The modern mountain bike has gotten to a place where we are able to ride more and more challenging terrain, and has lead to a renaissance in modern trail building. For the last 10 or more years I’ve exclusively rode full suspension mountain bikes, claiming with each new purchase to be riding the best bike I’ve ever ridden. And for the most part that’s true, these 6″ travel, air sprung, 12 speed, dropper post, big wheeled bikes of 2018 are game changers, but is it always necessary?
As I approach my midlife, I personally am embracing the so called crisis and am attempting to add some new adventures to my life. In my mountain bike life I’ve been craving a more utilitarian bike, something that slays trails but doesn’t attract the attention of the bike thief locked up out in front of the grocery store or bar, something that looks at home in an xc race as well as at the dirt jumps, something that more resembles the romantic idea of what a bike is than these multi link crazy moving machines.
This search lead me through the internet, looking at smaller, younger brands, bikes that less people had seen or ridden. About a year ago I discovered the brand Prophecy Bikes (https://prophecy.bike) out of Camarillo CA. They were just launching the Oracle their first frame, and right off the bat the geometry really spoke to my riding style. I also liked that I could choose the color and that the options for build were wide open.
See this year I was talked into racing the Singlespeed World Championships as they were being held in Bend and a riding buddy from Pennsylvania was gonna come out and race it and he thought I should join in the festivities/ suffer fest that is a 50 mile race on a singlespeed mountain bike as I would come to find out. So this summer I made the leap and joined the curmudgeons of the singlespeed society, but on my terms of course.
The guys at Prophecy were pumped to help me with my project as they had yet to build one of their bikes up as a singlespeed. The frame can run 29″, 27.5+, and/or 29+, I went with 27.5+ and a 2.6″ Schwalbe Rocket Ron’s set up tubeless for my tires and so far I’m loving them. Fork is a Rock Shox Pike 140mm, brakes a Magura MT5 trail, with a RaceFace mechanical dropper post.
As I write this first post I’ve put about 300 miles on the bike, and I haven’t ridden my Nomad once since I got this built up and I really am in no hurry to return to my full suspension anytime soon. I love the challenge of singlespeed mountain biking and it’s the perfect bike for winter riding here in Bend Oregon. Plus I love looking at lines with a hardtail underneath me to navigate through and over the technical sections on some of the local trails. We can so easily forget the joy of cleaning a rock garden on a bike that monster trucks through everything unaffected, but on the Oracle I find myself finding fun new lines that recreate fun in trails I had been overlooking in seasons past.
My Mountain Bike Life... 