ARCTIC LAPLAND, AND ARROWHEAD AND TUSCOBIA BIKE

In 2014, I made a ti frame with 26” chain stays. What would later be called a mid-tail. In January of 2015 I was riding out at McBride training for Arrowhead, riding on the trail. I had to be back home to do some stuff but I planned to return later. When I returned later in the afternoon I rode the 26” chain stay bike. Holy shit! ! That bike tracked incredibly well in the fresh snow. And so it was I finished my first Arrowhead in 2015 on that bike, Bubble Puppy. A few iterations of the frame landed on the frame I received Single Track award at Bespoked in 2017. A year or two later, my mailbox blew up with friends drawing my attention to the Salsa Blackborrow which looked like my bike and the stays, 25” were the same (and that bike now belongs to the Preacher) .

Of course nothing is new under the sun, so that what I designed, was nothing original to me. It was simply a shorter cargo frame that I discovered rode well in the snow. (One person thought I was constructing a narrative of originality, and people sometimes like to do that on FB, and then as an academic I know how this works). A couple of years later I went with 22” stays for the bike I finished the ITI 350. It rode great, packed small, and of course it may be the one frame I don’t give away. But because of poor math my bottom bracket turned out to be .5” lower (11.75” height) than I needed.

The goal is to remain a decently strong rider for my age and continue to design, build and ride bikes. So I guess it’s all about kicks (I don’t dare ascribe “meaning” to my lust for designing, build and riding bikes) in pursuit of flourishing.

This bike, Kicks, will be the bike I exhibit at Dresden in October. 21” chainstays. Kind of bike?: Uh…. maybe fatbike-packing bike. It will be for Lapland., 1,000 miles of Lapland in winter and in summer.