It’s crazy, I thought I had hit a plateau with riding the hills here. Climbing isn’t my forte but I still enjoy it, yet when I decided to sell my MX-Leader and just ride my Milwaukee Orange One as my primary road bike, I thought I’d plummet into slower times. So this week, I cleaned all the mud and crud off the drivetrain, put my Phil Wood wheels on it and took it out to the hills. The first day, I smashed a lot of my best times and then yesterday, I did the same again.

My Merckx had a mix of Red and Force and the MKE has Apex with FSA Gossimer cranks. The bikes weighed about the same, it’s not like one is 10 lbs lighter or heavier than the other, which leads me to believe that it’s gotta be a combination of many things, not just one prevalent factor.

Whatever it is, I was worried that the Orange One wouldn’t treat me as well as the Merckx but it seems to be handling quite well. This set up, is far from expensive. Other than the wheels, the bike’s pretty standard. I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for a first road bike.

Made in the USA, affordable and quite versatile.