Hey, anyone know what's up with Kogswell? Website's down, says 'account suspended'.

Thanks

Maybe the jig is up.

wasn't he the biggest competitor of Spacely Sprockets?

Flashback! Flashback!

The best source of Kogswell info is the KOG Yahoo group:

https://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/KOG/

The bottom line is that the P/R is out of production and remaining stock is being sold off (or already sold off) by a shop in Minneapolis. There are plans for a new version of the P/R, but that'll happen through Longleaf Bicycles in North Carolina. Last report is that Matthew Grimm/Kogswell is looking to focus on 559mm wheel street bikes.

Neal

..my first reaction as well

too bad. I was hoping to get this frameset next year.

oh no! i was planning on buying one of these frames later this year... anyone know where they can be found now?

Wasn't it Longstaff?

That is too bad, unfortunately there will be others, too many of us C&V folk just don't buy new stuff.

And Kogswell almost always lost out to Mr. Spacely.

The remaining Kogswell's left are being sold by Paul's Bicycle repair on his website and on ebay. But, there are only a few left and they are frames only, no forks. The fact is good luck trying to track down a Kogswell fork, and that is pretty much what makes the bike.

I own a 64cm 700c P/R that I bought from Paul on Ebay and built it up with spare parts. The frame was out of alignment (rear end 4-5 mm to the non-drive side), all of that size were made incorrectly from the factory, and at my size it is way too flexy. The downtubes spec was 31.8mm and they were made with 28.6mm downtubes. With a bike that size it is a bad combo. I can't even get out of the saddle to pedal as the flex causes ghost shifts. I am going to try a different set of shifters just to be sure, but I will probably end up selling it. I will however keep the fork and just sell the frame. The fork might be useful for going low trail on a current steel frame.

My last ride with some wind on the Kogswell I was all over the road. It felt almost unsafe to ride. I got a little bit of speed on a decent and I sat up to catch the wind and hit the brakes to slow down. My vintage Nishiki Seral is a very similar geometry. I did a 200K this weekend on Saturday on the Nishiki. The last 39 miles was into a head wind and the Nishiki always felt rock solid.

You can keep track of Longleaf's efforts to revive the 650B P/R at https://groups.google.com/group/longleaf-bicycle-grove.

Neal

650b is alive and well sort of. That wheel size is getting a foothold in mountain bikes.

Our Diagonale rims come in 650b and 700c. We sell twice as much of the 650b version. It's a total anomaly, but we will take it.

Thank's to all for your responses. Was hoping to get a Konversion fork for a 650a project. I'll keep watching for future developments, both from Longleaf, & Matt. The 559 road project sounds interesting. I currently ride a 'frankenbike' '80s Raleigh Marathon with 559-40 wheels/street tires & riser bars.

John in Cincinnati