Testing For The Single Speed Century: Part 3

Picture from last week. Riding happening today.

Okay, another update here on my 'event' coming up, the Single Speed Century. This bike, the Pofahl Signature Custom, is going on this voyage. I am going out on it for a shake down ride today to determine what I might need to change on it.

I did ride it to work and back last weekend, so I already have probably about 30 miles into it the way it is already with that commute and the neighborhood cruises I've done on it so far. I've been playing with tire pressures, mostly, and I arrived at 30psi rear/28psi front as feeling the best so far. Today's ride will help dial that in better for gravel riding.

The stem is going to stay, for the time being. Here's the thing about this bike- It was never meant to be a drop bar bike. Nope! This bike was conceived in late 2006 and was based upon my 2003 Karate Monkey, also not a drop bar bike. This bike was supposed to have a custom titanium bull moose style bar made for it. However; the builder contracted to make the handle bar cheesed out on Ben Witt and I in his promise to make it. Ben was helping me design this bike, by the way, and was running Milltown Cycles at that time. Anyway, this guy just completely ignored us and when we gave up and went a different direction, about two months later, hey! This builder shows a bar almost identical to Ben's concept. And before you ask me- No, I am not outing who it was. It does no one any good now to dredge all that back up. I just tell that story as a cautionary tale for anyone thinking about custom builds and to explain why there never was a bull moose style bar on the Pofahl.

So, a shorty stem is pretty much a necessity if you want to use a drop bar on this bike. Back in the day, no one had such stems unless they were those bricks DH riders used. I didn't want to do that, and I thought I needed a higher position, so a steep riser stem was on this bike for years. This current stem was a placeholder, but after giving it a whirl, ya know......I like it. It kind of works, so I'm rolling with it.

So, the stem is a 'go' and the only other part I'm iffy on is the saddle. I used to love these Bontrager Inform saddles and had several on my bikes ten years ago or more. This white one is the only surviving one of the lot. It's......okay, but I think I need a few hours on a gravel road to decide for sure. Once that has been done, I'll either throw on a WTB saddle I have here or I'll just stick with the Bontrager one. We'll see......

I'm trying to travel pretty light, so three, maybe four water bottles. Gotta fit my cue sheet holder, a GPS computer mount, and maybe one Chaff Bag. But that's all. Stops are at 30-40 mile intervals, so I have resources to use out there and I don't have to pack 100% of my water and food. The date will be set in stone soon. Stay tuned..............