The Great Gatsby Assignment
ts a new year and after 2 seasons on my last steed I am lucky enough to be able to build up my new ride for the '07 season. While today's off the shelf rigs can offer an amazing value for what you pay, I wanted to build something unique that stands out a bit. What I ended up with is a 36.3 lbs coil sprung DH bike that you won't see anywhere else.
I have to say that coming in a close second to the actual riding, the technical aspect of mountain biking is what really excites me. I am a self admitted tech nerd. I can spend hours reading about the latest gadgets from any sport, be it F1, MotoGP or even tennis. If its lighter, faster or uses a new material then I am interested. The great part about our particular sport is that if you have the time, money and knowledge you can build some really neat things. I don't have a great deal of any of those three things but I still try, even though a smart guy once told me it was the first step towards failure.
So what I did was try to build up a light and very functional DH bike. Actually what I built is a full on DH race bike. I just happen to not race all the much, only hitting up a few each year. But what I do like to do is pin it. All-the-time. Weight was a huge concern for me, not because of any delusions of getting my pro number plate, but because this is my only bike. I have had more XC-type bikes in the past and I hated descending on them. It was not worth the uphill gain. I want to ride everything on my DH bike and to make that a little more enjoyable I had to pick my parts real carefull like. I just happend to end up with a really light DH race bike!
Fact: All 3 current Honda factory riders have raced World Cups on Oranges
Fact: All 3 current Honda factory riders have raced World Cups on Oranges
The biggest decision to make when building up your dream bike is which frame you will decide to hang all your parts on. I had a few on my short list so there was some thinking to be done. The U.S. made Iron
I have to say that coming in a close second to the actual riding, the technical aspect of mountain biking is what really excites me. I am a self admitted tech nerd. I can spend hours reading about the latest gadgets from any sport, be it F1, MotoGP or even tennis. If its lighter, faster or uses a new material then I am interested. The great part about our particular sport is that if you have the time, money and knowledge you can build some really neat things. I don't have a great deal of any of those three things but I still try, even though a smart guy once told me it was the first step towards failure.
So what I did was try to build up a light and very functional DH bike. Actually what I built is a full on DH race bike. I just happen to not race all the much, only hitting up a few each year. But what I do like to do is pin it. All-the-time. Weight was a huge concern for me, not because of any delusions of getting my pro number plate, but because this is my only bike. I have had more XC-type bikes in the past and I hated descending on them. It was not worth the uphill gain. I want to ride everything on my DH bike and to make that a little more enjoyable I had to pick my parts real carefull like. I just happend to end up with a really light DH race bike!
Fact: All 3 current Honda factory riders have raced World Cups on Oranges
Fact: All 3 current Honda factory riders have raced World Cups on Oranges
The biggest decision to make when building up your dream bike is which frame you will decide to hang all your parts on. I had a few on my short list so there was some thinking to be done. The U.S. made Iron