Waiting for the Phoenix to rise
Originally posted on June 24, 2011 at 14:05 pm
By Matt Kaspryk
You ever get really excited about something? Like when you get a little taste of a great new thing and can’t wait to try it again! You know, like what you got from those guys for free that first time. Yeah, a thing like that is what I’m talking about!
About a year ago I got my first taste of something exhilarating and terrifying. These guys on staff were slangin’ it, and they called it Downhill Racing. Yep that’s right, sweet sweet Gravity. I had my last stint with gravity a little over a decade ago, in snow. Since that time, a couple knee injuries have instituted a forced rehab from that powerful 9.8 m/s2 addiction. During this rehab I actually learned how to fight gravity and ascend against it, rather well at times even. I exchanged baggy for tight, sintered P-tex for 29” rubber, and cold hands for sweaty chamois.
So really, it was just a matter of time before I fell off that wagon. And that fall was onto dirt. Gravity mountain biking combines two things I really enjoy – the physical challenges of mountain biking with the natural flow and exhilaration of almost killing myself. So this spring I decided to cash in my chips and pull the trigger on a new Pivot Phoenix DH frame. I was really excited that the guys at Pivot quoted me a great price on the frame and that some of our magazine partners were willing to send products to review on it.
I have an impressively light 5.6lb Rock Shox Keronite Boxxer for up front. There’s an e13 DH crankset and LG1 chain retention system sitting in boxes. A pair of Maxxis High Rollers just showed up and I’ve got a SRAM X9 1×9 drive ready to go using 11×26 road cassette, and of course, a KMC gold chain. The Truvativ Boxxer stem and new 780mm Truvativ BooBar round out the unassembled cockpit. There’s also some Formula The One brakes on the way. So basically, I have almost everything waiting to go – minus a frame and wheelset.
Delay after delay have kept the Phoenix from me. I’m hoping to get the bike together soon because the season is gettin’ on and I can’t wait to finish this build. If I had been kept waiting any longer I may have been waxing and beveling, getting ready for the snow. Which is why it’s so great that almost serendipitously, as I wrote this little blog post, I was contacted by Pivot and they said my frame was ready to ship.