Maybe it’s just some sort of mental issue, but I can’t leave the SS project alone. This bike came to be during a time in my life where I was struggling to get back on the bike. Maybe you’ve been in this place? You get busy, things happen and you look up and you haven’t been on this bike for months? This was me in 2010. I was working my ass off at this startup thing, and I was stressed out, and I decided I just needed to ride more. Except, the real problem was the Bay Area - not to pile on CA as is so common these days, but hey if the shoe fits? I had been commuting for hours a day and had just stopped to do the startup thing. To help with the stress, and because now I didn’t have to drive for hours a day I decided I would ride more. But as I was saying the Bay Area, especially the East Bay is horrible for riding. Really there is just one place, but I would need a new rig.

Pleasanton Ridge. Rolling oak-studded hills, fire roads cutting through open grassland, the kind of terrain that’s fast and flowing but never quite technical enough to feel like real mountain biking. This was a pretty good place to ride, except it wasn’t technical and it wasn’t steep. But I had an idea.

pleasanton ridge mtb

Enter the 2010 Kona Unit Singlespeed. A simple pure steel steed with a rigid fork. Steel is real, they say, and on a rigid bike you feel why — steel has just enough give to smooth a bit of chatter, sorta. I had built it up partially with parts bin stuff (remember I was doing a startup) and with some new bits. As luck would have it getting my King hubs from an old hardtail rebuilt on 29” rims, a new King headset, a saddle off my old Santa Cruz, and my million mile m545 pedals wasn’t a problem. I even splurged for a sweet niner cog.

ss cog

She pedaled fast and is light as sin. I could climb the biggest hill by standing and grinding, and everywhere else it was just about, close to, just about the right gear. The common problem among single speeders - you never are in the right gear. I rode that rig all over Pleasanton Ridge, and it did what it needed to - brought me back, removed the stress, connected me, calmed me.

A year later, the startup was acquired, and I became a Texan, and here, that wrong gear thing was a blocker. Texas Hill Country — punchy climbs out of creek beds, technical rock gardens, constantly shifting rhythm — makes singlespeed not impossible, but damn close. She was put in the attic and gathered dust.

So, that brings us to current times. About a week ago I started thinking about her again. Not because I felt like a singlespeed was the right move for me, or that I am so damn strong I only need one gear, none of that shit. I just felt bad for her.

So, as I mentioned in the intro note https://gpcx.cc/2025/12/02/kona-unit-ss-project.html - it’s time to pull her out. I honestly don’t know how/where I will ride her, but, I will find something. Maybe it’s beer at the firepit Fridays at one of the crew’s yard, or maybe even a run to the marg shack rig. We’ll see. But for now, she’s getting some love.