Another year, another new bike?

So my birthday has come and gone and my lovely wife and son suggest that I go ahead and get whatever I want for myself this year. Seems they think I have earned it somehow by being such a good Dad! I've already got a nice lugged steel roadie and a nicer modern carbon speed racer for the asphalt. I just finished building up the classic steel hardtail which I promised myself I would get back in college! So the only logical bike to add to the quiver would be a full suspension mountain bike.

I coulda kicked myself in the nuts for missing out on a Maverick ML7 auction on eBay. That one still hurts. It ended $20 UNDER my self imposed budget. DMAN!

Man, 2008 is going to be a great year for bikes! I was looking at some closeout Specialized bikes but in researching them I found out the 2008's are completely redone. The new Stumpy FSR is now a linkage bike with the shock by the seat tube like Turner and Trek and almost everyone else. The curvy frame is pretty nice too, I dig how the top tube lines up with the seat stays.

So I wanted a new Stumpy.

Then I went to the Cannondale forum on MTBR.com and everyone's talking about the new '08 Cannies. Well, the Scalpel is completely new as well! 100mm of rear PIVOTLESS travel. Sick. 22.5lb XC racing machine. Now I want one of those. But they'll be like $6000. Ouch.

Then I see a post by Scott Nicol, Mr. Chuck Ibis himself. The new '08 MojoSL has a handful of changes that makes it under 5lbs for a large frame. This is for 5.5 inches of DW-link travel! Complete bike under 22lbs.!?!?!!! Probably like $10k or something stupid. Okay, so it's actually $6400 with the wicked funny "WTF" group. Hmm, seems almost a bargain compared to the big bike companies ($6500 S-works, $6500 Scalpel Team).

Now I want a(nother) Mojo!

Of course, I go back and put a correct sized MTB stem (NOS Control Tech 1" baby!) on the Bonty instead of the 130mm negative 17degree road stem that was on it. SICK. This bike is 10yrs old but it just feels SO good.

We'll see what I end up with. I need to make more money. :)

-Hong