jona-mcc

got a great strava photo a few weeks ago in Portland when the trails were literally covered with foxgloves and I was wearing, you guessed it.

Incredible looking bike. Makes me want to go out for an all-day ride.

@Ososmash: Maybe you can help answer me a question... I'm in the early stages of shopping (window shopping at this point) for a new xc steel hardtail, probably 100-120mm fork. The Hummingbird is very tempting. I'm looking for something with pretty high end lightweight tubing, prioritizing ride feel, racy geo and frame weight (not going to be doing serious chunky trail riding on this, more of a mile munching gravel+doubletrack+smooth trail bike). I'm cross shopping the Ritchey P29, Fairlight Holt, Yaupon and of course the Hummingbird. Part of me is tempted to throw down big $$ for the HBSL but I wonder if just going for the custom steel would accomplish what I want.

if it's white leather, because they look good even when dirty, and if you don't like that look, they are incredibly easy to clean. I tend to agree with you when it comes to white canvas though. white canvas looks gross so quickly.

I'm curious where this slots in with their many other light trail tires, the Rekon, Rekon Race, Ardent, Ardent Race and Ikon.

@misha7010: there were a few custom steel hardtails with paint-matched RS-1s back in the day that I thought always looked good. And of course the throwback racing F-Si leftys. And I've seen a couple cool one-offs with the new Cane Creek Invert gravel fork. The cohesion with the uppers helps. Otherwise I like it when a blue sid ult or silver pike ult is paired with tasteful matching highlights on the frame.

I've run them on an e-cargo bike and they stop plenty good!

@teamsmith: what about “No matter how wide my gaping mouth” don’t you understand?

@jaytdubs: I like this canon

@microshift: am I right in predicting that Sword 11 is in the pipeline? Microshift Sword has really knocked it out of the park. Ergo on the shifters is best of any modern shifter, short of campy chorus/record (Ekar kind of got weird with the thumb shifter.). I love the little button shifter, I can hit it with my knuckle! and the improved brake leverage ratios make for really great shifting either with mini Vs or mech disks. I am glad to see ramps and pins on these new cassettes, I think the Sword/Advent X cassettes were the weak link. I like to pair my Microshift stuff with Sunrace for a nice punch-above-their-weight no-nonsense budget drivetrain combo. But maybe I don't have to anymore! The other weak link I find is with the Sword clutch. It feels like it's barely there. Which is really not an issue on the all-road bikes I use it on. But it sounds like there has been improvement in that area. Honestly I like the 10 speed stuff so much I might be a little sluggish in moving over to the new 11 speed. Really it's a no-brainer at the cost.