cyclo-crosss racing despite a relatively heavy travel load for work. I have also been able to take my bicycle on vacation and get in some early morning rides in some beautiful places … and come back home before anyone awakes w/ a full bag of croissants! I have met more interesting people and seen more breath-taking sights now that I travel with my bike and while my team-issue bike is cerainly lighter and arguably "faster", it is the S&S-coupled Concorde that has given me the best memories by far!
So a very big "Merci!" for your fine workmanship -- I may soon be sending you a cyclocross frame to convert!
Best regards,
Philippe Crist
Bina,
the bikes working great and has clocked thousands of miles in the air but less on the ground.
I have attached some photos
the second shots are from the most easterly point in australia, the first from a small village called camon in south west france. The others are from around sw france
I use it at home as a commuter and for exploring and taking photos on trips
while in australia I did some longish (80k) mountain bike rides with a local bike shop in mullumbimby. It was a lot of steep gravel roads and some single track, it performed well .
I loved the shots of the urban cyclocross
cheers stew
Stephen or Bina,
I am very happy with the bike, am glad that I chose the Force 5, and glad that I chose Bilenky Cycle Works to retrofit the couplings to the bike. I've posted my impressions of the bike and the work on Bentrider Online, and I think that I may have stirred up some interest in having BCW retrofit some bikes. A couple of friends have already contacted you, we'll see if they end up having bikes retrofitted.
Thank you again for the great work done on my bike. I won't hesitate to recommend BCW to friends,
Here are a couple photos I took today. I still want to get further up north into the vinyards in the Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley wine regions.
John
Hi Bina,
sorry it took so long to get back to you.
I enjoyed riding the bike through New England last october.
It works very well. I hope to ride it again soon
if the weather ever improves. Ya'll did a great job, I'm 100%
satisfied. My neighbor, Marvin, got a retrofit on his
Litespeed from your company too. His looks really good!
Thank You,
Frank
Bina & Co.
It's been fantastic! Since I got it back from you
guys, I've had it built up and have taken it out on 3
weeks worth of business trips, with a fourth to start
tomorrow -- it's been great to keep some continuity
going in my training, and will be even more important
as my traveling starts to pick up over the spring and
summer.
Great craftsmanship -- the bike looks and rides
superbly -- I love it! Complaints -- none. In retrospect, the ultimate would've
been to have you guys build me a custom slightly
smaller fixed gear roadie. Maybe we'll do that down
the road!
Again, thanks for the awesome bike and great service!
Sincerely,
Frank
This picture was taken in Reykjavik, Iceland last month. The bicycle was given to the girl by the local Lions' group.
I can attest that it is making her very happy - and I was very impressed with the build quality.
Best regards, Kari in Iceland
Hi Steve,
I just returned from Colorado where I rode in the
Bicycle Tour of Colorado using the Merlin Magia that
you outfitted with S&S couplers a while ago. I had a
great time and the bike was a pleasure to ride. Every
time I do a trip I am thankful for my decision to buy
this frame and install the couplers. The airlines are
charging $85 and up each way for oversized/overweight,
and my bike goes as regular luggage! I think I've
gotten the disassembly and packing down to a nice
routine. My small bike box was the envy of just about
everyone who saw it, although I did notice several
other riders had the couplers. Seems like Moots is
pretty big in Colorado, since they're located right
there in Steamboat Springs. I saw a few Moots titanium
bikes with the couplers installed.
Several riders noticed the couplers and asked me about
them. I recommended you, so I hope you hear something
from them.
Attached are two photos I took in the hotel in
Steamboat Springs. It looked like a nice spot to get
good pictures of a bike.
Thanks again for the great job you did on the my
frame.
Best regards,
Paul
