52. ONE BIKE. MOUNTAIN IN SHAPE. ENTIRELY OPERABLE.

Looking back through my emails I notice that the one from Dan at Stanton Bikes (excellent man - fantastic service - what a bunch of legends) notifying me of the shipping of the frame (described by him as a 'pink little girls bike') around which this is built, is dated April 18.

Now, 5 months later, give or take few days - here is the finished item (barring possible future additions and/or adjustments to handlebars, saddle, suspension travel, grocery basket etc).

I'm not one to big note myself in any way but seriously, how smart am I.

I'm even fairly confident, having gone for a couple of rides on the thing, that all the bits that are supposed to be on it are 1. Actually on it and 2. Won't be falling off it.

See. Very attractive.

From the other side - still bloody attractive. Note the state of the art, hand carved, black wattle side stand - fashionable as, that is.

Here's a few observations.

FULL SUSPENSION?
This doesn't have it. Full suspension is pretty much standard for bikes of a certain price point/component level into which I would have say this bike fits. I stand by my decision on the grounds that there is a lot less to go wrong with this, I was able to put the extra dollars into other components and frankly I like the clean look of this bike, which I may have previously described as 'bloody attractive'.

ONLY 10 GEARS? REALLY?
I was a bit nervous about this decision as most of the online discussion about 1x10 drivetrains inevitably include a suggestion that you must be a high performance athlete with legs of steel and the aerobic capacity of a marathon running Kenyan tribesman to deprive yourself of all the super low gears made available to you by the inclusion of 2 or 3 chainrings up front.

Anyone who has seen more of my body than that revealed by my Facebook profile shot will be aware I am neither high performance or Kenyan. I do have quite strong legs however and from my experience so far I've got to say I haven't felt the need for a gear lower than the ones provided by this set-up. I am even thinking I might need a bigger ring on the front to give me more speed at the other end of the range. That might make a difference at the granny gear end I guess.

Worse case scenario - I get subject matter for another post a few weeks down the track lamenting my poor hill climbing ability related to disastrous component choice in which case - everyone's a WINNER!

BETTER OR WORSE THAN THE MONGOOSE?
Just riding down the driveway I can't help but notice several things..

1. A distinct lack of rattling noises.
2. A distinct lack of bone jarring impacts.
3. A really quite amazing ability to steer in a straight line over ground I would have rated as quite challenging 3 weeks ago.

...add to this the fact that when I operate the gear or brake lever the function controlled by that lever occurs instantly and with almost no effort on my part PLUS a riding position that is not unlike cruising around in an armchair compared to that of the Mongoose and I would have to say - Yes. This IS a better bike than the Mongoose.

More pictures? Certainly...

This is what I am talking about when I say 'drivetrain'. So neat. So entirely unclogged up with 17 years of filthy greasy mess....

And this is one of the reasons I went with less gears. In my early 'just bloody buy a bike from the shop you idiot' phase I looked at one or two that had 6 or 7 cables running off their bars (what with the front mech, remote shock lock out, remote seat dropper)....I have 3. So much neater. So much more stylish. So much more space for a nice cane basket I can put the shopping in....