I've been gone for a while

Did anyone notice?

Likely not. That's okay. The day-to-day grind of poking fun at bicycle culture is something only Bike Snob NYC can muster. Good on him (her?)!

In my month-plus absence, I see that not a lot has changed. It's the summer, so riding is either finally possible for some, and becoming difficult for others. San Diego decided to take a shower over the weekend, so I'm excited to see if that tidies up some trails and gets more green grass to take purchase in our terrible soil.

If I wasn't forced back at work after a long adventure (a later post!), I'd probably be out riding in the mildly humid weather.

Interesting thing. Salsa decided that brown is the new summer color-way. Three new bikes have been unveiled. They're all pretty cool and functional, though I imagine you could get 90% of the functionality across any of the similar models. That is, a Fargo and a Deadwood both offer effectively the same design, save for tire size and maybe that sweet brown co...wait, no, you can get the Fargo in some sort of black/brown/red thing now. I stand corrected.

Ideally it's all better for the buyer, since we have more choices with which to spend hours discerning over. I know I love deciding on which bike to buy far more than actually buying it. Buyer's remorse typically runs strong in my blood. I could say that buying a bike is perhaps one of the scarier purchases I typically make. 

Pony Rustler. Before I can even utter the word "Rustler" I'm already being made fun of. That's what's going to happen. I'm just going to call it the Rustler and wrap black (brown?) electrical tape over the word "Pony".

Lastly, the whole model version designation switching to a component manufacturer methodology. Like, Vaya X9 and Vaya Deore. I just find it very odd to so closely tie your own product name with that of another company's product name. Now how will I know which is the better version, if there's no number? Or was that the issue? Were SRAM and Shimano getting fussy about how the "2" version stipulated one brand, while the "1" version came with another? Hah! That would be awesome...