Steel Road Bike

He had been looking for a steel road bike for over a year. Two days ago he saw an 09 Kona Honky Tonk two blocks from our house at Quick Stop Bike Shop. What are the odds?

http://bikes.konaworld.com/09/09_honkytonk_en.cfm

There's a new steel bike in our house.

Upgraded the wheels, changed the seat and pedals.

Kona's 2010 website has nice commentary about the new bikes here:

http://www.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=honkytonk

Singular SWIFT (not Siren)

The bike is still with us. The fork is not. He's riding rigid and riding single speed. 6 hour race this weekend.

Oops, not a Siren. I must have heard about the Siren Bikes in his quest for this steel bike.

Identify It...

Superior Bike Fest - Marquette

Friday Night - Downtown Criterium
Saturday - Road Race and Downhill
Sunday - XC Mountain Bike and Circuit Race

Bikefest Home
Michigan Road Racing State Championship

Entire Race Schedule Here:
http://www.superiorbikefest.com/schedule.php

The step-child was adopted.

Trek and Gary Fisher made a big announcement today.

"Trek joins forces with two-wheeled wizard Gary Fisher for an innovative line of bikes for mountain, road, and all points in between."

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/collection/gary_fisher/bikes/

I like the new group--just wish it didn't have big T R E K letters on the "collection".

His favorite in the new group:
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/gary_fisher_collection/29er_hardtails/sawyer/

Swift?

http://www.singularcycles.com/swift.html

A Couple Upgrades

Salsa Big Mama - Upgrades. New fork and brakes, swapped over to a white seat so it is all matchy-matchy.

The Green Loop - Heartwood Forestland

We headed out Saturday morning and rode up the Bridges Trail, then up Division Street to the main South Trails trailhead where we began up "The Green Loop". Up, up, up, then down the sweepy, fast Pioneer Loop. Bill rode the Big Mama, I rode my rigid Rig 1x9. I was tired at the end with a sore lower back.

Bill re-rode the loops the following day and commended me for sticking with it on the rigid bike the day before. There are still trails that he has not ridden in Marquette in 6 years of mountain biking.

Heartwood Forestland area that is home to many of the South Marquette is in jeopardy. Read more here: http://www.mqtcty.org/heartwood.html and map here: http://www.mqtcty.org/city_website/WebsiteGeneral/PDF/Current_Projects/Heartwood/overview_map.pdf

Perhaps a NEW RECORD!

The Bianchi Sok is for sale! My earlier prediction was correct:

This prediction was made May 5th.

I think he will want a steel bike. I think he will want a suspension fork on the Bianchi. I think the Bianchi will be sold before summer's end because the frame is too big. I think he will update the components on the Salsa -- wanting a better suspension fork than the one that he is swapping over from the Bianchi.

Seems that the Bianchi was a bit too big. He may confirm or deny this claim. He has said that he likes the Salsa Big Mama so much that he's going to ride just the one bike.

Salsa Big Mama vs. Niner RIP9

He's keeping this frame for a while. Last night I asked him to compare it to the Niner RIP9 that he sold a year ago because he kept falling. He says the suspension design of the Big Mama is much more simple with one pivot vs. the pivots of the RIP9. This morning he e-mailed me:

The Salsa really does everything pretty well. I like it. My body doesn’t hurt. I can ride roads to the trails. I can ride the trails. I can ride home. I can go with one bike…there are a ton of people who don’t even have that.

There is talk of upgrading the fork from the gray fork that came with the Bianchi--perhaps a Fox.