so i notice some things...

as i read my new united kingdom mountain bike magazine. what are a lot of these guys riding? hardtails. they review four bikes. all hardtails. and get this...most of them were steel. as you look through american bike mags. you see all these dual suspension bikes. three inches here. four here. it's like i'm reading a porn mag. to some, you are. but i digress.

now these where complicated hardtails. move the chainstays in and out to change the geometry of the bike. this is a quote about one of the bikes with this feature..."for faster, swoopier trail riding you can run it with hundred mm forks and the chainstays at full extension to have a seventy/seventy-one degree (head angle/seat angle)steed with a forty-two point one in wheelbase. for slow, steep, twisty descents you can run a one hundred and fifty mm fork with shorter chainstays to have a sixty-eight/sixty-nine degree sled with a forty point seven inch wheelbase." now i'm all about technical stuff. and i think some technical stuff is cool. but holy cow. out of all the stuff i like about my bikes. what i feel i need on my bikes. this is not one feature where i said "boy; if i could have adjusted my chainstays, then i could have made it through."

image...riding along. the wind is whipping in and out of your helmet. your feeling good. whoops. twisty descent. "hold on guys. i've got to adjust my chainstays." what? now my one fork is adjustable. but i just dial it in and forget it.

back to my point about hardtails. why are we americans so obsessed with bigger is better? over the summer, when i took my single speed hardtail out, it was the greatest thing. to the point where i'm not sure how often i'm going to ride my smoothie. you look at buying guides, and they (american publishers) give you all these 'great' full suspension bikes. and it's like a sidenote or footnote about great hardtails. trek makes a great carbon hardtail. why aren't these bikes featured more? and they give you smaller companies. if i just read american mags. then i would only think that specialized, trek, santa cruz, gt, gaint, and maybe kona were the only bike companies out there. you would really have to pay attention to notice anyone else. there are so many companies out there that don't get a fair shot. they just don't have the dosh to spend on page after page ad. but still put out a great product.

my thought for the riding season. ride my hardtail more. when it gets built up, that is. sorry smoothie.

be peace...