Not so fast, my friend!

So, last week I had all kinds of grand visions of my Redline Monocog coming in and making it a mean steel utility bike with drop bars.  Well...I found out last week that it was going to take another month to come in because it is on backorder.  As time is tight with a second child coming fast, I decided to look for a faster option.

In a panick, I began scouring craigslist and was lucky enough to find a killer deal.  The seller lived a good bit away, but agreed to meet me halfway.  I found a Performance Access frame in my size (alu, much much lighter than the monocog), with an On-one carbon, rigid fork, which I had planned to purchase, woodman headset, avid juicy ultimate brakes with carbon levers, a surly tensioner, carbon seatpost, and wtb laserdisc wheels with weirwolf tires, set up tubless.  The bike is in excellent shape!  The fork is like new. It was the bike pretty much exactly how I would have set it up myself!  I grabbed it for $400.  The parts alone could be sold for much more than the price.

Instead of waiting a month for the bike, I was up on it this weekend, pulling my son around in his bike trailer with a smile on my face.  And, yes, I was even able to get a little single tracking in on the trails behind my house.  Not very technical but still fun miles.  And if anyone ever doubts the level of effort required to pull around a 40lb kid in a 40 lb trailer with fat, knobbies on for 15 miles, I will just laugh.  My legs felt it. 

My long-range plan is to strip the bike of its paint (the only part I dislike about the bike is the general labeling of Access on the frame), go with a bare alu look, probably a darker brushed version, add some decals, and put on the drops.  I'll probably also switch out the brakes, as I prefer mechanicals to the hydros.

I also ordered some Kenda Happy Medium tires for cross/trail use, which should be much better than the fat knobbies on there right now.  I'll keep the fat knobbies for the mountains.