EldoradoFJ60
April 21st, 2012, 06:18 PM
Well yesterday I sold the Iron *****. And after getting her all tuned up and everything. :(
After riding the 2X9 Karate Monkey with it's big 29" tires I don't think I could ride a fully geared 26" bike again. My goal was to limit myself to 2 bikes so they have to be versatile.
The downfall of the 29" bike is that if you're a smaller dude the 29" tires can seem squirrely on fast tight terrain. So I did some interweb browsing and read about 96'ers. 29" wheel in front, 26" in back. Seems like a good compromise. But after further search I discovered the small group of riders devoted to the 650B platform. The 650B wheel is a 27.5" wheel. Right between the big 29 and the standard 26.
So I found a local guy with a single speed 650B for sale. It's a Soma B Side. I test rode it, loved it, bought it, took it for a ride.
My old single speed was fun to ride but not very capable on Colorado terrain. This bike is awesome. I forgot how much I love riding without gears. You come to a hill and you either hammer it or walk. It makes you a stronger rider IMHO because you can't downshift, man up or fall off. I actually made it up a section that I walked up on my last two rides.
Enough talk...now pics.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000167.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000168.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000170.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000171.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000172.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000174.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000175.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000176.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000177.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000178.jpg
After riding the 2X9 Karate Monkey with it's big 29" tires I don't think I could ride a fully geared 26" bike again. My goal was to limit myself to 2 bikes so they have to be versatile.
The downfall of the 29" bike is that if you're a smaller dude the 29" tires can seem squirrely on fast tight terrain. So I did some interweb browsing and read about 96'ers. 29" wheel in front, 26" in back. Seems like a good compromise. But after further search I discovered the small group of riders devoted to the 650B platform. The 650B wheel is a 27.5" wheel. Right between the big 29 and the standard 26.
So I found a local guy with a single speed 650B for sale. It's a Soma B Side. I test rode it, loved it, bought it, took it for a ride.
My old single speed was fun to ride but not very capable on Colorado terrain. This bike is awesome. I forgot how much I love riding without gears. You come to a hill and you either hammer it or walk. It makes you a stronger rider IMHO because you can't downshift, man up or fall off. I actually made it up a section that I walked up on my last two rides.
Enough talk...now pics.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000167.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000168.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000170.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000171.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000172.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000174.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000175.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000176.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000177.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s240/ilbruche/P1000178.jpg