September 22, 2009
So, I’ve dove head first into Mountain Biking over the past year and change. I purchased a used Santa Cruz Blur and rode if for a long time. On one of my Sunday rides with the local Bike Mojo crew I met a few guys who rode single speed (SS) and one crazy nut job who rode Fixie. Anyway at one of the breathers on the trail, I took a quick spin on one of the guys SS. Wow, it was nice. No worries about what gear to be in… just go. And I took it up a hill and I was amazed. It was light and climbed like a billygoat.
So, I got my hands on a cheap single speed and rode it for a couple months (exclusively) and really love the experience. It was an entry level bike and it was fully rigid so I was killing my shoulders on downhills. Hey, I never claimed to be a good rider ok. I decided to get a suspension fork on the front to make the rides more enjoyable. Well, needless to say, it would have cost more than the entire bike. So a discussion was had between me and my MTB mentor about it. He said I should get a quality steel frame and go from there.
That started my quest for frames and after a month of searching and test riding I fell into a deal on eBay for a custom Waltworks frame. This guy is a reknowned frame builder from Colorado. Anyway the frame on Ebay was built for a guy who matched my measurements exactly and it was a fraction of the cost and wait time of getting Walt to build me one from scratch.
So I bought it. My buddy Jason built it up and it’s been love ever since. I’ve been riding this bike exclusively for about six months and have no desire to ride anything else. It’s to the point I’ve put road slicks on my Santa Cruz and use it for road riding.
Here are some pictures of it in all it’s manliness.