In Full View

<===The Gun Kote El Mariachi

I put up a teaser shot last week of the head set and stem, but here is the whole enchilada. The El Mariachi started out as a Superior Blue model with a matching blue CroMoto stem. I sent both in to be Gun Koted by Ben's Cycle in Milwaukee.

I gotta say, the finish is awesome! I am very impressed with the way it came out. Long term use will show how well this will stay on the frame, but I am feeling good about it now. The threaded portions didn't get taped off and I didn't need to chase any threads at all. Pretty cool! That and the pre-treatment basically coats the steel tubing inside and out, so I have rust protection that should last for years. Finally, the panel and graphic is Gun Kote, so it should hold up really well, just like the rest of the frame covering.


<===Hideous blue chain will be replaced by a purple one.

Everything you see here weighs just a shade over 23lbs too. I was pretty stoked by that fact. Especially when you look at some of the parts, which could lose some grammage pretty easily. Not that I am too concerned with that, but it is possible to get this really light- for me- and not be stupid light.



And the bike rides really well. especially with the fork and Cane Creek ThudBuster seat post. Man! Talk about smoooooth! Well......as smooth as a rigid bike gets. The rig flys, and I could probably go faster, but my front cog is a 32 here, not my usual 34T. I'll have to rectify that over the winter, but it is fine for now.

Bottom line: I am really glad I got this particular frame redone. This ol' El Mariachi is so sweet. Salsa Cycles just nailed this frame when it was in production. There aren't too many things I'd change about it, and what I would are very minor details. I'm thinking I'll have this one around for a long, long time to come.