Crack Bullit

Last weekend I took the Bullit out for a spin. Heart needed a run, and with my Chameleon having a crack in it, I tend to mtb with the Bullit more. As I was taking the Bullit off the wall I was dismayed to find a crack in the rear swing arm.

Two bikes, two cracks, not enough money for something new. This is a bad situation.

I still went for a ride, but I took it easy and checked the cracked area frequently. Nothing changed over the ride of course.

While riding though I contemplated what I really want in a new bike. I came to the conclusion that I don’t need a replacement Bullit. I love my bike, I have ridden it hard, we have been many places together, done a few races together, and I will be sad to no longer have it, but I just don’t need such a beefy bike.

I’m eyeing up the all mountain bikes. A long term goal of mine is to do the BC Bike Race. A hardtail would be out of the question for the BC Bike Race, and a pure xc rig doesn’t suit my riding likes all that well. An All mountain really does suit me best, allowing me to ride up hill, but still tackle everything I put in front of it on the downhill.

So I put out the call on Twitter for bikes to look into. I got quite a few good suggestions including the Banshee Rune, http://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/all-mountain/range/Norco Range, Norco Shinobi, Giant Reign, Devinci Dixon, and the Rocky Mountain Slayer. I also pinged Knolly about their Chilcotin, but that is way out of my price range.

I have a lot of research in front of me.

This past Saturday I was out on a road ride with a buddy and decided to stop in at Straight Up Cycles to get my cleats adjusted (I was having some knee problems). While I was there I noticed that they have a Dixon on sale right now. Could this be fate? I don’t know, but on Tuesday I am going to take it out got a little spin to see how it feels and how well it fits me. Add in to the mix is that next weekend I head to Hornby Island.

What am I to do?

Well, the first thing to do is call Santa Cruz to see what they can do for me. Next is to test ride the Dixon. Then we go from there.