July riding

[north woods gal]

Glad you found the new saddle to work, NY. Hopefully, your search for that just right saddle is over.

Been in the steel bike mood, of late, so dusted off my old 1996 Kona Kilauea and took it for a spin. This bike won MTB bike of the year in '96 and has a superb steel frame of Tange Prestige steel. After experimenting with various types of bikes, this became my standard commuting bike in my Chicago days. It may not look like much, given all the touch up paint on the frame, but looking a bit old and worn is actually a good thing for a commuting bike in Chicago to reduce the risk of theft. A closer look, though, would reveal that I did some serious upgrades to the bike. The include a full Shimano XT crankset and a 9 speed SRAM X9/XO derailleur and shifter. All else, though, is original, except the seat.

In the old days, the Kona was just bit slower on my 8 mile commute than the cyclocross and road bikes I had tried, but I found it to be a safer bike for commuting. It could accelerate and get out of a dangerous traffic situation much faster than a drop bar bike and sitting more upright was also an advantage for seeing traffic dangers. The wider 2" tires also handles bad roads better. On my 8 mile traffic commute, this was a good trade off for the 4 or 5 minute extra minutes the bike cost me on my commute.

Riding my trails with the Kilauea, this week, brought back many memories. It also was quite an interesting lesson in how bike technology has changed. Still love that old geometry and the way the bike handled, but, wow, those old center pull brakes are pretty crude by comparison to today's disc brakes. Still a place for these old 26" MTBs, though. They accelerate like a rabbit, climb like a goat and turn on a dime. They don't hold their speed as well as my larger wheeled bikes and they can't handle the soft stuff as well, but still lots of fun.

They really don't make them like this, anymore. Lots of miles left in my old pal, though.

[north woods gal]

Thanks.

The saddle is actually not bad. Has enough padding that I could ride comfy in jean shorts or slacks for a quick trip to the grocery store. Worked fine for a grab and go kind of bike. Still have the original Kona saddle, though. Has zilch for padding.