My other bike is a Kona

My other bike (the one that's not the Peugeot fixed) is a 1994 Kona Explosif with ProjectTwo forks. I bought it in December 2000 from a retiring prof (retiring at 38 -- very cool). The past few months I've been so extraordinarily happy with my fixed gear Peugeot that I'd almost forgotten about my Kona. Then winter showed up with its snow and ice and slush, and I pulled the Kona out and lubed it up -- just in case. And as I was adjusting this and that I got to wondering about the bike with its smallish frame, and remembered how smooth it was to ride, and how excited I'd been to get it. So I looked it up. Seems that some other folks really like it too.

My bike is green and looks a lot like this one, except mine is not (yet) a fixed gear -- How did they do that? I wondered, because the Kona Explosif has vertical drops, which aren't so good for fixed gears 'cuz you can't adjust the chain tension. So how? Here's the key, and I quote: "The 32:15 setup that fits the chainstay length feels just about right" -- they just fiddled until they found the right setup -- or maybe used a half-link. Let me just say here, as a disclaimer, that I still have much to learn about gear ratios. I think my Peugeot might have too big of a chainring, even though it looks cool.

Actually, this 63xc.com site is a pretty good all-around resource for fixed and single-speed biking. Like this article on how to ride a fixed gear -- I have to say I haven't read it yet; I just sort of started to ride and figured some things out. The other day I saw a guy balance on his at a stoplight (called a trackstand I think), so I tried it. Don't have it down yet but the how-to for it is here.