I want to brake free...

It's always a "problem" for a simple single speeder.  There's very little technical innovation to get us excited.  I listen to scads of bike-related podcasts, but sometimes I find myself listening to an hour long conversation about something like the new Giant Anthem, and I'm really wondering is this is a good use of my hearing parts.  I know more about the Campagnola Super Record 13 and SRAM XPLR than I know about US presidents or basic geography, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

That said, every once in awhile, I get something to chew on.  The Fox 34SL.  Industry Nine SOLiX wheels.  A cosplay steer pipe.

32" wheeled rigid single speeds...

I was pretty stoked when Shimano updated their brakes back in June... although I had to listen to a lot about the new wireless shifting stuff... which while seeming pretty nifty neato, it's just not my bag.  I never really gelled with the 9120 brakes I had on the Epic (and for awhile the Radimus), and just stuck with the 9020 version which is (ZOMG) twelve years old?!?  They worked fine, were plenty powerful, I could adjust the reach on the fly (and in my sleep), and I adapted to the quirks of occasional two brakes/one cup bubble bleeds.  I became pretty proficient at maintaining them, and was also pretty familiar with the innards and had plenty of spare parts.

And I didn't wanna commit to upgrading three redundant single speeds to the new-new because I hate different brakes on (sorta) different bikes that get used for a similar purpose.

But since I was selling the Radimus and a whole buncha parts at the same time, I thought mebbe now was the time to embrace the future which is now.  After speaking with a couple people I hold in high regard, the term "game-changer" kept getting tossed about.

You win, Shimano.

Since I'm YOLO'ing the big wheel project, I decided I could at least up my brake game on the two bikes I'll probably end up riding the most, the Optimus and the future Biggus Dikkus.  I feel bad about abandoning my "no Vertigo left behind" policy, but if the 32er works out, the Vertigo is mebbe gonna see the few garvel single speed bike cycle sport races I might do, and...

Dunno.

I'm hoping I don't have to come to terms that it's relegated to bar bike/grocery getter duty, but it has to stay in the house more than the Stickel does, as it is even less future-proof than the Vertigo.

I did make the mistake of only glancing at the install manual, because what coulda changed over the past decade plus?

What dat?

Enough changed for me to make some dumb assumptions, and I ended up with fluid squirting all over the floor, and I had trouble finding the rubber boot hiding right in front of my eyes in its special boot-hole in the box, but fortunately my ignorance only cost me an olive and a sore butt from kicking myself repeatedly for being so dumb.

I opted for the 9220 lever paired with the 9020 caliper.  That's enough brake for a four apple tall man quickly approaching his sexagenarian era.  I rode them Saturday.  They did feel... good.  They are noticeably different, but in a good way.

I gotta get used to looking at them tho.  The lever bits are way bigger (to me)...

and look a little Robocop'ish aesthetically speaking

So there's that.

I can't convince myself to upgrade to the new pedals tho... being that I have a new set of now "old pedals" in a box on the shelf.

SO TAKE THAT, SHIMANO.

Now... SOMEONE BUY ALL MY OLD BRAKES... or the barely used XTs that are up on that same shelf... or that Santa Cruz crabon flat bar I'm too ashamed to put on the marketplace... or...

Busy off-"season"

Sorry but also not sorry, but my brain space is being eaten up with my occupation, dealing with the overwhelming sadness that my free time after work is just darkness, selling bike parts (PITA), and my 32" wheeled single speed dreams and calculations.

I've been somewhat consumed with the idea of this bike not being heavy.  The frame will be slightly heavier with a longer rear end but also lighter because Vassago is phasing out the titanium plate(s) at the front of the chain stays.  Anyhoo, it's caused me to compare some apples and oranges, and some googling and some mathing. 

Like how much will a slightly longer Industry Nine system wheel spoke weigh... multiplied by sixty four... plus the weight difference of a known stock Hydra II system wheel rim and the Nextie crabon fiber Unicorns... plus the increase in tire weight (or in the case of the front tire, less weight)... minus the reduction in rotor weight...

Had to take the spoke to work to weigh it because I don't have a coke dealer precision scale at home.

All that to figure out that the wheels (tires, rotors, sealant, etc.) on my current Optimus are within a scoop or two of TruckerCo sealant away from being a negligible wash on the Biggus Dickus future bike?

And it will weigh much less than the set up I had on the Radimus... which saw their last ride this past weekend on the Optimmus.

Despite thinking I'd use the wheels from the Radimus as backups and winter wheels, I don't think I wanna sling these beefy Minions around anymore.  In both aspects, I am reluctant to give up this dual security blanket, but...

No regerts.

I'm going to just sell them, knowing that I don't need backup wheels when I have backup bikes at my disposal (and nice frands who would let me borrow Boost wheels in a pinch).

Oh yeah, so the continuation of three stupid titanium single speeds, but soon enough, all with incompatible with each other wheels.

Speaking of smrt...

I also sold the beep boop robot shifters that have been sitting in a box since... sometime in 2023?  I was only holding on to them "in case."  Mebbe I take a trip out west or wanna do something with a geared mountain bike... but they've been in a box for more than two years?

