New bike!

So, I've to commute to work via bicycle. To this end, I purchased a new bike yesterday... nothing fancy, a Schwinn "hybrid", which I find ideal. It's not a full-out comfort cruiser, but does make some nods towards comfort with a front shock and sprung seatpost. (I may ditch the seatpost to cut weight though)

Here it is:


You can't really see it in the pic, but the tires are between mountain bike and road bike thickness, for less rolling resistance while retaining some light trail-going abilities. It's a basic bike. I need to tweak the derailleurs some, the back one isn't quite on.

Anyway, I rode it to work this morning. I love it. My old bike... well, let's just say I bought it in the late 80's. It would need lots of parts to feel this good. Unfortunately, in my speed and enthusiasm, I was reminded the hard way that skinny tires don't roll over cracks the way mountain bike tires do. I went to take a fast right and my tire decided to follow a crack/ridge in the concrete, resulting in front wheel going straight while the rest of me was trying to turn. Somewhere in there gravity asserted itself.

I can do better with practice, but here are the wounds I managed in this initial effort.

( Behind the cut )