fat tires
I’ve gone pretty bike crazy this year and to round things out, I had a conversation with Brian Fiete two Fridays ago that centered around mountain biking.
It turns out he’s been riding quite a bit, enjoying it and has a few different bikes in his stable – full suspension, hardtail etc. I talked about the old days of riding my trusty 1992 Cannondale Beast of the East M800 that I eventually parted ways with after some hooligans dismantled a bike rack outside my grad school computer lab shortly before the end of the school year.
I also mentioned my trepidation about getting back into things and how I would react to front suspension and fully suspended bikes. I’ve been doing a lot of reading here and there to keep up on models and technology, but it’s not exactly riding. I was definitely excited about the new Ibis full suspension model and he said that a local bike shop had a demo program available with them. He named a few trails he really liked but lamented the wet weather that closes down a lot of his favorite spots.
There were still a few decent places to ride and we both agreed that we wanted to check out the odd urban trail under the I-5 colonnade. Earlier this year little bro Gehner found big bro Gehner a Beast of the East in really good shape from a friend and that sparked some digging of my own on Craigslist and eBay. I even scouted out a few promising sales at the LBSs around and got a better idea of my size requirements.
Never seeming to find what I was after this fall, the talk with Brian suddenly created a second wind pushing me to get in the saddle and find something in the dreary-weather buyer’s bike market that winter brings.
I realized that I wasn’t going to find a discounted bike at an LBS or large retailer like REI so eBay and Craigslist were my only hope. Thanks to Brian’s timing I spotted an early 2000’s Cannondale 1fg on Craigslist that seemed my size. A little research let me know that I could probably convert it to a geared bike pretty painlessly. I gave a sob story and a near insulting offer but the bike was sadly no longer available… and definitely not at my requested price.
Still, my story must have struck a chord with this artist/biker/nice-guy because it turns out (after a few emails back and forth) he had a 2006 Cannondale f600 hard tail racing rig, for a hair cheaper. Similar to the 1fg it was set up with some very nice non-stock components. In his extreme generosity he not only offered it at a lower price than the 1fg but would meet the buyers at a location 30 minutes closer than his normal location an hour away.
I met him near dusk while the other fella headed off on his test ride. Every question was answered professionally and he had tons of set-up and tech info that was extremely useful. The bike fit like a glove and everything seemed tip-top. I didn’t need to go on a long ride to figure out that this bike was a good deal… I almost feel like the guy with the 1fg got shafted. The seller was definitely attached to all his bikes and though he was sad to see it go, he was happy it was going to someone who would appreciate and ride it.
I hope I can meet him out at a Wednesday night bike race next year and illustrate how much I appreciate my new ride. Though he said he had too many bikes, I definitely owe this guy for getting me this great ride. Thanks Jason!! Mad props to Brian for the excellent timing and inspiration. Now I need to manufacture some time to get my crazy legs on it.
For your reference… a stock version of the bike:
Is it just me or is it extremely difficult to find a stock mtb that isn’t tarted up in gaudy and horrific color schemes and sticker combos? Patriot Blue? No thank you.
I don’t think it’s too much to insist on every bike model coming in at least one of these three colors: Black, Silver or Red. If you make it a crazy color, does it have to be stickered up like NASCAR meets Mondrian? Bold colors work well on their own – keep it simple.
13 November 2008, 19:11 ::
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make sure to slap on that brain bucket before you launch your gazelle-like frame forward on a nose-wheelie.
rock the knobbies.
i’m also glad to see you didn’t get that gimmicky single leg fork. looks like we will have to get the mt bikes together for the next manupbrodown.
— thumms 2008-11-22 11:02 #