I can’t be arsed to write a proper meaning­ful post at the moment. Life is getting in the way. So I thought I’d write about my bikes for a change.

I’ve got two that work at the moment, then there’s two that I plan to make into working bikes again at some point. I’ve planned this for some time though. There’s a distinct possib­il­ity that I’ll never get around to it.

The “freeride” rig

Its an Azonic Saber. I didn’t like the Azonic logo, so that had to go, and besides it’s actually made by XTension bikes — and their logo is still there on the top tube. Its great, except on the really steep stuff. I know that’s partly down to me (steep trails bring out “the fear” in me), but I don’t think the long top tube, head angle and high bottom bracket help a great deal [1].

Its rocktastic just about every­where else though. I’ve hauled it around XC loops (slow on the ups, ruling on the downs), across North Shore style skinnies and down full on World Cup DH courses. Its a fantastic all-rounder.

The do everything else bike

Its a big old Cove Stiffee. A bit too big for me really, but its a nice enough bike nonethe­less. One gear, five inch forks and the parts from two differ­ent headsets. Aye, it’s a bit of a freak­bike isn’t it? Still, it was built up almost entirely from spare bits so its not too bad.

Its good for lazy summer cruises around the bridle­ways of Gloucestershire, and does pretty well in the single­track too. It’s also proved itself more than capable of riding up and down snow-covered hillsides in complete blizzard conditions.

Then there’s the others

The Coyote keeps asking me to build it up again. I reply “OK, but only if I can get you a new shock”. It then whinges on about how it’ll be months before that happens and I bung it back in the garage.

It needs a decent shock though. The Fasttrax one that came with it is completely useless. The thing is, if I get it a nice shock it’ll want some new forks, wheels, gears, brakes, finish­ing kit, paintwork…

Then there’s the LTS3. That was my first ever full susser. On the one hand it handles pretty sweetly. On the other, the rear suspen­sion is useless, it squeaks and I don’t think the frame is altogether straight anymore. The perfect candid­ate for a rebuild then.

I think i’ll make it a single speed again. The last time I did that I got lampooned because appar­ently single speed bikes can’t have suspen­sion, riser bars or any of that stuff. Pah! We showed ‘em — right up until I broke the forks. Then there was the needing the bits for something else. Then there was the putting it away in a garage about 130 miles away for ages. I’ll put it back together one day though.

[1] Wow, can you hear me talking myself into getting something new there? Its amazing how easy it is to convince myself that I need a proper DH bike…