This was the first long ride on my new Motobecane Le Champion CF. On Wednesday I went around the block to test my assembly work. Today was much more extensive at 50.10 miles. I did have to make a couple of adjustments shortly have I started. The handlebar stem bolts were not tight enough so the handlebar rotated but a few turns of the Allen wrench and that was fixed. Then the rear derailleur was not shifting right and adjusting the rear tension by one and a half turns fixed that.

2011 Motobecane Le Champion after today's ride

Since this is a new bike I was paying attention to how this bike rode versus my Mercier aluminum/carbon frame bike. The first thing I notice was how quiet and smooth the ride was. This is probably a function of being new while the Mercier is 5 years old. The miles can cause a noises to come about. The smooth ride was another thing though. Bumps felt different and the metal sound was not there either. Sometimes the ride reminded me of my Cannondale R600 all aluminum frame bike from many years ago with a firm ride but the Cannondale had no forgiveness with irregular road surfaces like “chip and seal”. One ride years ago on SR321 from Cleveland to Dayton (Texas for both of these) was a stretch of the roughest “chip and seal” I had ever encountered. My dentures were left along the road; oops I don’t have dentures. The Motobecane was a delight to ride but I did need to correct the saddle angle when I got home from the tip up to high position to level. Shimano Ultegra 6700 components shift with almost no effort. My Mercier has this Ultegra group but the shifting is better on the new ones.

Tomorrow I will have another ride of about 26 miles to gather more information. So far I am impressed with the bike and the ride. The handlebar tape wrap is very impressive and over 50 miles I had some time to look at it. The wrap is tight and the overlaps very precise. The Motobecane logo is embossed into the tape and visible about every turn over the handlebars.

This is not the final configuration. I am waiting on Shimano Ultegra pedals and a Lezyne aluminum frame pump. Amazon.com is scheduled to deliver these next week. I am not familiar with the Lezyne pump but the reviews were very positive. I like the look of the pump and the water bottle carrier.

Today’s ride data:

• October miles 315.07
• YTD miles 4316.66

Additional charts and map.

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