And now for something completely ... different.

Hello, again!  It has been quite a while, but issues of late have given me a good reason to post.

First up, new bikes!  So far this year, all of my bikes have gotten makeovers, and I got a brand new bike.

Pugsley:

The Pugsley got a couple of upgrades.  First off, an 11 speed Shimano Alfine hub.  This was an upgrade that worked out in a trade with Polar Bear.  So far, the hub is finicky, but a good upgrade.  Specifically, the hub needs to be mounted in a very specific orientation.  For example, my Pug has seat-stay cable routing which puts the hub into the wrong orientation.  This caused the hub to "lose" certain gears.  I was only able to surmise that the orientation has an affect on the fluid flow inside the hub, thus allowing it to work correctly in one orientation, and fail completely in another.   All in all, a fantastic upgrade to put more life into my knees.

I also found another frame crack in the Pug.  Same spot (where the seat-stay is welded to the seat-tube), but on the non-drive side this time.  Luckily, Surly is an awesome company, and warrantied the frame for me.  So now I have a "Snow Blind" Pugsley with basically the same build as before, but without the rack.  Don't need it with the Ogre. 

Ogre:

I updated my Karate Monkey build to an Ogre frame, so that I could have a bit more of a commuter.  Again, I did an Alfine hub, this time an 8 speed model to keep the price down.  But this is a full-fender, mostly-slick-tire, bike with a Surly Nice Rack on the back so I can carry all my junk to work.  So far so good.  The 8 speed hub is less finicky, probably due to being dry inside.

Karate Monkey 2.0:

After having problems with the Pugsley, I found myself wanting a mountain bike, instead of being stuck on the commuter.  At first, I was looking at just getting a Specialized as a "bog-standard" build, so that it would be easier to repair should I have problems.  Unfortunately, it is hard to find the build I want on the size of frame I want due to my height.  Eventually, I decided to just get a Karate Monkey in a custom build that would still be fairly standard, but that way I know the frame's fit and feel going into it.  Absolute Bikes did a great job with it, and it is a blast to ride.  The best feature I can recommend is the hydraulic brakes.  They have amazing power without much effort, and a fair amount of feel.  I'm sure more feel will develop as I get more miles in.

The bike Wall:

Well, that's the big updates.  Oh, yeah, I also crashed.

Rocks just jump out in front of you, man.

Mileage: Not enough.