Some Bicycle Things I’m Stoked About On A Friday, October 31st, 2025
It’s All Hallows’ Eve. A night that once marked the gateway to a period of hallowed remembrance, but, at some point, in the distant past, traded the consecrated for the cadaverous and confectionery. Seraphs for plastic skeletons, Cherubs for pseudo chocolate, and, well, wherever I was going with this, did you know that it’s genuinely hard-boiled BCE-Christian dogma that wheels*⁺**⁺*** never sleep?
I mean, it’s a fully logical extension from there that “Ride bikes every day” is legit Old Testament doctrine. Which is a bit of a trip considering the bush-less chain only came about 145 years ago, and Bianchi didn’t build their first example of holy Italian steel until five years after that. How’s that for irrefutable proof of Biblical futurism?!
Anyway, the greater theme here is probably that the meaning of names changes over time. The Altitude was once Rocky Mountain’s premier steel-framed XC race rig; now it’s a long-travel full suspension Enduro race bike in carbon or aluminium. The Judy was once RockShox’s premier suspension fork; the newest examples cost less than a pair of good tires. The Fox Vanilla RC is now called the Marzocchi Bomber CR. And so forth.
*{Ophanim, Auphanim, or Ofanim if anyone has been thinking about ordering a crate of white-labelable carbon rims from Taiwan and can’t decide what to call their brand.}
**{Wheels are also full-on angelic, which, okay, makes sense.}
***{I can’t find a photo anywhere on the web, but I swear that around ’08 Velocity made a version of their non-machined Deep-V rims that came with eyeball graphics, and it would have made for the perfect image for this…}
Sour Party Dome
The first time I saw a ‘94 Kona Lava Dome was at Penticton’s Bike Barn. The metallic green colour was an immediate attention grabber, but this particular example was the first time I’d seen a bike with thumb shifters, Shimano DX, run under the handlebars. Nerdlicious.
And yeah, I know that the Sour Party Dome homage is based on the Hawaiian-esque decaled ’97 version, which sported GripShift twisters and yellow graphics, but you can’t expect me to let that get in the way of my nostalgia?! It’s not my fault that Kona used ~ the same awesome green colour for multiple model years of the LD in the ’90s!?
[Aside]
I love the 1994 Kona catalogue. I know, I know, save the trees, but I miss dropping into the local shop to grab a magazine-quality bike booklet.
[/Aside]
But what I actually wanted to say about the fantastic-looking Party Dome is that this is the sort of paint finish {yes, thirty years ago} that came on a relatively budget-friendly, LX/STX-level rig. Back then, every shop’s sales team & bicycle magazine wanted to talk about the upgrade worthiness of the heart of the bicycle you were buying.
Apologies if this sounds like I’m shoveling mounds of stinking nostalgia, but it seems to me that what most folks are most focused on bike buying today is the wear items? Specifically, the unserviceable shifty bits that are absolutely going to wear out if you use the bike as much as you hope.
Oof, I know, what a downer. Anyway, the bike looks awesome, especially thanks to the polished Manitou crown & PNW Loam dropper, so for a more positive take and a pile of beautiful photos, check out the coverage at The Radavist. This green was meant to be worn on a steel frame, so, also, yes, this would be perfect for next year’s, or next-next year’s, Unit.
{Above photo: The Radavist}
Big Forks At Night; Rider’s Delight
Green means grip? See those off-camber rooted tendrils and pump from the hips. But, after dark on a dank, damp night, what happens when I don’t see them in time? Or when I miss-time that half-roll, half-drop and turn it into all slow-speed plunk? Or I ride a rock-roll for the 100th time, but enter on an entirely different path that has an awful exit that I’m actually glad isn’t fully lit?
It was properly dark on the Wednesday Night Night Ride, and I messed up more lines than I can count. It’s one of the best parts of night-riding, right? Old trails feel brand new. Tame trails can be a bit spooky.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about slack hardtails with short forks, like my V2 with the 120mm Manitou Magic Toothpick, but I managed to use all of the 170mm travel on the SR Suntour Durolux RC2 a few times and was certainly happy for it.
There’s probably some WWII fighter aircraft analogy in there. During the day, I love to rip along on my Supermarine Spitfire, but at night, I’ll take a de Havilland Mosquito, thank you. And if I need a bike that can do battle in any conditions, I’d probably choose the latter.
