the frog

Ahh the feel of steel, it's like none other, well I guess I shouldn't say that since I've never owned a titanium or carbon bike. Hopefully one of these days I've have something in carbon but it's not really that high on my list of must have bikes. I've always liked riding a steel frame and I knew I would regret selling the Karate Monkey and I did. I do like the geometry of the SIR9 much better, I don't feel as stretched out and they're both large frames.

When I first started piecing this bike together in my head I wasn't too keen on the white fork and seat but not really wanting to blow the already blown budget even more I decided to keep the fork until my bank account said otherwise. I have a brand new WTB Silverado saddle that came with Mel's JET in black that I planned to put on it but once the white Reba was in place I realized the white saddle pulled it all together. I left the white stem off figuring that would be over kill. For now it resides on the JET until I come up with another plan.

 

Most of the parts on this build come from the AIR9, the wheelset dates back to the Karate Monkey. I did splurge and bought a new Niner Seatpost and seatcollar, they were just too cool. I would love to have one of those new RDO carbon bars in the matching green but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

 

Yesterday I had an important run to make to the LBS and I also wanted to get in a shake down ride before the sun went down so I killed 2 birds and hit a couple laps on the Hampton Watershed trails. The singlespeed felt great, I opted for a 20 tooth cog in the Surly flavor to get my feet wet with, it's been a year since I last ran without the derailleur and I didn't want to feel beat down after the first ride.

This is my first ride with an EBB, this one, Niner's brand is a bit different than the others. With no set screws in the bottom of the BB shell there is less chance for the elements to work their way into the BB area and less chance of noise, that and no set screws pushing on the bottom of the EBB to dig in and squeak.

Originally I wanted a Moondust grey frame but I know of 2 peeps with that color scheme already, one of whom, B-Rad, I ride and race with regularly. The kermit green is bold, beautiful and funky all at the same time. The only downside is the lack of color coordinating accents available. There is not much that goes with the kermit green other than black and a wee bit of white.

I'm thinking this bike is deserving of a cool name, my list currently is : "Kermit", "SIR Kermit" and "the frog". I'm leaning heavily on "the frog". It doesn't hurt that there are little green frogs on my wheels, it's almost as if it was supposed to be.

Speaking of the Watershed trails, they were in awesome shape yesterday, the surrounding scenery is awesome and there are plenty of sweet rock gardens to keep you on your toes. I need to get out there more often, I just wish it were a closer drive and a longer trail.