Productive?

 A quality product review is an essential part of any good biker’s blog. I have not done my part in providing useful feedback for the masses and I aim to resolve that.

The 1998 Kona Jake the Snake is a fine piece of engineering craftsmanship. Why, you might ask, should I spend my hard earned money on this exceptional machine? It is hard to capture the pure passion that is Jake the Snake in words, but I’ll do my best. Some may tell you that steel, titanium, or carbon fiber are the way to go, but really that is because those people are uninformed. The magical ride of 7005 aluminum is a secret that only a few well seasoned racers know. Can I say horizontally stiff yet vertically compliant? I won’t, but you may. It is a little known fact that 7005 aluminum got it’s name because it is 4993 better than any material currently available. Enough material science. The really fabulous things come from the fanatical attention to detail. When you look closely at what Jake has brought to the table you see things that other manufacturers have either forgotten or deemed too expensive. Things such as a 1” threadless headset and a color matched pump peg. You know you are going to get a flat with all the miles you are going to book on this hot rod and what would you do without that full length frame pump? I don’t think I even need to start on the rock solid feel that the 1” threadless fork can provide. If you can’t make the turn with this bike it is your fault, not the fork’s. Looking deeper at the fork I realized that Kona spared no expense in bringing you the finest exotic materials. It seems that they were able to take carbon and merge it with iron to create a super material known as steel. I don’t know how they did it, but it seems to be stronger than…well I don’t know, some sort of super material. My only grievance is the component spec. The shifting and crank parts seem to be some kind of chintzy black plastic with the word “Force” scribbled on them. I guess they were “Forced” to use them. (insert-time to compose yourself) Also the tires seem to be glued on. Really, how cheap are we going to go here? Thankfully the color scheme makes up for component deficiencies. Finally, in the rad air jump test the score came in at, “Like three feet of air!”

This is my review.

Why does this guy keep complaining?

I’m a big fan of junior programs in racing. Get new kids into the sport at a discounted rate. Make it accessible to kids that maybe aren’t from wealthy background. The kind of stuff that you used to like before you thought that you needed a newer bike. You know…the one that helped you win the big race…ok maybe it didn’t. Biking becomes an expensive sport because we make it an expensive sport. I was having a lot of fun before I realized that I needed carbon everything. Have you seen my bell?

This is my problem with the new High School League. A junior race runs around $15, High School races are $52.50. More kids in the sport is great, but setting up a system where the entry fees have to be this high seems a little wrong to me. I know they aren’t out gouging people for the fun of it. Setting up a race is an expensive thing. I just don’t see the value of running independent races when it seems that we could add these races to the already present series races. I don’t know, kind of like the junior races that are already there?

I think this elevated participation is an excellent thing. I however do regret that in it’s current state, the league is only being contested by the wealthiest schools in the area. My feeling is that this gives our sport, one that already has a reputation for being fairly extravagant, an elitist undertone that I am a little embarrassed by.

I’ve been learning more and more that my opinions on things like this are often wrong, so if you read this you should probably ignore it. However, my feelings on this league have been building to the point that I wanted to complain, so there it is.

I dislike the High School Mountain Bike League.