in 1999 I got a call from Mountain Bike Action magazine asking for a single speed bike to be in a feature. They gave me a little less than 2 weeks to come up with the bike so I had a mad scramble to get it together. I didn't get to properly ride it before I boxed it up and sent it to the magazine. I was really broke so I reached out to a few companies for some free parts. Rock Shox, Paul Components, Salsa , Chris King and Mavic gave me most of what I needed. The cranks were used that I bought from a friend so this build was a real cob-job.
Little did I know that the bike would get a really positive review and that it was the editor's choice out of the 4-5 bikes in the review- all single speeds. My bike made the cover of the magazine and I got some real big time publicity. It took a few months before the bike came back and I was able to finally ride it. I got a sense that maybe I had built the best handling MTB of my career after a few rides. This bike became my go-to MTB for most of my dirt riding, culminating with a ride in the 2008 SSWC Napa where I suffered like never before for 4 hrs. 15 min in 90+ degree heat on this bike. By the end I could barely pedal I was so spent. After that I hung the bike up until last week. I took it out for the first real ride in nearly 14 years........it all came back to me how much I love single speeding and how , even though the bike is 23 years old and the fork is really tired , this bike still rides great. I'm hoping to get back into single speeding this year- pretty insane at 66 years old but hey- it has a nice easy gear and I live where the trails are perfect for single speeding.-Now if I can only find that shock pump.......
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