{"id":686,"date":"2007-07-30T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/2007\/07\/30\/review-bianchi-castro-valley\/"},"modified":"2007-07-30T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:00:00","slug":"review-bianchi-castro-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/2007\/07\/30\/review-bianchi-castro-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Bianchi Castro Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3itOPCJ_I\/AAAAAAAAARw\/A-Jaz6Bg59g\/s1600-h\/IMGP2551.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3itOPCJ_I\/AAAAAAAAARw\/A-Jaz6Bg59g\/s320\/IMGP2551.JPG\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092976020169041906\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A month ago I sold both my single speed and my commuter bike to replace my commuter. I had bought the planet X kaffenback to commute on in a medium, but really I needed a large.<\/p>\n<p>The Planet X was a great  commuter bike, but it just didn&#8217;t fit. I also this year started keeping track of my cycling and notice I spend the most time of all my bikes on the commuter so I might as well ride something that fits.<\/p>\n<p>I also loved the way the single speed bianchi san jose I owned rode. I decided I just couldn&#8217;t justify owning that bike. I did not ride it enough.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3irOPCJ-I\/AAAAAAAAARo\/1kWdzEySBgU\/s1600-h\/IMGP2549.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3irOPCJ-I\/AAAAAAAAARo\/1kWdzEySBgU\/s320\/IMGP2549.JPG\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092975985809303522\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It just so happens that Bianchi uses the same frame as the San Jose on the Volpe and the Castro Valley. The Castro Valley is a purpose built commuter.<\/p>\n<p>It is a 1&#215;9 drivertrain which comes with only one downtube cable stop.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3hdOPCJ5I\/AAAAAAAAARA\/2Krm-EuzkaQ\/s1600-h\/IMGP2539.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3hdOPCJ5I\/AAAAAAAAARA\/2Krm-EuzkaQ\/s320\/IMGP2539.JPG\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092974645779507090\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>It comes with a Shimano Nexus Dynamo front hub, and Shimano led\/halogen headlight.  Which  is  perfect for commuting. People say you can feel the drag of a dynamo front hub, but I can&#8217;t  tell while riding. You can pick the wheel up off the ground and spin it with the light on and then feel it, but thats not how you ride&#8230;<a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3iHOPCJ8I\/AAAAAAAAARY\/pJMRh-anr4k\/s1600-h\/IMGP2543.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3iHOPCJ8I\/AAAAAAAAARY\/pJMRh-anr4k\/s320\/IMGP2543.JPG\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092975367334012866\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>This is a nice wheel, so I did not want it stolen, I used pinhead locking skewers on the front and rear wheels. <a href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3hc-PCJ4I\/AAAAAAAAAQ4\/FYZO6rv70TI\/s1600-h\/IMGP2538.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3hc-PCJ4I\/AAAAAAAAAQ4\/FYZO6rv70TI\/s320\/IMGP2538.JPG\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092974641484539778\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>It comes stock with reflective Victoria Randonneur tires. I  like the tires a lot, smooth rolling. Also it comes stock with fenders.   <a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3iIOPCJ9I\/AAAAAAAAARg\/5NWtlQKaDlk\/s1600-h\/IMGP2545.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3iIOPCJ9I\/AAAAAAAAARg\/5NWtlQKaDlk\/s320\/IMGP2545.JPG\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092975384513882066\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>The only things I added were crank bros pedals, blackburn metro rack, a ritchey comp fork and I switched out the stock gearing of 12\/26 x 42 with 12\/32 x 34 cause we gots hills in the burgh and apparently I am a pussy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3iFePCJ6I\/AAAAAAAAARI\/7GWa2HQh7Kg\/s1600-h\/IMGP2542.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_Jz4f840sc_c\/Rq3iFePCJ6I\/AAAAAAAAARI\/7GWa2HQh7Kg\/s320\/IMGP2542.JPG\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092975337269241762\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>It is a  great bike, tons of room for fenders and studded kenda tires, handles great, light and zippy. Also when loaded down with pannier it handles very nicely and the long chain stays make heal\/pannier clearance no problem. Its a deal at the price considering the fenders and dynamo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A month ago I sold both my single speed and my commuter bike to replace my commuter. I had bought the planet X kaffenback&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrocksreview.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}