New Bike

Since I have been back I haven't done much biking. I did steal my younger brother's bike for a bit. It didn't really fit well as he is half a foot taller than I am. (Really, the kid is huge. Towering over the rest of the family.) My Africa bike "Molly" was in pretty bad shape with the frame crack and all. So I decided to get myself something new.

I decided to go with a cyclocross/commuter bike. I got a Jake the Snake frame from Kona as the base. From there it was all a custom build. First, I only wanted a rear derailer. In my normal style of biking I almost never shift out of the largest chainring. Having the extra gears and derailer is just more weight and more to maintain. I am also not one of those guys who is trying to get perfect cadence and crap. Instead, I went with a mountain cassette that had a big gear ratio (11-34). Also, I never liked the drop handlebars on road bikes. I went with the pursuit bars, which I think look better. I thought the bar end shifter would fit into the time trial levers I got though. Nope. I had to grind out some of the shifter mount to make it work. Remember my motto: "Anything worth owning is worth modifying."
Now that it is all together, it is beautiful. Everything works and it is a dream to ride. Plus, coming in under 20 pounds it feels like a feather compared to any other bike I have ever ridden.

So here are the specs:

• Frameset: Kona - Jake the Snake 2010 frame and fork (49cm).
• Wheels: Mavic Ksyriam Equipe
• Crank: Sram S100 1.1 crank and chaninring
• Shifter: Shimano Dura-Ace SL BS77 9 speed bar end shifter. (Rear only.)
  
• Rear Derailer: Shimano RD-M772-GS
  
• Rear Cassette: Shimano Deore XT-M770 9 speed cassette (11-34)
• Brakes: Cane Creek 200TT levers and Cane Creek SCX-5 cantilever brakes

-Dravis