You are looking at a 1993 Nishiki Evolution, and it's a vintage steel mountain bike nerd's wet dream...
 You are looking at a 1993 Specialized S-Works Carbon, and it is maybe the most enjoyable single speed I've ever built.
 You are looking at a Chromag Wideangle, a bike I do not own, but I feel is somehow related to the Surface I do own...
We're going bike to bike to bike this time. 1. Rocky Mountain Blizzard 20th Anniversary Edition. I bought this frame from the owner of Redbike, which he bought because it was cool even though he knew it wouldn't fit him. I built it as a singlespeed at first with a Sycip fork and ENO hub. I had to file the crap out of a disc adapter to make that fork work - I still can't figure out what was wrong with it. This second iteration had all the parts from my Rocky Altitude 29er that would work, plus some XTR wheels and that excellent Manitou Minute fork. Something I noticed recently about the singlespeed version of this Blizzard; I had a titanium Titec Flat Tracker bar on it. I do not own this bar anymore. How do I not have this bar anymore? The best bar I currently have is a steel Flat Tracker, and the only bar better than it is the Ti version. HOW THE HELL DID I GET RID OF THIS!!?? This is honestly the most distressing thing that past me has ever done. I can't understand it at all. Anyhow. One day someone stole the Blizzard, a crummy Specialized FSR with only one brake on it, a crappy laptop that didn't have a battery (they didn't take the power cord), and a bunch of beer out of my garage. The replacement for it was the next bike above... 2. Kona Explosif. Man did I ever like this bike. Reynolds 520 steel, flat orange paint, 27.5 wheels, graphics from 1994 - it had it all. And I tricked it out with a Chromag stem and 800mm bar. It was a blast to ride.
Then it got stolen from my garage. They didn't take any beer this time. Amazingly, the Edmonton Police recovered this bike, and then my brother was able to pick it up, and then a friend happened to be coming out here, so I got it back two years after it was stolen. The front brake caliper was gone, as was half the disc mount, so I had to get a new fork as well as a front brake. And I didn't notice until I took this pic that the headtube badge was way off center and upside down. Once I got it all sorted out, I sold it. Because what the hell was I doing anyway? 3. Devinci Kobain. After the Kona I picked up this very nifty Devinci Kobain. It was a 'plus' bike, running fat 27.5 tires - sort of a fatbike lite. You could also run regular 29er wheels on it instead of the 27.5 x 2.6 it came with. I just liked it because it was a new bike that looked like an old bike. It had a great ride though - just rolled right through every trail obstacle. It was one of the bikes I brought out here from Edmonton, and then I sold it. Because of course I did.  You are looking at an '01 Brodie Rocket, and I don't think I've had another bike where I made so many changes and had so many different roles for it, before finally selling it.
We are going back into the archives today, back to the Old Country - Edmonton.
1. Cannondale SM800 Beast of the East. This was the second most basket case-y bike I ever bought. It had no tires, no brakes, a chain I nearly had to cut off, and really seemed like a disaster. But, it turned out the frame was in incredible shape once I cleaned it up. So I decided to make into the trail bike it was originally with some NOS 8 SPD GripShifters, some fat Kenda Nevegal tires, and I think I ran that Rock Ring chainring guard instead of a big ring. I also swapped out the freehub body on the rear wheel for an 8/9 SPD unit so I could use the GripShift. Almost as soon as I finished it, we decided to move, so I sold it. 2. Gary Fisher Sugar. Seems to me that there was something strange about this bike. I don't think this model was supposed to have the carbon chain and seatstays. I traded a 1992 Rocky Mountain Altitude for this frame. Something that is absolutely unthinkable to me now. I think it was the LP Composites seatpost that drew me to this. Pretty sure a friend of mine in Edmonton still has it. 3. Rocky Mountain Solo Team CXR. I don't know why I bought this bike, beyond it being a Rocky. I suppose it was just time again for me to see if I liked road bikes. Seems that I forget every couple years, buy a road bike, ride it, and remember that I don't like them. Anyway, this had the very high-end Easton EC90X full carbon fork on it, and since I sold it nearly ten years ago, I've not seen another.  Yeah, it's probably a comeback - I haven't posted since March. But there is an veritable avalanche of posts coming next week.  (see what I did there?)
I've got bikes that I've had for years that I haven't posted about. And I'm going to make some more posts in general, about whatever comes up. Plus I've got something very special planned for 2026, so get ready for that. Everything's coming up TeamCow.  You are looking at a 1990 Kuwahara Roc D'Azur DX. '90 is my best guess anyway as this is a bit of a strange one.
 You are looking at a 1992 Specialized S-Works Carbon and it is a very difficult bike to take a picture of.
 You are looking at a 1994 Ritchey Ultra, and I am really sad that this frame is too small for me.
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AuthorI'm 80. I wrench more than I ride and I like it that way. Archives
February 2025
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