Monday, November 19, 2007

You can never go home again.

So, after a few hours on the KM and those big ol' wheels, I did a quick experiment tonite. With the Utah trip a week away, I was debating which bike to take for the JEM/Gould/Hurricane loop. The 29er has no granny ring and no rear suspension. the Cannondale Prophet has all that in spades but no big wheels. I had pretty much settled on the C'Dale but tonite I did a quickie ride on the 29er and then hopped on the Prophet and spun around.

Ahhhh...wellll...hmmm. This sucks.

OK, back to the Monkey. Uh huh...that feels familiar.

Back to the Prophet, repeat, rinse, wring dry, etc. till opinion is obtained.

The result? I will likely never go back to the Prophet or any small wheeled bike again. It felt odd and high, narrow, short, waaayy too plush in back, sloooow to pedal (and the Prophet is a pretty good pedaling bike actually), and nervous. When I stood up to pedal, it seemed like I was 2 miles above and beyond the front wheel and I have taken that bike down some fast stuff in the past and it felt fine...then.

The one standout feature one the Prophet is the Lefty fork. THAT is one fine piece of work there.

I am still amazed how quickly I got used to the 29er and how well it works for me. This is going to cost some $$$.

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