MEATengines

Wearing Out Things, That Nobody Wears

There’s a lot going on right now, both here at Me~bike and over at NSMB.com – where I actually missed celebrating a milestone by a few pieces. An article called Differentiation was my 500th unique submission that the site published. Folks still seem interested in engaging with my contributions, which is very flattering. 

I’ve mostly been riding my El Roy lately. It’s a great deal of fun coming down trails with a slight, healthy, no I’m going with slight over-forking. Which also, along with a 60X saddle, has helped me come to terms with the super-steep seat tube angle. I’m considering mulleting it next and still harassing any dropper company that will return my e-mails about making a post with 25mm+ of rearward offset. 

Take inspiration from wherever it strikes you. My 500th published submission for NSMB.com was called Differentiation and started with this nifty seat post collar from a UK brand called Pembree.
Take inspiration from wherever it strikes you. My 500th published submission for NSMB.com was called Differentiation and started with this nifty seat post collar from a UK brand called Pembree.

I’m actually juggling two El Roy frames right now. My personal mule and a second one, with some minor cosmetic damage, for a project I’ll be posting about next week. With the help of some friends I’m hoping to open a few minds and raise some bucks for trails I ride so I do hope you’ll check back and spread the good work. 

Also in interesting news, I’ll be reviewing a really neat frame for NSMB both as a double-hardtail (this still cracks me up) and as a single-hardtail with a 120mm fork. Something almost bizarrely different from my Waltworks V2 because… Well, because there’s simply still nothing like my V2 that’s not full-custom. Which either says something about me or the bike industry, be kind either way. 

My Waltworks V2 will be going on a little trip, but it will be back. Photo: Penny
My Waltworks V2 will be going on a little trip, but it will be back. Photo: Penny

There are still some repair-or-replace decisions to be made but suffice it to say that my bicycle-for-life needs to go under the torch for some major surgery. The 44mm headtube on my V2 has become aggressively oversized/ovalized. This is quite rare and has also surprised exactly no one who I ride with. An example of rigid forks not actually saving money (hahaha). There’s also a cosmetic dent in the downtube on the non-drive side that’s not big enough to warrant a direct replacement but just big enough to possibly justify some changes to make V2.5. 

In the meantime, I’m just going to pretend I’m not having any fun at all until it comes back from its trip.