Holy cow… have I been lazy, I’d promise to post more often but then I might later be accused of being a liar.
In any case… I got some new wheels. A Kona Kula 2-9 I have yet to ride it more than 100 yards but I’m going to take it to MtB Oregon in 2 days. Should be interesting. I’ll bring my Monocog 29er along which has proved to be an awesome bike. The Kona weighs in at 25.5 lbs which is not super light for a hard tail but is the lightest bike I’ve ever owned.
Over the last 6 months I’ve become a huge believer in the 29″ wheels, on the Monocog 29er I’ve conquered trails which previously I felt challenged on riding a 5″ travel bike. The Kula 2-9 adds a few things the MC lacked. Primarily the Reba fork… The rigid fork on the Monocog has really taken it’s toll on my hands and wrists. Hopefully the 85mm of travel on the Reba will alleviate this issue.
The Kula 2-9 also has sliding drop outs. This allows me to use quick release tires, reducing the weight of my rear hub and speeding up tire changes. finally… I have the option to go geary or SS. After 6 months of Singlespeed I’m not sure I want to go back to geared. Singlespeeding is just plain fun. I’m of split minds about this though, on the one hand I love to challenge myself to ride everything and when I’m single speeding I just have to admit that there are sections that are too steep and walk them. Also, on long steeper hills I’ll be able to spin up them. But… single speeding is so fun. I guess we’ll see how this plays out. I’m already looking at dropping down to 1×9 from the 3×9 I currently have.