Guess I just like single speeds and long walks up big mountains.

Also having some more hundreds of dollars to dump into the big dumb bike is nice.
  
Moving forward and standing still at the same time...

*stares out window into the constant darkness longing for the ass end*

And you may ask yourself, "Well ... how did I get here?"

Quite honestly, the 32" rigid single speed thing went from pipe dream to "financially committed" way faster than I'd ever anticipated.  Tom from Vassago sniffed out my desire after a fair amount of thinking out loud on FaceBook about wanting to make it happen but not knowing where to start.  The only current tire option is the Aspen 32X2.4, and I didn't think I had the kinda pull to put a pair in my hands any time soon.  Then there's wheels.  Rims from... somewhere?  Industry Nine made a system set for the Neuhaus show bike, but would they make them for little old me?  I'm special, but am I that special?

Oh... then there's the frame.  The only "stock" one I know about it is the Neuhaus.  Steel frame and ENVE fork basically $3,000 and a twelve week wait time.  

Hmmmm...

I told Tom if we could 100% make the three things happen around the same time, I'd have to give it some serious thought.

It only took him a couple days to get all the ducks in a row.  

Dammit.

So your question is, "why?"

I was an early adopter of tubeless.  I've already told the story about how Stan (yeth, THE Stan) was in my garage on Memorial Day weekend of 2001 helping me set up my Sun Ringle rims tubeless using his OG packing tape, electrical tape, valve stems, and Hobby Lobby latex system.  There was definitely a learning curve, and those early years weren't all gravy.  

I was a very early passenger on the drooper Love Boat, especially when it comes to the "endurance" crowd, and especially the single speeders.  I bought my first one back in early 2013, and just like the tubeless thing, it wasn't all smooth sailing.  I had to deal with a few turds along the way, but the advantages were worth the hassle.  I'm in the Droop or Die Club for life.

But then there was the 29" wheel party that I showed up late to.

I can remember the first 29ers I saw were back in 2005, specifically the Gary Fisher Rig that was so prevalent at SSWC.  Unfortunately, I'd bought my "last frame I'll ever buy" THE Meatplow (V.1... who knew?), a custom Dean Colonel EBB single speed.  In 2006, I did the NUE Series, and it seemed like most of the other single speeders that were competitive were already on 29ers... and I could see the writing on the wall.  My first few 29ers were real turds, cheap steel mail order Zion EBB frames.  The "industry" was slow to embrace the idea, and the first 29 forks used existing crown/steer units from 26" forks.  The offset was only 39mm, so to keep trail figures in check, they had to use steep head tube angles... for the most part.

Those of us that were tiny, we got the short end of the stick.  Steep head tube angles and short offsets meant toe overlap. So while the rest of the world got twitchy, steep bikes with big wheel capabilities, we got floppy steering piles of poop that handled like a tractor with a flat front tire.  Eventually, we got better fork offsets, and with that, 29" wheel bikes worked better for us short people.

So why jump on the 32" wheel bandwagon so soon?

Two things.

I feel like we learned a lot from the rough start with 29ers.  No round pegs in a square hole this time.  The geometry of my frame will be pretty close to my Optimus (which is my favorite bike) aside from fitting in the larger wheels.  The ENVE MTN Boost fork has the flip chip, and when set up with the 51mm offset, it has a trail figure that's pretty damn close to the Optimus with a 130mm travel /44mm offset squishy fork.  I will be gaining close to a half pound of rotating weight VS the Optimus, but a lighter setup that was on my Radimus.  I'm hoping what I lose in acceleration, I more than make up for in terms of approach angles and angular momentum.

"Was on my Radimus?"

Yeth, I sold the Radimus.

Sentimentality speaking, it was a hard decision.  It was my first "modern geometry" single speed.  I'd won a few bike races on it, including the only stage race where I saw the top step.  I've taken it on a billionty adventures, and it's been very, very good to me.

That said, I finally figured out how to look at STRAVA and what bike got ridden when.  Nine rides in 2025, and three of those were stages at the Trans Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic after my cranks failed on my Optimus.  So really six rides... and two of those were farting around at Horny Cat and the ten miles of putzing around with some yutes for the Tarheel Trailblazers 35th anniversary ride (because my Optimus was all cleaned up for the King and Queen of the Watershed the next day).  I'm just not riding the Radimus enough to justify owning it.  As I noted before, the line between the Optimus and the Radimus got extremely blurry when I upped the front travel of the former to 130mm.

The stats show it.

Oh... and the second thing.

I'll be fifty fucking seven years old in 2026.  Good lorb.  I'm running out of "seasons."  I could wait until the masses decide if 32" wheels make sense, or I can just kill some boredom, time, and money and find out myself.  Time to YOLO and FAFO before I YODO.  I'll allow six bikes in my life, and since the Radimus needed to be culled, and I don't really need a road bike... a 32" bike it is.  I've listened to all the poodcasts and read all the pundits have to say, although many (most?) of the "pundits" haven't even thrown a leg over one.  IMHOMO, I'm at the extreme end of the spectrum height-wise as to whether or not it will be a good fit for me.

Is it gonna work out?  Who knows?

But I'm looking forward to trying.