Spring is most definitely in the air
(you can smell 6 months worth of dog waste melting out of the snowbanks) and we have been blessed with a good long stretch of beautiful cloudless days. The trails have remained in fantastic condition, freezing firmly on the cold clear nights and staying firm almost all day long, and I have been fortunate enough to get some excellent riding in on a new (to me) bike.
That pink fatbike you see is now legally mine. The previous owner was kind enough to allow me a good long window to test ride and think about the purchase. Mrs. was in love with it the minute she saw it and has no qualms about being married to a man who rides around on an XL pink bike. Getting her stamp of approval was not insignificant.
The bike fit me amazingly well as soon as I threw a leg over it. It's not often I hop on another person's bike and don't feel the urge to fiddle with one thing or another.
The story is that the bike was originally built up by a
local shop/fatbike company employee. He put in the special request for a XL frame in pink and then decked it out in the parts you might expect from guy who gets a shop discount: XTR rear derailleur, SLX front, Mr. Whirly crank, cut out Speedway 70mm rims, Thomson stem, etc.
Apparently he moved out of state not too long after finishing the build and a casual friend of mine scooped it up for a steal. However, it seems that for my friend the lure of 800cc snowmachines trumped pedal power and the bike saw almost no action for the past two winters.
Long story short, he was happy to let the bike go to someone who would ride it, the bike fit me and Mrs. approved. I initially hesitated, but encouragement and sound advice from a couple of
fellow bike
junkies pushed me over the edge.
It may be pink, but it rides like the darkest black of a moonless night.
I'm secure enough to enjoy the obvious jokes that will ensue. My favorite so far was the woman on horseback asking if I had borrowed my wife's bike.
I've actually had a thing for pink frames ever since I first saw
Pat Irwin's pink 1x1 eight or nine years ago.
I figure with one kid and another on the way my manhood is adequately accounted for and I shouldn't let a good deal pass me by.
Changes thus far:
The bike came with a horribly narrow carbon bar, so I swapped it for an
On-One Mary bar before I rode it for the first time. The Mary bar is nice, but I think I'll ultimately change it out for something with a little less back sweep. I was thinking a Salsa Whammy bar would be nice, but it seems no one is selling them these days. On-One Fleegle perhaps. To be determined.
It also had Endomorph tires front and rear, which had amazingly awkward handling characteristics. I've since swapped those for (27tpi) Larrys. I picked one Larry up cheap at the local bike swap and acquired the other from a guy on craigslist who wanted to trade a Larry for an Endomorph, don't ask me why. Handling was noticeably improved by the tire swap.
Down the road I'll likely get the
MWOD rings for the Mr. Whirly crank. I have absolutely no need for the big ring, and wouldn't mind moving the chain out from the rear tire a bit.
The little ski hill in town has closed for the season so I snuck over there one evening this week after a quick singletrack ride and goofed around on the groomed slopes.
Good times.
