I discovered that choosing a new bike is a lot harder than buying a new computer. Instead of only taking into account price, performance, reliability, silence and looks, you also have to think about weight, targeted use, and much more.

Most components are also very difficult to compare and a quick look on the internet usually only complicates matters.

I always thought that there were two kind of bikes: race bikes and ‘normal’ ones.
It appears I was wrong.
Today one has to choose between folding-, race-, trekking-, city-, fitness-bikes or hybrid combinations of any of these.

After some research, I came up with the following requirements:

• Comfortable enough for everyday usage.
• Light enough to accommodate longer trips.
• Suitable to be fully packed on a short bike holiday.
• Able to be stripped of some unnecessary components for ’sporty’ rides.
• No front, rear or saddle suspension.
• Not too ugly (expensive stuff should be well-designed).
• Equipped with lights and luggage carrier.
• Available in a bike shop not too far away (not having a car to transport it there).

The above requirements, together with a limited budget, narrowed my search to the lighter ‘trekking’ models. In the end I chose the Trek X500. After riding it for three weeks, these are my experiences:

• Riding a decent bike is a true pleasure.
• The X500 comes with a lot of extras as one should expect in this price range: kick stand, pump, wheel lock with extension cable, luggage carrier with binder and even a lowrider in front.
• The riding position is fairly upwards; this is very comfortable and can be tweaked a bit by adjusting the handlebar.
• A chain guard is not a necessity for me. I’m curious how long it’ll last.
• I wouldn’t mind a hub dynamo instead of the battery-powered LED lights, but anything is better than a flaky wheel dynamo.

A small share of bad luck the pas few weeks, but in the end I can consider myself lucky:

• The broken frame caused no accidents.
• My new bike is quite okay now and the chain is holding well.
• I found the on/auto/off button on the rear light. Just search harder!
• After ten minits, a passer-by in the basement opened the door for me from the other side. Even then, cell phone reception was remarkably good for a basement.

Op hun blog kan je goed volgen hoe het eraan toe gaat. En dat is dit jaar enorm spannend: er werd haasje-over gepleegd met de absolute topfavorieten, het Nederlandse Nuon Solar Team van de TU Delft met hun ‘Nuna 4′.

De Belgen moeten morgen nog enkele kilometers afleggen, maar de Hollanders hebben hun tijd al geklokt. Nuon eindigt eerste, Umicore finisht zonder pech tweede. Een geweldige prestatie; vorig jaar hielden technische problemen het vorige team nog ver van een top-3.

Dit jaar zien de wagens er anders uit dan de vorige editie: de bestuurders moeten meer rechtop zitten, waardoor de cockpit hoger is dan voordien. De zonnecellen op hun beurt zijn qua oppervlakte enkele vierkante meters kleiner gemaakt.

Het valt in ieder geval wel op dat de twee snelste wagens genoemd zijn naar een sponsor — ook in deze sport is het budget een allesbepalende factor, al was het maar om de efficiëntste zonnecellen, batterijen en motor te kunnen gebruiken.

Gelukkig wordt mijn stalen ros onder handen genomen door Robocop!