My New Year’s resolution was to have a better fucking attitude about shit. I’ve found it takes a lot of coffee. And practice. I’m getting better at it, though. Case in point: I’m going to bring you good news today.

Samuel B. Gause Retrieves Stolen Bike

Who’s Samuel B. Gause? He’s a Chemistry student at the University of Florida who’s once again the proud owner of an IRO Angus. Gause’s bike was stolen this past Sunday, but he found it for sale on Craig’s List and got his sting operation on, setting up a meeting to check out the bike and calling the Gainesville police, who ended up arresting one Collin D. Smith, a 5’6″ tall, 140-pound man who’d apparently been charged with battery and burglary the previous year. Gause, who appears to be nearly tall enough to race cyclocross for Kona Bicycles, sounds like a nice guy who was clearly nervous as hell setting up his first foray into crime fighting, and I’m happy he got his bike back. According to The Alligator, Smith, who was arrested and charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property by use of the Internet didn’t return a phone call requesting comment, presumably because he was in jail. I suspect The Alligator also has incredibly poor luck receiving comments from deceased individuals and victims of kidnappings. Based on what we know, however, we can assume that Smith’s comment would have been something like, “You tall people with your fucking giant-ass bikes! I will find you all, and I will tilt your saddles into extremely uncomfortable angles! No jail will hold me, and I will find you! Gloating, towering, bicycle-riding, lanky bitches! You think you’re so great! I will find you all! I will make you so uncomfortable!”

Smith is currently being held pending extradition to Portland.

Something Completely Different

I know I’ve also been bitching a lot about the lack of innovative products out there lately, but I’m happy to report some people are still pushing the envelope. My friend Josh just let me know about a little company called Solstice.

Solstice owner and designer, Chuck Dunlap, is focused on making one frame. One pretty wild, innovative, patented suspension frame. The Solstice is built around something Dunlap calls an “inverted 4-bar,” and that really does make sense once you look at it.

I’ve noticed the fashionable thing to say about a totally unique suspension design you’ve only seen in photos is: “Looks like it has a vertical axle path.” Word is this does, however, have a pretty vertical axle path, something I was after with my design, too.

It doesn’t look particularly stiff, but there’s an article about the design in the Mountain Flyer, and it claims the rear end on this bike tracks great, and that it pedals well and absolutely stomps nasty terrain. Very interesting stuff.

The swingarm parts are cold forged, which is pretty cool and makes me wonder how a tiny bike company producing only a handful of frames can manage to create such a clean and professional looking machine. There’s a kind of beautiful simplicity to the design, despite the complexity of the suspension.

The Solstice features a fully “floating” rear shock, which is another way of saying it has a shock that doesn’t anchor to the main frame anywhere; instead, it “floats” or bolts to moving parts of the suspension system on each of its ends. Sandwiching a shock between two moving suspension members is scary stuff, as the shock rates can get really difficult to manage, but Dunlap’s design looks very well thought out.

The bike is getting 160mm of travel and no, there is no 29er version out there, as far as I know. At over seven pounds, it ain’t light, but there seems to be no reason this design needs to weigh much more than similar frames, so I think the heft represents a bit of caution on the part of Solstice. Better to have the occasional complaint about the weight, than to run into problems.

Most importantly, seeing this really cheered me up. Just the idea that here’s a guy hell-bent on making innovative new products–products that literally turn conventional wisdom upside down.

This is nice, this being positive bullshit. I think I can tolerate it in small doses.

I need a fourth cup of coffee.