Onward Mutant Soldiers

Well, I’m still broken. I’m in my third cast with the prospect of a forth one on the horizon. Hurray.

That doesn’t stop me thinking about bikes however. May it’s because of the fact that I’ve inhaled massive amounts of Teflon lubricants throughout the years but no matter how hard I try I just can’t seem to escape their influence.

I think the real answer is that ever since I went on the sick list I have a lot of free time on my hands and I’ve needed some sort of creative outlet and as such I keep building bikes in my brain.

Sure, I can find other ways to channel my energies but a large fiberglass cast isn’t very cuddly and this is a PG rated blog.

Currently big wheel bikes intrigue me and on an aesthetic level I think they are pretty boss. A couple years ago Surly came out with their Pugsley, a Tonka truck of a bike of a bike if there ever was one.

The Pugsley was an outgrowth from people dissatisfied with riding a conventional bike in snowy conditions. Sure, people played around with studded snow, specialty bike frames designed to accommodate multiple wheels mounted side by side, even snow chains but extra fat, low pressure tires seem to be the way to go.

And I say, “seem” because I don’t live in snow country.  While I have ridden in snow on an unmodified mountain bike and even with a cyclocross bike both of those bikes tires sank badly if I rode on any snow deeper than a few inches. Riding in snow is not, however, not my intent.  I’m looking for a way to soften some hard landings on technical terrain.

Yes, I could invest a lot of money on a full suspension bike or eve break down and by a suspension fork but I’ve been on a decades long quest for a mechanically simple, durable bike free of complex suspension systems.  While the newer systems are indeed more reliable than ones that were produced even a few years ago they seem to me the antithesis of the outdoor experience.

That’s what I say publically at any rate. The truth of the matter is I’m kind of a cheep bastard at heart.  Also, I hate working on suspension systems. Yeah, I’ve done it in the past and each time it was a pain in the butt so who needs that?

I can’t afford a new bike right now even if I wanted one but converting one of my existing bikes into a fat tired fun hog has it’s own perverse appeal.

Hopefully I’ll some sort of mutant trail beast up and running in the near future so until then I remain on the sick list.

Adam H