Down the Rabbit Hole

March 9, 2017 | Tim Krone | Bikes

Lately I’ve had a lot of conversations with friends about the expense associated with pickiness.

This is the object that started the discussion.

Last autumn I rode this bike and thought, “Man. I gotta get me one of these.” And what I meant by that was, “I should buy this exact bike.” That would have been smart. I liked the stock bike. We bonded. It was in my possession. I get on OK deal on bikes. Would have been super.

Instead, I thought about it. And that’s how the trouble started. One day at the downtown shop Matt bemoaned the fact that he’d ordered the wrong hub, a 32-hole DT Swiss 350 with boost spacing and center lock brake capability. “Woah,” thought I. “That would be the perfect start to a set of HED Raptors around which I could build a Fuse.” That’s right. I ordered a matching rear hub and sent ’em both to HED to be laced to fancy rims.

Years ago I worked for a terrific woman who once spent a small fortune in a very nice store because she needed clothes to match a pair of shoes. I can commiserate.

Next steps included the purchase of a demo Fuse from Specialized’s fleet, the parting out of said bike and a poorly-timed chat with my SRAM rep, who talked me into a drivetrain that was never on my radar: Eagle.

And here it is. Yeah, that cassette looks pretty crazy. SRAM tells me that Eagle sales have been more brisk than 1×11 was when it first came up, particularly in the more mountainous parts of the world. Around Kalamazoo, I think 1×11 is about all anybody really needs and was in the process of ordering a GX drivetrain for this bike when the SRAM guy talked me into Eagle. Yes. I’m kvetching, but I’m not unhappy.

Press this button to summon The Eagle

One of the things I did preserve about the bike is the Manitou Magnum fork. I had a Magnum on the Stache, loved it and didn’t see much sense in rocking the boat. A Reba would have been lighter, and a Pike would have been pretty BA, but there’s something really nice (to me) about the plushness of the Magnum.

Other bits include SRAM Level TLM brakes, a Truvativ carbon bar and post, stock Ground Control tires and… that’s about  it. More as I have a chance to ride it.