This is my first real ride on my
Singular Kite cyclo-cross bike. I am loving it so far. It was hard taking it out into the wild where it might get muddy, but that day had to come. Its all been good so far, except for one thing. The elephant in the "CX room ".Cantilever brakes. Life is too short and brakes have come too far for me to put up with them. Tradition be damned. My good buddy Marco kindly donated some pristine XTR canti "stoppers" for the back, and while they may score highly in retro points I can only tell they are activated when I hear a slight howling sound from the back. On the other hand, the standard v-brakes I have on the front feel very similar in feel to the Avid mechanical discs I have on my drop-barred karate monkey. There will be some mini-vees making it onto this bike as soon as I can afford it!
I am loving the Salsa Bell lap handlebars at the moment too, 44 cms wide. The ride is smooth and the handling very predictable. Not a hint of a twitch anywhere. I will have to wait til I get some dedicated wheels before I can tell how much of the ride feel is because of these carbon rimmed wheels currently on it.
Getting pinkified
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Still lots of bits to come, has only travelled 2.2 kms to date. Felt very very smooth. |
Heres the frame. The drop-outs on it are very pretty. Better pictures later.
Hopefully will have one of these built up soon. A bit late for CX season though.
This sure is a purty one. Singular Kite.
Image borrowed from the "interweb".
5 Comments:
Looking very good Jeff love the pink. It looks like you will have it up and racing for the 30th?
Thinking about getting a Singular Kite. How does it Ride? I have a cross check with a decent 105 gruppo which would be swapped over. How would it compare to the CC.
Thinking about getting a Singular Kite. How does it Ride? I have a cross check with a decent 105 gruppo which would be swapped over. How would it compare to the CC.
Hi Jeff,
I'm considering getting a Kite frame and building with 105 gruppo. Currently riding a Cross Check with carbon fork which is Very good at everything, just not brilliant at anything. How would they compare?
Dale
The Kite is an awesome bike. Not an all rounder like the CC but great at CX, gravel grinding and even the odd MTB race on the right sort of circuit. I don't think there is actually much difference in weight between the two of them but have a google. Ive had some great times on it this CX season.
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