New Stablemate
My trusty 9 year old Orange EVO2 is getting a new chum to snuggle up to during the dark winter months in the shape of a rather lovely Kona PhD. According to Cyclestore, the 2008 model isn’t available until the back end of the month, which is not unlike the wait I had for the original O2 in October ‘98 when I bought it from Stif’s. Hopefully it will give me as much unbridled joy as the Orange has - tho’ perhaps with less crashes would be nice.
I haven’t seen many reviews for Kona’s top flight hybrid, but know someone who has the 2006 model and think it’s rather swish. Once I get my sweaty palms on it, I’ll do a full review.
My Orange won’t be put out to pasture just yet. Despite what my local bike shop told me, I still think it’s got a few miles left in it yet for XC use. It’s a pity the PACE RC35s on it got a bit flat-spotted on a somewhat amusing fall, although they’re still in pretty good nick otherwise - even after all this time.
Upshot of the story is that although it’s possible to spend an absolute fortune on bikes - in the case of the Orange EVO2 with the Pace forks, it was completely worth it. I have no doubt that I’ll buy another Orange as funding allows, but I suspect the likelihood of me being able to afford either of these babies [1], [2] is pretty remote.