My Fetish Illustre!
I rode a $379 (brand new, including s/h
& tax!) windsor dover from Sept '06 to Feb '08.
It wasn't a bad bike: it handled pretty well, went pretty
fast and was pretty comfortable. But it reeked of cheapness.
The Sora 8 speed drivetrain worked well, but felt flimsy
and the bike didn't handle road irregularities very
well. I saved up and started researching higher-end
bikes in Mid 2007. I looked at some specialized stuff,
and scoured ebay for bikes like klein quantum pro, colnago,
look, etc. Used bikes were the best deal of course.
But, who knows its history? So, on a friend's recommendation
I look up fetish bicycles on Ebay. They had a new one,
full carbon fiber and build up with Sram Force for less
than $2000. Not much less, mind you. When you factor
in 1000+ for Force, maybe $600-800 for the frame (nice,
but mass built in Taiwan I'll bet), nice seatpost/stem/handlebars/fork
(300+) and decent fulcrum racing 7 wheels ($250), it's
a pretty good deal.
Stats:
56cm frame, 1300-1400 grams
Sram force brifters, RD, FD, cranks (double tap rules!)
Tektro brakes
Alpha ergo handlebars
CF seatpost, stem, fork
Selle Gel Flow2 saddle
Fulcrum Racing 7 (2000 grams. Yikes!) wheels. Heavy
but veeery smooth.
Kenda Kriterium tires. Long lasting, pretty grippy.
Performance CF bottle cage
Total weight, w/ cages, minus pedals:
16.5lbs
Weight w/ reynolds alta race wheels: 15.5lbs
So now I'm riding in style on my Illustre'.
It handles amazingly well, is a bit faster than the
windsor and is VERY comfortable. The carbon fiber really
soaks up minor bumps and cracks in the road. It descends
much faster because I allow it to. The windsor would
start feeling a bit harsh and squirley above 35mph so
I would feather the brakes. The illustre is smooth and
feels solid even at 45mph! The Windsor now permanently
resides on the trainer.
Some of the stickers were a bit annoying,
so I was glad to find out that they're very easy to
peel off. I removed the "irrational devotion"
stickers on seat tube and fetishcycles.com on chainstay.
It looks a bit cleaner now.
Any questions about this awesome bike,
contact me! Now, more pics!
