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| Pofahl Custom 29"er |
The trouble is that I have this other gig where people want me to ride their bikes and other stuff. That is also a lot of fun, but it takes time away from the personal bikes. Sometimes the old favorites get parts pinched for projects. Sometimes they just sit and linger unloved.
This gets on my nerves, as I don't like having stuff I don't use around like that. So, this feeling got to a point where I figured I'd better do something about it and I have been refurbishing and primping my older personal rigs when I can find the time. This one, my custom Pofahl 29"er, has been fixed to the point I could ride it again yesterday.
The Pofahl was designed to have a custom bar installed that never happened. So, I started out with a drop bar. The bike has seen several handle bar iterations, but now I have set it back to its "original" drop bar state. The bar here is a Woodchipper. The stem holding it up is a fairly new Bontrager Race Lite.
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| Looking for some back roads action |
This is a single speed specific bike, so I only use disc brake capable, single speed specific wheels on it. These wheels were to go on another bike I have that ended up geared instead. These Industry 9 wheels were then bounced around from project to project for a bit until they were also just sitting around. Well, that wouldn't do!
So they went on the Pofahl- again- and with some good gravel grindin' Vulpines for tires. Everything else has been on this bike for some time now.
My favorite parts are the cranks and the seat post. The cranks are from my old Diamondback V-Link Pro, and are the venerable Race Face Turbine LP's converted to single speed use. They are 180mm ones too. The other part I like here is the Syncros post, a 410mm non-offset aluminum one. That was off my old Klein Attitude.
I threw some old white bar tape on to get it going, but now that everything seems to be happy together, I will be getting some proper bar tape on it. Then it will be off to riding gravel and B Maintenance roads somewhere.
If there is any change, I think it will be to go with a honey colored B-17 Brooks and a new bar wrap of leather bar tape to really set off the bike. Oh yeah.......and a less flashy stem!At least she's rideable. That's the main thing for me. I look forward to getting out on this bike soon.
2 comments:
GT - With the unique top tube and seat stay design, I was wondering if you could comment on how this bike feels/rides vs a more traditional design like a Karate Monkey or the like. A link to an older article would be fine too. :)
@Steve Fuller: It kind of is a weird bike, not only in looks, but in how it rides. Ben Witt had a big hand in the design in terms og geometry, so back in 2007 when this got penned, he gave it a pretty darn quick steering front end. The chain stays are long- 18"- so the back of the bike is pretty compliant, more so than my KM.
The front end not withstanding, this bike rides like a bus in terms of comfort. The front end steers very easily, and is sensitive to input. Had I had a chance to have a do-over, I would slacken out that front head angle a touch with a bit less rake maybe to calm it down a notch or two, but it is a fun bike for me to ride.
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