Hendecuplespeeder

For what it's worth and without much ado, I'm putting gears on the By:Stickel Meatplow V.6.

Riding that ROS 9 earlier this year was... nifty.  I rode up a part of Daniel's Ridge I hadn't pedaled in years.  I'm just so used to walking a single speed all over Pisgah.  Riding was a rather refreshing change of pace.

This is a much cheaper option than buying a new bike or even a frame.

New Paragon Machine Works sliders and bolt-on thru-axle. Their stuff always makes my pants tight.

I'm not saying that I don't want a full suspension frame.  I'm not saying I do.  This is just what I'm doing now.

Ironically, I can remember getting this picture from Steve while he was building my frame:

Those are derailleur cable guides on the seat stay.  I shit myself when I saw them.  He thought I'd want them.

"I'm never gonna run gears."

"Want me to hack them off?"

"Yeth."

So yeah... I'm gonna have some sad zip-tie looking bullshit on my frame because I'm dumb.

Now is the time to mention that I also went with a 27.2 seat post size because I wanted the flexy comfort of titanium... and I was never gonna use a drooper post.  At least I'm consistently dumb.

Gears will also solve another problem.  Tour de Burg '16.

The road stages at least. 

I don't have anything close to road-worthy currently, so I'll just steal the rigid crabon from the Misfit Meatplow V.5 and borrow some cross'ish wheels from Industry Nine.  Boom.  Road bike.

I did do at least one road stage of the '08 Tour on this:

Almost everything about it was heavy. It was not fun by any means, and since the '16 Tour will be the 20th anniversary, I'm thinking Le Directuer Carp will not go easy on us.  If I can avoid riding a converted single speed mountain bike for 175 miles of pavement and gravel, I will.

Still waiting on the XT 1X11 parts (their existence is 90% of the impetus for this build) and the Industry Nine TR245 wheels, and then it's showtime.  I can get a toe by three o'clock this afternoon, but I'd still have to wait on the wheels.

Will this last more than 47 days?

I hope so.  With a lot less money tied up in pieces and parts, I can put the shifty bits in a big blue bin if I get tired of them.  Also, since the wheels will be Shimano compatible and not that XD Driver nonsense, I'll be able to use them no matter where all the pieces-parts are collecting dust.

I realized the other day that it's been almost 15 years since I owned a geared hard tail.  My last one was a Titus HCR (Hard Core Racer)... way back in 2000 or so.  I bought it when I demolished my AMP Research B4 and vowed off full suspension forever.  Then I started endurance racing, with the most logical of starting points, 12 and 24 hour events.  Shortly after that, I got the chance to race on a team, my hard tail became my backup bike, and I eventually sold it to finance a component diet for my Ellsworth Truth.

2000 Solo 24 Hour Worlds in Idyllwild, CA.  18th place Open Men (there were no age groups or categories back then).  Cane Creek Thudbuster, 80mm Judy fork w/Englund air cartridges, 1.5" Continental Cross Country tires, Grip Shift 3X9 speed with a Crank Bros E Crank... those were not "the days."