NIMBA Mid Week Time Trial at Rum Village

NIMBA, which is Northern Indiana Mountain Bike Association, has been holding a Mid Week time trail, it is an informal races series, no points or plaques just fun. Even though I am still about 20lbs away from racing shape I headed out to Rum Village for the fun.

The rules are easy. 1 lap, follow the marked course, every starts one minute apart. Oh and you must be a member to participate. After seeing how well maintained the NIMBA trails are it is easy to join this group. I joined as a family and I can honestly say its probably the best $25 I have spent all year.

The course was mostly fast though some corners are getting sandy from the dry season we have had. I had a good time on my Singular Gryphon, and even though I didn't have a blistering time I didn't embarrass myself.

Here are the results that I borrowed from The NIMBA facebook page:

1. Pat Kulwicki 27:16, #2 Ryan Fisher 28:14, #3 Matthew Flournoy 30:07, #4 Pierre Crevier 30:45, #5 Jason Krause 31:32, #6 Daniel Scott 32:50, #7 Joe Canarecci 33:08, #8 Alex Diaz 33:28, #9 Bob Ayers 33:44, #10 Adam Rocker 33:59, #11 Jim Hintz 35:11, #12 Lou Cappadona 35:17, #13 Emily Andrews 35:17,#14 Ryan Kelly 36:11, #15 Chad Mcglocthan 41:53

Thanks to NIMBA for the effort and I will see you next Wed. when the series shifts to Potato Creek!

Singular Gryphon 250 Mile Review

I have been riding my Singular Gryphon a lot the past two months, I have well over 250 singletrack miles on it and close to another 150 on pavement. I have ridden it on everything I can find from fast on semi technical terrain ( well as technical as there is in Northern Indiana)to a lazy Charity road ride. The bike continues to impress me.I knew the frame and the way I was specking it out would be a solid build. I also knew the bike was going to be a good all-rounder, But the way it shines in singletrack has made me a huge fan. The handling is very crisp,I can handle tight switch backs with ease. It also handles jumps and drops equally well. I have owned several 29ers, 69er and a 650b (not to mention a slew of 26" bikes back in the day).

The Gryphon out performs them all. One of my past favorite bikes was my Karate Monkey, the two complaints I had with the KM were 1. I felt like I was always trying to get the bike to turn in the twisties and 2.the old style KM fork was harsh. One the Gryphon I don't have to wrestle the bike in the twisty stuff I just lean and we go! and the front fork is much more compliant. Part of the key to the magic is having a frame and fork engineered to go together, by not making the Gryphon geometry suspension corrected, it allowed them to really dial in the handling.

After my time on a KM and a Gary Fisher Rig I acquired a Trek 69er. I loved the way the 69er carved the twisties, but missed the smoothness of having a big wheel behind me. Once again the Gryphon carves like the 69er but the back wheel eats up and absorbs all the bumps.

Something else I have discovered on my saddle time, is that Drop bars are very off road friendly! I really feel that Being in the drops is very if not more stable than when riding a wide straight bar. On my past single speeds I have run the everything from the the wide Salsa ProMoto's, Jones H-Bars and a Mary Bar. I am currently running an Origin8 Gary Bar and I may or may not eventually try a Salsa Woodchipper.

I am not a lightweight (200lbs) but there is not a lot of flex when I hammer and I feel more like I am sitting in the bike rather than on top of it(which is common for most 29ers) I would highly recommend a Singular to anyone. The attention to detail on the frame is top notch, the welds are clean, the paint and logos are flawless and Customer service is top notch! I posted a pic on mtbreview.com and Sam (who owns Singular) saw in the pic that I hadn't received a Headbadge with my frame. He posted that I should contact him to get one. I sent Sam an email and within ten days I had a beautiful pewter Gryphon Headbadge to install on my frame! To me that is awesome after the sale service, I have never seen or heard of John Burke (Trek) or Mike Sinyard (Specialized) cruiser the boards to see if their customers where satisfied.

I haven't posted the complete build specs yet so here it is:

Frame/Fork : Singular Gryphon

Headset : Chris King

Stem : Ringle Evolution

Bars : Origin8 Gary

Tape : Salsa

Crankset : RaceFace Evolve SS

Chainring : Salsa 32 tooth

Pedals : Eggbeaters Stainless

Chain : Sram pc 970

Rear Cog : Surly 18tooth

Wheelset : Hope Pro Evo Hubs laced to Stans Arch EX Rims

Tires : Bontrager 29.3EXP (setup tubeless w/ Stans)

Brakes : Avid BB7

Levers : Cane Creek

Seat Post : Thomson Elite lay back

Post Clamp : Salsa

Saddle : WTB Shadow