Our little family is a fan of human-powered transportation. We all have two bikes a piece. Excessive? Maybe. But it feels oh so right. Today our latest "creation" entered the family, the CannonballX.
CX has been the dream child of my husband for many months now, perhaps a better part of a year. I don't remember what turned him on to the idea of a longtail bike, but when he got the idea he ran with it. His infatuation with them eventually led to Kona Lisa's purchase and subsequent love affair with the family. (Everyone--especially the kids love to ride on the Ute!)
With that said, we seriously began to embark on our "Year of the Longtails" a few weeks ago. With our extra cash (thanks to Uncle Sam) we bought Lisa and ordered an Xtracycle conversion kit. Chris's 1994 M300 Cannondale MTB, which we lovingly referred to as the Cannonball, would be the donor bike. He painstakingly took it apart, leaving nothing but the frame. 17 years of fun had left the Cannonball in rough shape cosmetically. We found a place in Golden willing to powdercoat the frame for us. As if the hand of God guided the process, both the frame and the kit came in yesterday. Hallelujah, thank you Lord! It is rough being the wife of a man who obsesses over his bikes.
Today was construction. We (mostly him, but I was great moral support and Google search aficionado and Lisa and I made a couple trips to the local bike shop for little things) assembled the bike. It's pretty amazing to see how and why things work the way they work on a bike. I'm no pro after today, but I do know a lot more about the mechanics of bikes. Now to explain the title of this post. I like to think of the CannonballX as more of a Frankenstein bike. He has parts from the Giant OCR (RIP), parts from the Orange Blossom Special and soon parts from my road bike. He is a conglomerate of all the bikes we have loved over the years and I kind of think it's appropriate.
So it sits behind the couch tonight, waiting to be ridden.
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