Bikes Of 2024: King Fabrications "Honeman Flyer"

 It's another December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

The King Fabrications "Honeman Flyer" in March of 2024 in Oklahoma. Image by Erik Mathy

The story of this bike is well told, but if you are pretty new here and don't know about the backstory, a brief synopsis to bring you up to speed here will suffice. 

The idea was spawned when I saw an old advertisement posted on Face Book by frame builder Steve Garro of Coconino Bikes. He mentioned that a spec drawing recreated in the ad showing a 1930's era track bike ridden to National Championships in the late 30's by Willie Honeman might actually make a great gravel bike. I said as much on the blog here and then one thing led to another, (See "People Of 2024: Erik Mathy") and I ended up with an exact copy of the geometry of the Pop Warner designed and built bike which Willie Honeman used in the 30's. Extrapolated to fit me, of course. Willie was of smaller stature than I. 

The Honeman Flyer in its most recent incarnation.

I won't get into all nitty gritty of the bike and how it rides. That can be read HERE. What I will say is that I was very surprised by how much I liked this bike and how often I wanted to ride it. I would even throw some shoes on just to ride it around the neighborhood for ten minutes some days. That's an example to show you that there is something to this bike, for me at least, and I am very happy with it. 

I also will say that I did not expect that I would love riding this bike. In the beginning of the project I thought it could be a failed experiment that might end up sitting around the shop for years until I decided to scrap it. But that will not be happening! Thankfully... By the way, yes, a custom bike I had made in 2007 did end up like that minus the scrapped part. I gave it to a friend who loves it now.

Maybe at some point I can get away for a really long ride on this bike. I have some ideas for that..... 

As far as changes go, I went through several seat posts before landing on one of my four Salsa Cycles Regulator Ti posts. I could see going back to a no-offset post again though. So, if one pops up on my radar in titanium I may have to bite on that. Otherwise there is nothing I am seeing here that will change anytime soon.