Hey guys, today I got out of classes early and decided to go check out the local shop (route 66 bikes) and wound up coming home with a new bike.

It's nothing spectacular, it's a Redline Monocog. I swapped the stock bars for some Titec bars, and put a Hayes mech. disc on the front.

If I had had 1000 bucks to spend, I would have bought the Gary Fisher Rig they had on the floor. It was pretty awesome.

coolio ( used to be fubar5 )

Congrats on the new addition. Nothing wrong with the Monocogs, they are better than the 04 Specialized Hardrock SS. Of course anything is better than the 04 Hardrock SS.

Ha, I didn't know Specialized made a SS in 04. What was wrong with it?

I'm thinking about putting a suspension fork with lockout on the monocog, but I'm not sure, it might ruin the spirit of the bike.

The 04 still had vertical drops. They had a tensioner on it, and the rear hub was just their normal hub with spacers. The tensioner was a bad rip-off of the first generation Surly tensioner. I swapped the stock with the new Surly tensioner, and still skipped. I cannabilized it to build up a Surly 1x1. The 05 was the start of horizontal drops.

Stay rigid. You might run into clearance issues putting a squishy on it.

Did you get an 05 or an 06? I heard the 06 models are going to have 135 rear spacing now.

It is an 05.

I asked the shop guy about the possibility of suspension, and he said no problem. I hadn't thought of clearance though, I was thinking about geometry being messed up. So you make a good point.

I would stick to something with travel in the 80 range, that is for sure. If you find some vintage 2" squishy would probably be better. I had the 100 travel Marz on the 1x1, and it felt like I was riding a chopper. Put the rigid on the next day.

They say that their rigid fork is "suspension corrected". Presumably, this means it takes into account the increased length of an 80-120mm fork. Probably similar to how a surly 1x1 or IRO MIA fork compensates.

pricepoint has a RS Reba SL for 270, that would probably be a sweet setup. I think that is what the GF Rig had on it.

Off topic: Are you studying at UMR?

If so, you have my deepest respect. I went there for a year. Couldn't take it.

explody pup,

yeah, I'm at UMR doing aerospace engineering. why couldn't you take it? the town and the lack of pretty girls? lol

Coolio,

What size is your frame, and what's your height? I'm thinking of getting one of these, but have to order blind.

I'm 6'1" looking at the 19", only because I ride a 19" Trek Fuel.

benzene,

I'm 5'11 and got the 17.5". I like frames a little on the small side.


Matt