A colleague gave me a $10 gift card, so this morning on my way to work I stopped in B&N for a coffee and a new mag. I perused the many bike mags and pulled out "The Horse" which I guess is a splinter off of Iron Horse. Usually mags that have naked girls sprawled all over a bike turn me off cuz I want to see bikes not babes. But, I remember reading about The Horse in Cycle Source and thought I'd give it a try. I just finished flipping threw it and I've come to a conclusion about my tastes in bikes. Cycle Source covers the bike scene (the new one...) and the bikes are old school designs (& dirteee). But, the bikes have some art to them and I love them. The Horse is more like a DIY rag so the bikes are truly boothill having been pieced together from whatever was laying around (& was cheap). I definitely appreciate the work that goes into the bikes (not having built one myself), but I find many of the bikes (not all).... I don't know... "hoopdee." I think if I had the time I would definitely try to do my own build, but I don't so I won't. Maybe, if I actually "worked" on my own bike I would have a much greater appreciation for the bikes in the mag.

So, yes I like boothill bikes...but I like my bikes "clean" and uncluttered with an eye for design that's both functional and somewhat "arty." When I look at some of the bikes in The Horse I think I would hate to ride them because my bolts would pop out of my spine from the hard tail rigid frame, I couldn't brake that quickly w/out a front brake, and the bar/seat/peg set-up is too bunched up. not to mention that some of them are so low that you'd have to take a decent curve at a pretty low speed... Well, some of the bikes in Cycle Source have some of these problems too. So, I guess these syle bikes are not meant for riding but for bar-hopping or showing off to your friends.

What bike rags do you read and what bike styles do you like?

It's official. I signed the papers today. Here she is...right before going into the shop for some work. We got a pretty good deal on the bike, so I'm having the following work done to her: new seat & handlebars, wrapped short stag pipes, stage 1 air kit, engine guards, and a tachometer. I can pick her up Thursday.