Welcome back beholders of doubt for another round of technocratic pontifications laden of folly and whimsy. Prior to any further half-gainers into cycling technobabble, I want to thank all that have gazed upon these posts or even read them. We are closing in on a year of this fun, and I am glad you all could join in on my back-alley yelling efforts. Thankuveramuch!
In our previous confab, we ventured deep down the Evil rabbit hole. As a follow (ing? Hahaha!) up, there is nothing new to report from the brand other than everything being on sale. Despite my issues and others distaste thereof (biggest deal-breaker regarding wheels in this poll) with 157 SuperBoost spacing, it is still being employed on the newest bikes from Pivot who remain an ardent supporter of the design. Curiously, it is not loudly proclaimed in the copy for those bikes and only found noted down the page in the build specs. This is likely Pivot saying they don’t think it’s a big deal and not worth making a point about, but it used to be something they placed more emphasis on. Regardless, the casual shopper is not going to see it. Pivots are comparably expensive, and I’d speculate most buyers are picking up an entire bike versus building ala carte from a frame up. Regardless, Trailcats are not currently offered as a frame only option. Let us not drift too deep into conspiracies though, when we can spend a few minutes speaking of music.
Music selections: Retox: Ugly Animals More craziness from Mr. Pearson. Yes, it has all the hallmarks of anything he has been involved with that you either love or hate. I am of the former camp and wish I had come across much of his oeuvre sooner. One thing that particularly grabbed me here is the surf-tinged riffs of the song, “Thirty Cents Shy of a Quarter”. Lawdy, I love me some surf music whether of the more classic variety or filtered through death metal.
Corrosion of Conformity: Technocracy Storytime! Corrosion of Conformity (COC) are one of those bands that I always looked up to in my early years of hardcore punk fascination. Furthermore, while they evolved, they always have had an incredible discography embracing a wide array of styles within the heavy realm not to mention with a group of everchanging lineups. My first band’s bass player had grown up with them in Raleigh and had played in adjacent bands1. This was an immediate in for us and we ended up playing with COC and down in Raleigh/Chapel Hill a few times. They were always super cool and supportive including attempting to get us signed to Metal Blade records (didn’t happen, but was a nice compliment). One of the last times we went down there to play we had an opening slot for Nuclear Assault. The COC guys naturally came out to the show and we went to hang out to listen to their latest recording’s mixes in their infamous van. Upon hearing the utterly crushing first few notes of the title track I wanted to just put my guitar back in its case and leave. The whole ep is great and still sounds amazing today.
At the end of my time with my Wreckoning V3, I had come to embrace mixed wheels or the mullet lifestyle on a bike that was not designed for that. I made alterations to the bike and my riding style to make it work, but it was not ideal. I began to think that perhaps moving to a frame specifically built around a mixed wheel concept would be a better choice and having basically a “new” frame to sell after warranty replacements I figured now was the time. I sold the frame without having an exact idea as to what I would get. However, I had a spare bike to ride so I was not in a hurry.
Despite owning full suspension rigs since the late twentieth century, I have generally kept some sort of hardtail around. These often were parts-bin builds and bikes that I’d ride when in between whatever was my main bike at the time. Right before I sold the V3 Wrecker, I picked up a Banshee Paradox V3 frame that I planned to build with mostly leftovers. This version of the Paradox received numerous accolades for its incredible ride quality and dialed geometry. Eventually this bike would have a huge influence on my riding proclivities and future bike builds, but in the meantime, it gave me time not to have to rush into a new rig.
In no more than a couple weeks after I sold the Evil, I found what I was looking for. Santa Cruz had just dropped the Nomad 6 and in pixels it seemed like an ideal replacement. The N6 was designed around mixed wheels, a mullet set-up or MX as Santa Cruz began calling them. Its geometry was like the Wrecker, but it had the features the Evil did not (frame storage) or ones due to geometry that seemed like they’d work better on the climbs (and in sketchy terrain (longer rear center and reasonable bottom bracket height). SC was extra proud of this one and the frame cost was the highest of any I’d ever considered. Nevertheless, I called up a dealer and put a deposit on one. Then I waited and waited. Weeks begat months and the shop had no ETA from Santa Cruz. It would be pushing six months before I’d ever see a frame and that was just another estimate after multiple guesses.
Throughout all this wait, the Banshee continued to be an amazing bike, and I rode it nonstop. Additionally, my pal had been raving about the Stumpjumper EVO which had become his favorite Amish bike (he has eBikes too that he loves) ever. He said I should forget the SC and get an EVO albeit in a spicier and more colorful vernacular. I could get my deposit back and for less than half the cost of the N6 frame I could have an EVO in less than two weeks through our mutual friend’s shop. I did just that and now was an EVO guy. I’ll get into more on this experience in a subsequent episode as well as more on hardtails, making things into something they aren’t supposed to be, and more deep thoughts so stay tuned up.
1 Phil Swisher played guitar in the hardcore band UNICEF with our bass player. Phil later would join COC on bass for their excellent Blind album.