RCZ Race RA

After some unfortunate bike-thieving-events half a year ago I was left with only one bike: a White road bike. It’s a good bike, I even scored a pair of carbon wheels for it.

Still, one bike is hardly enough. This year I wanted to continue the cycling season through the winter so a winter bike was needed. I also wanted a mountain bike even though I’ve spent very little time in the forest lately. But it might happen, you know?

Could these two bikes be combined? Maybe a rigid mountain bike that’s fast on the road but still survives some trails?

My last mountain bike had a suspension fork. It was nice. Trying to decide if having a rigid mountain bike was sane I came across this perfect answer on Quora:

Read Alex Ragus' answer to Mountain Biking: What are the advantages of rigid forks on a 29er? on Quora

Anyway, as you might have guessed from the picture, I found a used RCZ mountain bike for a fair price. With a belt drive instead of chain, no suspension and no gears it’s very low maintenance and perfect for winter cycling. The tires hold OK in snow and icy asphalt. How it handles in the forest remains to be seen but I try not to stress too much about it.

Update

I did take the bike on to some trails and participated in VPCX anniversary competition (a local, not so serious cyclocross competition). The bike’s geometry was good but the gearing was really not suitable for off-road. Still a lot of fun.

Category: bikes