Kona Honzo...

Oh my... after I write a posting about switching to road biking, blah blah, Kona drops the Honzo on everyone! Holy crap! That bike looks amazing! Steel 1x9, with sliding dropouts for single speed conversions, can used tapered forks, can jump off of things, can ride all day, etc. Just check out the pics:





So Kona does not have a price listed, but I found on a dirt forum that the complete will be around $1750, and the frame around $550. Damn, looks like I need to start saving...

Looks like Kona hit this one out of the park. Thanks Kona, for making me want to mountain bike again...

All pics are from Kona's site, check it here: Kona sneak peeks...
Kona's site: Kona World...

Road bike in my future?

Since the overnight bike camping trip, I have been putting in quite a few miles on the HaroX on all of the local roads here in the Cincy area, and I am starting to think that a road bike would fit the bill a whole lot better than the cargo bike for these type excursions. No way, am I talking about selling the HaroX. I am just starting to realize that putting in a bunch of miles on the cargo bike takes a lot out of you. It is amazing though, climbing on the HaroX, but I feel that I would have fresher legs for more miles at a time on a standard road bike. I guess I should not say a "standard" road bike, I have always fancied a Rivendell. Too bad they are WAY out of my price range. Some of the other bikes that I think would be pretty solid are:

Salsa Casseroll
Trek 520
Surly Pacer/Long Haul Trucker
Older Kona Honky Tonk (1st version if I remember right, powder blue w/down tube shifters)

See a common theme here? Steel. Clearance for wider tires. Mounts for racks and fenders. More upright riding stance. In no way am I looking for a racer type bike on skinny skinny tires. That is not how I get down.

Anyway, just thinking...
And here is a short video I did the other day of my cargo bike:
Link.

Overnight bike camping....

On Wednesday, I set out on my first bike camping trip. My plan was to ride from here in the Milf, up to John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs along the Little Miami bike path. Just a basic bike path overnighter. I finally today mapped it out on the website Map My Ride, Click to see the route. Overall it was a great experience. Lots of miles, thunderstorms, friendly people, beautiful surroundings, etc. Such a great learning experience. Hopefully this is the first of many. Here are a few pictures from the trip, I didn't take too many, forgot that I had the new camera with me...


Photo from my HTC Evo along the path.


Campsite at John Bryan state park.




Under the I71 bridge.


Old factory on the bike path.

So what did I learn from the trip?
1. Putting in this many miles for me was very humbling. My knees are a little tender as I write this.
2. Always practice setting up your gear at home before you leave, that makes setting up camp in a thunderstorm a little easier.
3. Recumbent bicycles are everywhere, and they are a little creepy.
4. People love the Xtracycle. Even if they do not understand what it is. I should get paid for how much talking about my HaroX that I did. Lots of people wanted to stop and chat to try to understand just exactly what was going on with my bike.

Cant wait to head out on trip number 2!