Weekly Roundup: Thelonious Bike Edition

Consistency, the man said, is the hobgoblin of little minds. When I returned to BMX riding about sixteen months ago, I didn't have a lot of respect for the so-called "dirtjumper" bikes, those odd and awkward hybrids of 26" wheel, suspension fork, and BMX geometry. I thought of them as "easy buttons" for big jumps and difficult lines down a trail.

The more I saw of them, however, the more I liked the idea of having a little more stability. Breaking my ribs and my arm at an indoor bike park last year made me even more receptive to the idea of a bicycle that would dial back the penalties for small mistakes in the air. So here's my brand-new Chromag Monk dirt-jumper. It's basically a dead-stock Chromag complete with different colors on a few parts. It took Chromag a full six months to deliver it to me, because these things are only in slightly less demand than new Ferrari 488GTBs.

This loneliest Monk and I are getting along pretty well. One thing I don't like about it: the frame was made in Taiwan. I offered to pay Chromag their standard frame rate to do a Canadian-made Monk, but they refused. So I'll probably have Mike Laird duplicate this frame in titanium over the upcoming winter then rebuild the bike around Chris King wheels and the new frame.

To see what these bikes are really capable of, and to catch up on my writing from last week, click the jump.

Alright, that's not a Chromag at all. That's my boy doing about the same drop (minus a stair) on his Cleary Meerkat. He's a cool dude. I'm lucky to know him.

For TTAC, I did YET ANOTHER ACCORD PIECE that you can read here.

At R&T, I wrote a farewell to my kinda-sorta friend Jean-Marc Gales and a recommendation for SCCA's new Time Trial program. It's great. Check it out.

Oh, and here's what a Monk can do in truly capable hands. Take a look. Don't expect the same out of me; I like to stay within about five feet of the ground at all times.