Friday News And Views

The Snow Dog with the Milhouse Bar.

 The Snow Dog Modified:

Recently I told you about the upcoming tenth year anniversary of my getting my first fat bike, a Salsa Cycles Mukluk. I also added that I had thought about adding the Whisky Parts Co.  Milhouse Bar to this bike. Well, as you can plainly see, I have done just that. I basically just swapped bars between this bike and the On One Inbred.

This match is a much better pairing. The On One/Milhouse pairing just didn't work for me. Not sure why, but mostly I think it was an aesthetic issue. It just looked like a "gangly teenager" set up. On the Snow Dog it looks a bit more 'moto'. So, there is that. However; it also feels better on the Snow Dog and that big, wide bar helps overcome the inertia a fat bike wheel has when you want to turn. 

I also did a couple of other swaps while I was at it. The first was the swap of the pedals. I had a set of some clunky, but light and very grippy flat pedals on there. Those I took off and replaced with these Fyxation Mesa MP Subzero pedals. The Fyxations are a lot slimmer and I have really liked their performance in the past. 

The next swap was of the seat post and saddle. I had a Cane Creek Thudbuster on it with a WTB Pure saddle. This was replaced by the Redshift Sports ShockStop seat post and a WTB Volt saddle. The Thudbuster is a decent post, but it gets loose in the pivots on me in short order, which then starts a clunk, and yeah...... Plus it is an elastomeric sprung system which doesn't play well with colder temperatures. The Redshift post has a coil spring which is not temperature sensitive and the pivots are bomber on this post. Super-solid, no worries. 

I still may be moving over the Archer Components D1x system to this bike. Stay tuned for that......

New Family Member At G-Ted Productions HQ:

Hey everyone, meet Minka. We just adopted her from the local animal shelter this past week. The story of her arrival here is a long one and has to do with a few odd things. None of that matters now, but the tipping point for getting a cat was a mouse problem we had been battling. All it took was for my daughter and I to find out that the mere presence of a cat was a good deterrent against mice coming  in to our abode. 

The surprise is that we have found out in a few short days that all our lives have been enhanced by the addition of Minka to the household. Mice prevention or no, we're all really happy to have her here. She's full of the berries, as she's only about five months and a little more in age. Still has to grow out of being a kitten, but that's okay. I grew up with cats, so I have a bit of experience with them, and it has been a quick refresher course with Minka running riot around the house here. 

I guess we shouldn't have waited so long to get a pet, but whatever. Now is the time and we have a cat now. Life will certainly be a bit different but we are all in on this and we will make it work. Got any cat tips to share? Go ahead and send them to me if you feel so inclined. 

The new Ritchey Ultra MTB frame

It's The Nostalgia Factor:

Every so often Ritchey Design produces one of their mountain bike frames in the iconic red/white/blue fade paint job. Every time I see it, I want it. Why? It's the "nostalgia factor". I remember those early 90's days looking at MTB mags and seeing these being raced, tested, and in the advertising. They were one of the most sophisticated, high performance, lightweight steel frames one could buy back then. Those final days of 'fully rigid' mountain biking were quite the innovative days. 

Ritchey Design has done it again with the Ultra, a 29" or 27.5+ machine with the conservative take on the 'modern trail geometry', so probably not a bad design for most single track here. I looked at this, and looked......and looked. But really? C'mon! When do I mountain bike anymore? I'm always out on the gravel and mountain bikes are a side show for me these days. I like mountain biking, but I can get on a gravel road, do some Level B Maintenance stuff, and get all my mountain biking vibes in that I ever could on what we have for single track around here. In fact, I would wager that many Level B's in Iowa are better than mountain biking anywhere in the state. 

That's a bold statement, but those that know- well they know. So, I really am not in the market for a bike like this Ritchey, but I really like the way it looks and the history it represents. Bad reasons to get a frame, right? And besides, look at that fat bike up there. That's a mountain bike too. I feel like that fat bike is actually a more versatile bike around here than a straight up mountain bike is. My opinion, your mileage may vary.

And that's a wrap for this week. Have a great weekend and get in some riding if you can.....outdoors!