Interesting things afoot… so a page back, when we went to collect the prizes for a good cyclocross season, we entered a raffle you could only enter if you were there in person to collect prizes. NOT MANY PEOPLE SHOWED UP. It was disgusting out, raining and cold, so I’m guessing fewere than 30 people came out. Thus, we won one of the 3 big prizes: a set of Chris King gravel wheels. When I say “big” I mean “they retail for $2,600.” A set of effing wheels… that is two and a half grand. And people snap them up – they’re totally sold out at the moment. This is not the sort of thing we’d ever buy for ourselves, no least of which because they don’t fit any bike we have… 12mm through axles and center lock disc mounts, oh my!
The wheels:
Chris King GRD23 R45D 24/24
Essentially, someone has given us 1/3 of a spaceship. And I aspire to spaceship ownership someday – I really, really do - but I can’t plop down another $2k for a frame that’s suitable for this, plus another grand for a drivetrain and brakes. So they’re hanging in the garage while we think. And yet I don’t want to sell them… it would be lovely to have a set of wheels this nice on a bike. Spaceship stuff. So now, what to do? I can afford some steel frames, like the Soma Wolverine, which I’ve always had a crush on. Those frames are solidly under a grand, and well regarded.
That bike:
Wolverine (v.4.0) Type-A (Adventure/Monstercross) | SOMA Fabrications
We went to pick the wheels up this weekend from the race official, who met us halfway in a small town. We brought bikes (took the regional bus instead of driving) and did a very quick ride / hike, but the road turned snowy so we had to walk the bikes a good bit. Snapped a few pics, XT1 and rokinon 12…
Interesting things afoot… so a page back, when we went to collect the prizes for a good cyclocross season, we entered a raffle you could only enter if you were there in person to collect prizes. NOT MANY PEOPLE SHOWED UP. It was disgusting out, raining and cold, so I’m guessing fewere than 30 people came out. Thus, we won one of the 3 big prizes: a set of Chris King gravel wheels. When I say “big” I mean “they retail for $2,600.” A set of effing wheels… that is two and a half grand. And people snap them up – they’re totally sold out at the moment. This is not the sort of thing we’d ever buy for ourselves, no least of which because they don’t fit any bike we have… 12mm through axles and center lock disc mounts, oh my!
The wheels:
Chris King GRD23 R45D 24/24
Essentially, someone has given us 1/3 of a spaceship. And I aspire to spaceship ownership someday – I really, really do - but I can’t plop down another $2k for a frame that’s suitable for this, plus another grand for a drivetrain and brakes. So they’re hanging in the garage while we think. And yet I don’t want to sell them… it would be lovely to have a set of wheels this nice on a bike. Spaceship stuff. So now, what to do? I can afford some steel frames, like the Soma Wolverine, which I’ve always had a crush on. Those frames are solidly under a grand, and well regarded.
That bike:
Wolverine (v.4.0) Type-A (Adventure/Monstercross) | SOMA Fabrications
We went to pick the wheels up this weekend from the race official, who met us halfway in a small town. We brought bikes (took the regional bus instead of driving) and did a very quick ride / hike, but the road turned snowy so we had to walk the bikes a good bit. Snapped a few pics, XT1 and rokinon 12…
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