Whether it’s down to how-slack-is-too-slack or more simply, as Princess-Park-Eric suggested, a lack of front wheel commitment on my part, given the current trail conditions, removing the -2° GeoShift headset from my still-plenty-slack over-forked Arcturian has been a positive change in terms of weighting my front tire. Downhill and uphill.
At the same time, I’ve increased the LSC damping fairly significantly, while leaving air pressure the same, which is a solid reminder that factory-recommended settings are just a starting point. Every bike/rider combo will be best served by bracketing their setup.
Green Lux
There’s actually a point at dusk, on a bright but cloudy fall afternoon, where, in the trees, Devinci’s ‘Green Lux’ Chainsaw is more vert than bleu. I mean, we’re talking about max-ten minutes before a lack of lights starts to become an increasingly questionable decision.
At least, that’s how it is to my eyes. This is going to come up again below, but we all agree this bike is actually blue almost all the time, right?
The Chainsaw has come up in multiple conversations this week. I know one-and-a-half people who are thinking about buying one for park duty. New or used. I have one friend who figures there’s a TQ-equipped Slash+-esque MTeeB version coming. The “Battery Powered Chainsaw” marketing material writes itself.
Anywho, I’ve been thinking about my unfinished business with this bike a lot over the last few days. A review process that could have lasted another six months, at least. I had every intention to ride it with a +1° angleset. I’d love to try it full super-enduro with a 190mm dual crown. My MRP MXg single-speed experience tells me it’s an obvious upgrade on the Devinci. When and where was it better set up dual-29″ rather than as a mullet?
I need another bike like I need another can of beer, but I feel like I’ll pick this up again at some point down the trail when the right used option comes along. It’s the rare long-travel rig with a condo in my cortex.
LL Chain Wear Tool
When it comes to tools, I certainly don’t have one of everything. Heck, all the time I spend truing brake rotors for the Clairebarian and Uncle Crash Test, and I don’t never have a dedicated rotor straightening tool – just my go-to Knipex Parallel Pliers.
Truth told, I don’t even have a chain wear measuring tool. Every bike in our house runs an 11-speed chain; a small majority of them are currently single-speeds. I find it’s pretty obvious when a #1FG bike needs a new chain and same goes both my 1×6 friction setup and for the LinkGlide drivetrains on Claire and Nina’s commuters.
So yeah, I’m not cutting out any Chimay to buy this super-bougie ‘Lateral & Linear’ chain device from the other abbey craftsmonks, but wow, do I think every bicycle shop dealing with high-end drivetrains should have one.
Making go-no-go decisions around those big-roller flat-top SRAM chains running from CA$75 for GX-level up to CA$220 for XX-SL demands a progressive level of precision. Especially with many a hard riding MEAThead and MTeeBer reporting significantly better shifting life starts at the CA$145 XO level.
{All LL Chain Tool Photos: Abbey Tools}
Beyond chains, those top-end cassettes are uber costly with so staying on top of chain replacement doesn’t just improve shifting performance and limit the risk of blowing up under load, it’s also going to prolong the period of ignorance between new bike/drivetrain day and learning how many beaver bucks it takes to buy a T-Type cassette.
And so I’m not singling out SRAMalamaland, XTR has also joined the beyond-six-bills shifting club, so stay on top of those CA$100 M9100 chain replacements.
Anywho, managing the monetary decisions around high-end chain replacement is big dollars these days, and I think there’s a powerful argument for the most precise chain tool. Which I’d hazard to bet is the LL from Abbey.
Hei Hei There Dawg
Yeah, the new Hei Hei aluminum is painted brown, but from the deliciously dialed geometry around a 130/120mm travel package, the only on-paper complaint I have about this green frameset is specifically that it’s not available as a frameset.
Okay, okay, I also can’t help but wonder if a Deore HG+ cable drivetrain on the complete would have freed up enough dollars to upgrade the Fox fork to the excellent Grip2 damper. That said, feedback so far on cable-T-Type shifting has been solid. I’ve not tried the 70-level setup that comes on the Hei Hei, but I’ve heard good things.
In a package that hits at $CA4500, I think the Hei Hei will deliver as is for most riders looking for a rig in this travel category, and is also very open to upgrades, and more interestingly, it reminds me of another brown budget-friendlier-ish aluminium Kona sag-wagon. That being the similarly mid-spec Fox-equipped 2009 Dawg Deluxe.
The 140mm travel, 26″ hooped, 68° HTA Dawg sported a full Shimano SLX build, a Fox fork & shock, and some Maxxis Ignitor tires*. Oh, and some FSA wheels that were either juste comme ça or the wrong side of stracotto, depending on the rider’s weight, style, and trails. Yep, long before we were ranting about size-specific chainstays, we were talking about rider-specific rim specs. The FSAs were a solid choice for the smaller sizes.
