FINALLY closed the refi on our apartment. Truly one of the most frustrating and anxiety-ridden processes I've been through. The banks simply do not want to make loans to anyone and only do so if you drag them kicking and screaming, by the hair, to the closing table. Jesus.

Comgrats. Will be worth it in the end. But also the reason I didn't want to go through it again, even at record lows.

Glad your brother and family are ok Vicki.

My bike is a '73 Raleigh RRA, which I built up full Campy Nuovo Record, replaced the derailleurs in the '80s with Super Record. Friction shift (Simplex Retrofriction levers), so you have to hit the gears (not indexed), but for my needs is fine. BTW, I like your Gunnar alot.

Beautiful bike!

Congrats on the close Dinny. We were so lucky on our refi as it was completely painless.

We are in the middle of refi right now through our credit union. They approached us and so far it has been pretty painless. We'll see how it ends.

As far as bikes, having owned and ridden steel, aluminum and carbon framed bikes, I only still own and ride two steel frames. Those are both very nice bikes Chris and Vicki. Makes me want to ride more.

Credit unions and smaller local banks are where it's at these days. The big banks are a mess. For various reasons, we were kind of stuck with our big lender, but I would gladly have gone with one of the smaller outfits if I could have.

Hmmm. Well, if we have the desire to refi, I guess I'll check out the small guys.

Regarding bikes, what makes steel such a better experience? I know nothing about bikes, but a friend who does, says these guys have championed the steel frame, and apparently make fabulous bikes. Similar, it sounds, to the way ARC/CJ championed tubes back when transistors were taking over:

http://waterfordbikes.com/w/

Kind of a funny story. It is named after the small town in Wisconsin where my wife grew up. But she had never heard of them ... my biking friend was raving over this company, and was excited to hear she was from this town. My wife insisted there was no such company, she would surely have heard of it in her small town of 3,000! After we researched it, we figured out that it was, indeed in her tiny little town, but small town Wisconsin folk aren't too knowledgeable on high end bicycling.

I really need to look into re-fi'ing again before rates go up. It's been on my to-do list for 6 months...

Sweet ride, Chris.

Waterford originated by doing the Schwinn Paramount frames for Schwinn from about 1980 or so?

http://waterfordbikes.com/w/culture/paramount

They branched out at some point during the '80s with their own frames. Vicki's Gunnar is one of their products as well.

Although I am a proponent of steel, it is more the design and execution of a given material, rather than the material itself, that makes a frame good or not. For my use, steel is a good choice. My bike weighs about 23 lbs (with the seat wedge, etc.), so while not as light as many of the carbon bikes (which can get down to 16 lbs, maybe less), it isn't heavy. And for my use, the weight difference makes no real difference. I could probably cut 2 lbs off of it with modern wheels, though my hubs spin as well as anything made, and better than most.

My bike is an XL and with my mad fiber wheels it totals 14.8lbs. My second bike is a Nevation and cost $2400 I believe and weighs in at 17.2 or so with full SRAM force build. That said my fat ass is more of an issue that the bike's weight.

That said my fat ass is more of an issue that the bike's weight.

Same here...

My fear is that whatever remediation is provided for lowering prinicple to match appraised value will be moot for people who have refinanced post crash, so I'm holding out with my current interest rate and watching to see what happens.

That makes sense Dan. Values on houses around here dropped maybe 5% (condos fared much worse) and are up now so it was a non issue.

my house is down 40% or so

I totally wouldn't have been able to get a house in my area were it not for the crash.

I look forward to paying it off with inflated money.

Edited April 5, 201214 yr by aardvark baguette

I like steel over carbon because the weight is not an issue since I am carrying a lot more excess mass on me than on the bike. I also like the durability of the steel frame. I also hated having to be so careful with the carbon frame lest I bump it wrongs over tighten something and crack the frame.

I think I may rebuild my old Panasonic touring bike into a lighter recreational bike this summer. Sounds like a great father-son project.

Given the current fed policies, I think we'll have much higher inflation soon.

Ok

That said my fat ass is more of an issue that the bike's weight.

Same here...

I like steel over carbon because the weight is not an issue since I am carrying a lot more excess mass on me than on the bike.

This is my situation as well, and not likely to change anytime soon.

Maybe it's because I grew up with steel bikes, I like the way steel looks over the carbon or aluminum bikes I've seen, which was definitely a factor when I was thinking of plopping down a few grand. I was also looking for a bike for recreational riding, light touring, and fast commuting with comfort being as important as speed. Steel fits. The ability to get a custom frame within my budget sealed the deal for steel. Again, I couldn't be happier. I only wish I had more time during the week to ride outside. I set up a trainer in my house, which I'll need to be using if I'm going to get ready for the 165 miler in the Fall, but it's just not the same.

Dinny, congrats on the closing!

I went with a steel Muirwoods 29er because I preferred the feel with vibrations over the aluminum I tested. Course those models were below the models being discussed.

considering the current year over year inflation rate, i wouldn't get too excited.

We're doing pretty good right now, no question.

Wait until the banks start lending again.

on Thursday 4/5 met with Carl for at Jack's BBQ on Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale for lunch. Nice time was had.

Sounds like fun guys! But ... where's the pics?

Edited April 6, 201214 yr by jvlgato

my house is down 40% or so

Wow, that sucks. In 2010 our house appraised value had dropped to about 80% of its 2007 value (which was down to 90% of the 2006 value). Those drops have taken away all of our equity. I have no idea how much more it might have dropped since then.

--

So, we had another post op visit today for my daughter's PRK vision correction. She'd had a mild complication, with some hypoxic corneas after the first 3 days in a bandage contact lens. So she still has a couple more days of pressure patching her eyes at night until her corneas have healed over. This has sucked for her because she'd taking 5 AP classes as a senior, and had loads of homework to do when she can't see yet. She should be able to read fairly well by Sunday, and continue to improve from there. She's still happy she won't have to worry about possibly dislodging a corneal flap later if she'd had Lasik - she lives a very active lifestyle.

You got PRK for someone still in high school? I don't trust the long term outlook for that to do it in my 40s, let alone 25 years prior.