Way back when in the second half of the 1990s, both my brother-in-law and I bought Ti bikes. It was only my second mountain bike and I went with a Moots YBBeat while he bought a Merlin hardtail.

I was temporarily "rich" (with an employee discount) and set my Moots up with XTR parts and anno-blue highlights. It had the traditional long stem and flat bar “of the day" and it had the distinction of sporting the widest bar of any of my riding buddies at the time. Squish came in the form of an 80mm Bomber fork. And I rode the heck out of it! It's been my main "Hey, let's go mountain biking" machine for most of the years I've had it.

It's earned some time off while we were separated by circumstances, travel, or, and it pains me to say it, experimenting with other bikes. But it's been the bike I keep coming back to… Which means, it's continued evolving over the years.

My buddies kept up with the times by buying new bikes. The bikes in my crowd changed, and I, slowly, often begrudgingly, upgraded and changed mine to keep up -- or, at least to not be completely left behind.

I burned through a SPOX wheelset and then put the original XTR wheels back on. The oh-so-wide flat bar had somehow become the narrowest bar among my buddies. I swapped to a shorter stem, wide riser bar and lost the bar ends. XTR was replaced with X.0. 80mm fork upgraded to 100mm, and the stack left high. Tires got fatter.

The only important upgrade that I've (so far) decided to neglect has been avoiding the addition of a disc tab to the frame. Sort of made a spiritual decision to leave it as a V-brake bike, which for my local desert dryness, is entirely justifiable and suits me fine. And which leads me to my most recent upgrade and its current form.

MikeSee had some sweet non-disc classic DT Hugi hubs lying around which he was willing to part with for an exorbitant and entirely appropriate price (since they were bright brilliant GREEN!) I built them up with DT 4.1 rims, set them up tubeless and also had to trade out the Chris King headset (those things only have a 10 year warranty, ya know...) for a sweet-but-less-blingy Cane Creek.

So now my classic ti ride is once again all blinged out -- if you ignore the scratched and worn parts that will be replaced as soon as they stop working or fall off. The parts -- most importantly the "fit" -- have evolved with me to match my riding style.

The original XC racer-boy set-up is gone for a more comfortable, maneuverable feel. There is probably a bit of a franken-bike look to the bar set-up for some folks, but the function is there. I no longer endo on every ride, with the higher, wider bar position and taller fork. Handling is stable and smooth. Way less flats from either punctures or pinches, and the tires roll more smoothly and grip better than the stiff old knobbies I used to ride.

My bike's evolution was driven home on a recent visit to my brother-in-law's place. I was traveling light, so no bike. Did bring shoes and gear. I had some time to ride, so pulled his Merlin down off the hooks in the garage and adjusted the seat post.

My bro-in-law has led a different life in the last dozen years than I have. Instead of a slacker bike shop hack who lives to ride, he's been a husband, father, and has been running his own business. He's a sucker for nice new parts, so he's changed out some over the years. But since his purchases weren't based on actually riding the bike, they were more or less equal replacements for the original parts. His bike is something of a time machine, taking its rider back to all those years ago...

I climbed on and went for a ride. I pedaled out of Longmont, Colorado on the roads and all was good. Felt like a nice, ti ride, zoomy and swift, almost like a road bike. I headed to Lyons and to the trail at Hall Ranch.

I've ridden that trail numerous times and have enjoyed it, never really having more than moderate trouble on the tough, rocky climb. But that day, on his bike, I was hopeless. I couldn't control those narrow twitchy bars. Coupled with stiff tires and an un-plush fork, the rig threw the force back at me when I rode into rocks. My weight was awkwardly forward and on one move I flew forward and plowed my kneecap into the handlebar – Ah, just like in the olden days!

Once I'd finished crying, I clumsily rode the rest of the climb and decided that, hey, mountain biking doesn't have to be fun! So I turned around and twitched down. Yup, everything even worse than when riding up! I almost endoed twice -- something I rarely seem to do these days on my bike. Managed to escape further doom and to have only the slightest hint of fun. Rode back to his house vowing to mail him a high stem and riser bars (in the event that I ever have to borrow his bike again...)

I'm obviously retro-grouch enough to be riding the same bike for the last dozen or so years. And I'm a big fan of ride-what-ya-brung. But in retrospect, I have to say: Here's to evolution!

About the author: Gregory Luck has been sharing his two-wheeled tales with the world for as long as he’s been experiencing them. Readers and riders alike can follow along at his site: http://www.bikeabout.net/

In addition, his 2010 Photo Calendar is Available now for $16.99 here:



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