Speaking of, one of the places where the Dawg frames were far superior to the current Hei Hei, and almost every brand’s lineup, was the option of six different sizes! The new Hei Hei only has four.
Kona used the original version of S-sizing**, but to translate a 15″ is a small, and 22″ is an XXL. There was also a medium (17″), M/L (18″), large (19″), and XL (20″). And look, I understand why they don’t, but in my perfect Hei Hei world, today, Kona would do all that and an XS (14″), and the two smallest bikes would run dual 27″ wheels.
*{Someone at Kona clearly loved these tires. They shipped on a lot of different Kona bikes for a lot of years.}
**{‘S’ in this case standing for seat tube.}
Anyway, I’m stoked about the new Hei Hei aluminum. I’d love to try it with faster tires and with slower tires compared to the stock Dissector pairing. Plus, maybe with a more aggro-friendly fork damper or even a bit of over-forking. A beefed-up rear shock like Cane Creek’s fantastic little DB Air IL. Probably bumping that front rotor up from a 180mm as well.
Oh, and finally, I love that Kona has put two sets of bottle mounts on the down tube and that they haven’t jacked the weight by running a storage shed downtube. In-frame storage isn’t for me at all, but at least the weight penalty is minimal with carbon bikes. For aluminum, save the weight and keep that aesthetic purely pedaling. Lovely.
Kona calls these bikes “modern mountain biking minimalism“, which sounds sort of funny put up against a #1FG rigid steel Unit. But, at the same time, the gears are ratcheted into position by a steel cable, and a human provides all the power, so maybe they can have it? Batteries aren’t just not included, but, this side of nightfall, they aren’t needed.
Abus YouDrop FF
Abus calls the colour of Claire’s fresh-ish lid ‘Sage Green,’ which is either proof that I’m colour-oblivious or that Abus needs to join Devinci in coming back to the RAL world.
Anywho, I’ve written endlessly about the lightweight Abus youth full face, whether it’s Your First Real Crash here on MEATengines, my review a couple of years back on NSMB.com, or any number of times here on SBTISAOAF.
The reasons I bring up this lightweight, comfortable, easily actuated, and relatively affordable removable-chin bar full face today are two-fold. Specific to us here in Canuckistan. When it comes to your favourite local bike shop, all five colours are out of stock from their supplier until after Christmas. If it’s on your list for your grom, it’s probably worth starting your search now. It’s such a great lid, I imagine there must be a few shops out there hoarding a few.
Also, in the same vein, I know plenty of folks who couldn’t track down one of these lids when they wanted one last spring. If this is on your list for great grom protective gear, then hit your local shop with a special order. Better to have your YouDrop FF in Jan/Feb than not at all.
To answer the most common Abus YouDrop FF follow-up question, no, they don’t make an adult version of this helmet. I have no idea why not, but as a comfortable lightweight, it could certainly be the winner. Compared to my Kali Invader, there’s not a substantial ear-area cut out, but The Clairebarian assures me that the acoustics are excellent. In other words, she hears everything but is choosing to ignore me {“Ahhh, poor sad Papa…“}.
And that’s almost a wrap on this week’s SBTISAOAF. Thanks to everyone who asked about submissions for Bicycle Valentines. To quickly hit some FAQs. No, I don’t care if you work at a shop, distributor, brand, are sponsored, or heck, even if you’re Timothy from Specialized.
We’re not looking for an ‘unbiased’ review, just some straight-up disclosure and then a love story about a human-powered machine with two wheels. Your future, present, or past rig. Someone else’s. A bicycle that means something to you.
Larry Talker Tunes
“You got to tell me brave captain,
Why are the wicked so strong,
How do the angels get to sleep,
When the devil leaves the porchlight on.”
{Tom Waits, Mr. Siegal}
I was trying to think of some Halloween-appropriate music for Model-T. But, you know, something that is enjoyable 365 days a year and, well, there’s always Tom Waits!
Remastered in 2023, Rain Dogs includes a bunch of deep, dark, dirges, but not the song ‘Mr. Siegal’ that I linked above. I just thought it was also on the album, and the lyrics are, well, they are.
I’d jump in with Tango Till They’re Sore, Cemetery Polka, Clap Hands, & Jockey Full Of Bourbon. Then play the whole album end to end a few times.
Enjoy, if you dare.
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