Burt Reynolds Get’s a Facelift?
As you all know, Burt Reynolds is one handsome bike. For those of you just tuning in, that’s this bike right here.
Yup he’s a handsome devil. But then I got to thinking…”Wouldn’t it be fun to mix things up again with Burt?” If you recall, Burt started off as 24speed entry level 29er. Then it went through a transformation that you see above as a single speed 29er with a rigid fork. I actually spent some clams on the drive train, fork and all sorts of small parts just to get it to become Burt ReynoldsS…yes two S’s for Single Speed.
But it got me thinking. I really love how the Airborne Goblin works, heck in my review I noted how much faster I was with the darn thing. But the fun has to come to an end because the Goblin is on it’s last few days with me. You see, he’s a demo bike and the kind folks of Airborne were sweet enough to let me use him to do some XC racing before I hand him back. With the thought if seeing the Goblin go, I was pretty sad. I then started thinking of ways on how I can continue to ride a 29er.
This is where Burt Reynolds comes in. He might just be my next project bike…again. So I was thinking that if I take LadyP’s old bike, a KHS XC604 with X0, 27speed drive train and strip it, I could use those parts on Burt, right? Ya why not. Though it’s not a fancy 2×10 drive train, I’m sure I’ll manage with it’s X0 level parts. Plus it has Avid Juicy brakes, an upgrade from Burt’s mechnical Tektro’s. The only thing that is a bit of a bummer would be the fork. Burt like its hard, therefore he rocks a rigid fork.
Well there you have it. So many ideas floating in my head about bikes, Burt, 29ers and all that jazz. I’m still not 100% certain that I want Burt to become a 29er with a 27speed drive train. But if he does convert, it might be an interesting ride…
Don’t strip Burt of his glory, RL! Clearly what you need instead is a new 29er frame n fork…
My advice would be sell some stuff and buy a Sram X7 2×10 crank 26/39T or equivalent and all the other bits you need. You won’t regret it.Ten speed drive is the best thing that’s happened to 29ers.
The frame is just fine. It’s made of super high quality 6061 Alloy. I did think about a new fork, but I was looking towards a carbon rigid fork on the mere fact they’re pretty light. Then again the steel fork that’s on Burt right now only weighed like 3.5lbs.
Lynch my old friend! Good to hear from ya!
Ya man I fell in love with the X7 2×10 on the Goblin. I was really thinking about that whole set up. But I’m what you call a BOB…Brother on a Budget!
Aren’t we all.
Why not go 1×9 or 2×9? You probably have a bin full of 9spd parts.
Leave the fork rigid, it will force you to man-up for a change. I remember you teammate used to kick ass on a toad green rigid monocog if I’m not mistaken. I believe that frame is the Sanko Steel too, will smooth out some of the chatter.
I am planning on using my wife’s old bike as a donor for parts. I figured I’d leave the big ring on there just so I can mash on the flats. Yep, you’re talking about Animal…that guy is a beast and not really sure if I could ever ride like him.
My bad. I probably should have tried to retain some of the information in the article. I see I was wrong about the frame as well. Thought it was the old Mono 9 frame you did a review on a few years ago. Good to see you’ve been converted to the 29er anyway.