Author Topic: White Sabbath

sam

White Sabbath
« on: December 13, 2022 »
Yesterday I ordered a Sabbath Aspire from Spa Cycles, reviews of both of which are enough to give one pause (the "owner" replies in Google reviews for Spa appear to have either been generated by short-circuiting AI, or vandalised). But that model appealed for various reasons,* not least price, and they own Sabbath. No more custom builds for me.

The gentleman who took my order has actually been quite good, though I'm well aware you can't truly judge until things go wrong. In fact I'm strangely comforted that reviews aren't all positive, as in my experience, such can give you false confidence.

As to the frame itself, I'm going to miss horizontal dropouts. Making it singlespeed will almost certainly be a bodge. I've been there before


fine detail:


and am prepared to go back. That's how much I dislike paint on a bike.

I'm not particularly fond of 'Aspire' as a model name. At least graphically, it's reasonably subtle.

As to how it rides, well, I can only keep my fingers crossed. Actual review to follow, snow & ice & postal strikes permitting.


Local conditions

* Including the way it looks, which is preferable to the Planet X Spitfire I owned for a few minutes - scroll down this post.

Re: White Sabbath
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2022 »
I know all my readers are hanging on the edge of their seats awaiting progress on my report, so here it is: the frame is sitting in a Parcelforce depot, awaiting its third and final delivery attempt before taking up permanent residence.



It was dispatched with alacrity, but I made the mistake of designating a local post office as my delivery address, forgetting that this particular PO closes midday. So every day the driver arrives too late, presumably slides a "Better luck next time" card through the slot in the door, and takes it back to the depot.


You tease

I've attempted to have it redirected to another post office, as our driveway – technically bridlepath – is impassable, but the strike, which hasn't in fact stopped deliveries of the crème de la crème of packages (24hr), has put paid to effective interoffice communications.

I will in fact be rescuing it as soon as the sun* digs me out



(waaaaay to much snow for me and my little shovel), but it's frustrating to have to drive 40-odd miles when the bloody thing has been passing a few hundred yards from our house.


* 'Twas the rain that came to our rescue

Walt

  • .
Coming home
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2022 »
It made it to a different local post office. I walked a mile home with it slung over my shoulder like Santa bringing himself an early Christmas present.


Seen it all

One of Chompsky's hay bale bags was a good fit for its compact geometry (the frame, not the box). My first thought had been to slide it along the snow and ice, but not all the terrian was so friendly,


You shall not pass!
Oh, OK


and I didn't want to rough it up – boxes like that are valuable. It was easy enough to carry.



Why Walt? Because I ended up with a Waltly after all. It has a 10 year warranty, rather than the 2 years they offer when buying direct, never mind how ludicrous is the idea of sending a frame back to Xiamen.