#1. My '09 Trek 7.3FX (B-)
Ah, the old Trek. I've taken to calling it my "beater", but honestly it was an expensive-ass bike when I bought it and it's still in pretty good shape. I put over 3000 miles on it in just over 5 months, so it got worked a little harder than the good folks are Trek probably intended it to. Anyways, here's my thoughts:
Components:
The Front derailleur is complete crap. It's a C102, whatever the fuck that is. I was forced to learn the Shimano hierarchy a long time ago, and this thing doesn't even show up on it. That either means it's a one-off model for this bike, or it's the REALLY cheap kind they put on Wal-Mart and Target bikes. I tend to think the former, just due to this bike's price, but even then it was still garbage. I could just never get it to behave. Front derailleurs with a triple chainring are hard enough to get adjusted properly, but no matter what I do this one still rubs in chain combinations it shouldn't. I don't cross-chain, I'm talking rubbing in the third chainring and the smallest cog in the rear cassette (i.e. the highest gear possible).
The rear derailleur on the other hand, was pretty solid. It's a Deore, which is pretty much the entry level component group for Shimano mountain bikes (there's Altus as well, but for "real" bikes pretty much everything starts at Deore). It needed tightening up fairly regularly but shifted well enough, and I did beat on it a bit when I was starting out and it never jumped the chain or complained.
The brakes were crap as well. They were V-Brakes, which I'm not terribly familiar with, but the rear one especially was always horribly out of alignment. You all know what I'm talking about. You pull the brake lever, and one side yanks 4 inches to the rim, and the other one barely moves. That's a brake out of alignment. Ugh.
The tires are another thing I was not terribly impressed with. They're Bontrager Hardcases, they're supposed to be DESIGNED for city riding, and I was still constantly popping tubes on glass and wires in the road. The rear tire even ended up getting slashed, forcing me to purchase a new one. The wheels are fine for most applications, but if you're a big guy and will be carrying 30-50 pounds of stuff, I don't think the 32 spoke rims are going to hold up well.
The frame I will say nothing but good stuff about. It was light as hell, responsive, and looked really sharp to boot. The frame was definitely the best thing about this bike.
Durability:
I'm not sure if maybe I got a dud or what, but this bike didn't hold up REAL well. The rear tire died, so I had to replace that. The headset is making a creaking noise when I put weight on it, I'm not sure what's causing that. A spoke on the rear wheel spontaneously broke. The chain is either warped or stretched because you can see it changing angles as you're riding.
3,000 miles isn't a TON of mileage for a brand new bike, and I was getting it tuned up and checked over fairly regularly. Enough stuff went wrong with it that I'm pretty skeptical it'll still be alive a year from now.
Suitability for Touring:
This bike would've worked fine for touring. I really believe that. It has braze ons (holes) for everything: fenders, racks, water bottles, you name it. The geometry was nice and relaxed, the chainstays were plenty long, and it felt stable when weighted down.
For those of you reading this who're looking to do your own tour someday and you're on a budget, and you've only got around 700-800 bucks to spend, first look at the Windsor Tourist. But if that's sold out (which it always is) then check out this bike. The fact that there'll likely be a local Trek dealer for it is a plus.
#2. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (B+)
Let's get one thing straight, I watched the original movie 7 times. IN THE THEATRES. I fucking loved that movie. In terms of pure action movies, it goes
#1. Terminator 2
#2. Transformers (First one)
#3. The Rock.
Since I would gladly punch Michael Bay in the neck if I thought I could get away with it, I'm not sure why I like those two movies so much, but there it is.
I went to the midnight showing of this movie and it was freaking awesome. Now let me clarify that a bit: There isn't a single aspect of this movie that is well done that doesn't directly have to do with giant robots killing each other. The acting, the plotting, the "humor" (Hey let's have the Mom curse and eat pot brownies! We're so edgy and fresh!!) and all that other crap was uniformly horrible. But holy crap were the action parts good.
Getting back to that Michael Bay comment, he's a horrible person and should probably be melted down into a sticky goo to be used as a low grade asphalt sealant. Seriously, as a person, any time you watch an interview with him blood will start shooting out of your ears. And as a director, he can make stuff blow up really well, but he's completely incapable of doing anything else. What saves him in the Transformers movies is the steady hand of Stephen Spielberg.
Now, again, by himself, Steve-O is a fucking mess. He used to make cool, edgy movies. He kind of jumped the shark with Saving Private Ryan, and then he made War of the Worlds (good movie completely destroyed by the ending, and that had Spielberg's sweaty fingerprints all over it), started digitally editing out rifles and turning them into walkie-talkies, and finally made the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
(There's two schools of thought on that movie. Some people feel it was an entirely acceptable, possibly even engaging summer popcorn flick. Others, like me who had The Last Crusade on VHS and watched it no less than 4,349 times as a little kid, have a less charitable view. Specifically, me and the writers of South Park feel Spielberg systematically raped Indy over and over again, in front of very eyes, then leaving his useless, steaming corpse in front of us before peeing on it and walking away)
But combine Bay's over-the-top "everything must explode, all other concerns are secondary" approach to filmmaking, and Spielberg's "what if you replaced that mean looking shrub with a magical Happy Tree that grants wishes and gives hugs" modus operandi, and you get a pretty good flick.
Now having said that, I think maybe Spielberg lost a bit of control over Bay in this movie, because a lot of non-action bits have degraded into sheer lunacy, and boring lunacy at that. I tend to imagine Spielberg's reduced role happened suddenly, and nothing was ever the same afterwards. A conversation like this probably happened.
Spielberg: Mike, I've been reading the script, and, uh, I've got some concerns. Do you really think we should make two of the comic relief robots into the most offensive ethnic stereotype ever made in the history of film?
Bay: It's what the fans want Steven. We got away with Jazz in the first movie, didn't we?
Spielberg: Yeah but, I dunno, one of the ones in this movie even has a gold tooth....
Bay: Fuck you, Steve. Transformers made over 780 million dollars, I am Michael Bay and I am a genius. You're not going to deprive the fans of my awesome ideas.
Spielberg: Okay, but....
Bay: No, I said fuck you. Now the two robots that've got your panties twisted are twins.
Spielberg: Twins? Wait, what, like they got made at the same time?
Bay: NO they're twins. And now there's a girl robot.
Spielberg: How can there be a girl -
Bay: FUCK YOU NOW ONE OF THEM HAS AN AUSTRALIAN ACCENT. I can do this all day.
Spielberg: But that doesn't make any-
Bay: NOW SHIA LEBOUF IS GOING TO DIE AND HAVE A VISION OF ROBOT HEAVEN!!
Spielberg: Now wait just a sec-
Bay: I AM MICHAEL BAY, I MADE BAD BOYS II!!!! I SHALL NOT TOLERATE YOUR INSOLENCE!!!!
Still, though, yeah, B+. Dude they shot Devastator with a rail gun.
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