Tag Archive for bikes

SS Fever

I’m not sure what exactly happened to me, but I’ve got a case of SS fever lately.

About 3 months ago, I finally got my Vassago Jabber Wocky frame and built it up.  I parked my squisy geared bike, and figured I’d give my new bike some quality time….and I havent’ swung my leg over the FS bike since.

Then recently, I built up an old Redline cross frame I got in a part swap with a team mate.  I wanted to build up something for local riding around town and for training.  I have a Giant TCR road bike, but I’m not 100% comfortable on it, especially locally, as I don’t always have a nice paved surface, and I don’t completely trust myself on a racy bike with lil 23mm tires.   Something that rolls a lil better then a MTB with fat knobby tires, but not as high-strung as my road bike, and something I could still take on a dirt road comfortably.  A CX bike seemed to fit that bill.  To make the project a bit cheaper, I decided to go SS on the bike.

So, I’ve found myself riding nothing but SS bikes for the past 2 months or so.  My Ti FS bike sits in the living room, without even having pedals installed (I stole them to build up the CX bike temporarily.)  I figured that this would be for a week or so till I got additional pedals, but I really haven’t had the desire to pull the bike out for a ride yet.  I’ve been having just TOO much fun riding the SS’s.

I’ve always loved my SS’s, but I sort of fell out of riding them over the last year.  My old GF Rig had an eccentric bottom bracket, and it was a constant source of irratation.   When Marty wanted to build up her Redline Monocog frame she picked up used, I figured that I’d be building up my new SS in the near future.  But, it ended up being months.  When I finally did get the frame, I didn’t want to ride anything else, because I had been waiting for it for so long.  But, as the newness finally wore off, I just didn’t have any desire to go back to FS geared yet.

I don’t know if this is just a stage I’m going through, or if I’ve sipped the kool-aid one to many times, and now I got the sickness.  But, the FS bike continues to sit unused, and with fall/winter starting to peak it’s head up, I don’t know if I’ll be riding the the gears till next spring.

My Bike is F-in Cool!

After ~ 6 months of waiting, my Vassago JabberWocky finally came in, and was built up today.

Vassago JabberWocky

I was able to take the Karate Monkey to the shop, tear and down and migrate the parts onto the new JabberWocky frame. It built up nice and easy, and I was able to take it for a ride out @ Maybury this afternoon. Despite the rain, the trail wasn’t too bad, just a lil snotty in spots. It was starting to get slicker, and the rain was picking up, when we finished the first lap, so we decided to call it quits. Went into Northville with Mike and Abbie and have a light dinner @ the coffee shop.

The bike handled VERY nicely, and I’m quite impressed with it’s handling and climbing. Marty commented that it was the first bike I’ve ever had that I loved and felt one with right away. I’m hoping this bike turns out to be all that I have hoped.

We’ll see. I might just race it at Yankee in a week.