From the dark recesses of the Evil Empire (with the strains of Oh Canada playing softly in the background) I bring you my new singlespeed ride to be. I brought this bad-boy-in-flat-black DiSSent frame back from Sea Otter the other day where Lord Peter graciously allowed me to wrest it out of the hands of the folks at Likin Bikin, a great group of on-line retailers. Check 'em out.
Size biggie, the longer TT should get me where I want to be...I hope. This bike is a bit of an experiment. One, I never have, well, pretty much never, had an aluminum hardtail. I have 'Steel Is Real' tattooed on the underside of my left eyelid so it is a constant reminder of my credo. But, I have a theory discussed here that I want to prove out to myself. Also, at 25.25" eff, it is the longest TT by 3/4s of an inch over anything I have ever owned before. Will I like the stretch? The ride? The pedaling mojo? I am hoping for 6061 grade, harmonious joy, so we shall see. I weighed it, and bare, no seat collar, etc, it was 4lbs 13oz. Not too bad for the asking price of under 400 clams. They use various bi-valves as currency in Canada ever since beaver got all protected and such. Imagine...all that and socialized medicine too.
Parts are being chosen and collated as we speak. I hope to feature the build on the cyclist site.
Budget temperature set to low will be the standard, but I will not go too cheesy. Eventually I want to change a few things over the SS Monkey...lose the Thudbuster, maybe some alternative bars with a nifty hand position, and disc brakes for sure. I expect it will be somewhat lighter than the KM was, but how much? We shall see. Some of those changes will happen right away and some over time so I will carry quite a few parts over at first.
DiSSent. Anarchy. Skulls. Rebellion. Makes me feel like stickin' it to the man! Except at my age, I probably am the man.
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2 comments:
Enjoy your beatings on that thing.
I had aluminum and liked it, but only if using a suspension fork. you definitely need to run the tire softer.
When full rigid, I clearly prefer the flexiness of a small diameter steel frame.
That ETT is massive.
Well, I can hardly call the KM soft riding, so we shall see how that compares. It will be interesting to see how it all works, a bit of an experiment. I am willing to bet it is no worse than most all of the lesser $ steel stuff out there like the Raleigh XXIX, KM, Monocog, etc.
I will run a sus fork.
I hear ya on the steel frame for full rigid, but I may try this one full rigid at some point and run a 2.5 Weirwolf and a nice fork. Maybe.
Massive is in the eye, and arm length, of the beholder. Will I like it? I think so.
One day I plan on having a VERY nice singlespeed frame, maybe Ti, but very nice regardless. By then, I want to have a few things figured out.
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