Monday Musing (#38)
With apologies to The Burning Hell.
Well, I love the trails with their features and their jank
I love the bicycles, I love people turning cranks
I love the fast engagement and the sound as hubs pulsate
I love the things that people make
I love the CNC, I love the finest welds
I love the brazing, yes, I love those filed melds
I love the rigid forks, I love the meanest brakes
I love the things that people make
I love the small-batch bags, I love the boutique shocks
I love the way that people decorate their shops
I love the hand saws and the combination rakes
I love the things that people make
I love the dropper posts, I love the chain that takes me far
I love the soft push-on grips, and I love the alt-bend bars
I love a custom headtube badge and artistic one-off paint
I love the things that people make
I’ve been working through this earworm for what feels like forever. It sums up my multiple spirits as a bicycle nerd. You know, loving boutique small-batch forever parts – a pair of Project 321 hubs or a King bottle cage that presents an argument for value through performance and lifecycle. And, also chasing that mix-maxed highest-value experience. But then also being into features like jewelry-grade headtube badges and custom paint work that have a more nebulous return on investment.
I can see myself riding a bike with a BikeYoke Revive dropper post and a RockShox Select shock with no adjustment but rebound. I can see myself riding a bike with Vorsprung’s Telum shock and a PNW Range dropper post that costs about the same as the Telum’s Sprindex spring alone. Such is the duality of ‘the bicycle thang.’
Anywho, I just ever-so-slightly dialed in the position of my Hunter Smooth Move bar today. First, rolling it forward to a point that looks weird {to me} but seems to feel right; then, playing around with my brake lever position. And, as I was doing that, I was thinking about how dialed in my bike is right now. I’m still jumping between two pairs of test pedals, and I’ll likely swap to a slightly shorter travel dropper post in the future
I rode yesterday in a cloud with the finest dirt and the greasiest-looking tendril-of-death roots, which ended up being mostly not too bad. I’m running a firmer and slower fork setup, fresh rubber, a lower {still high} bar setup, and learning to love the control of my Magura Gustav brakes with slightly more grippy-grabby front pads.
Yeah, so. From the standard-fair Shimano XT cranks to the custom lasered Kick Ass Cog. From the well-beaten BikeYoke Sagma saddle to the -2° WTC GeoShift headset. From the boutique P321 hubs to the fully-budget PNW Range dropper. Well, there’s a lot going on here for a bike with one gear ratio and no rear shock.
I have a few product reviews and review updates in the pipeline right now. But anyway, even when a product choice turns out to be a mistake, I love the things that people make.
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