![\"curvacious](\"https:\/\/www.oldglorymtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/custom-black-cat-hardtail-mountain-bike.jpg\" "\\"curvacious")
<\/a>What is your name?<\/span><\/p>\n Greg Ooley<\/p>\n Where do you live?<\/span><\/p>\n Durango, CO<\/p>\n What type of riding do you like to do?<\/span><\/p>\n Hmm.\u00a0 I like it all.\u00a0 Flowing fast descents.\u00a0 Exploratory HAB bushwhacks.\u00a0 Hammering out big climbs. Threading-the-needle technical singletrack.<\/p>\n Where is your favorite place to ride?<\/span><\/p>\n My best days on the bike have been in Durango, Flagstaff, McKenzie River Trail, Yukon Territory, and Brown County, Indiana.<\/p>\n Do you race often or participate in special events?<\/span><\/p>\n Not often, 3-4 events per year.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show up for races like the Original Growler or Whiskey Off-Road when I have the extra bread.<\/p>\n Black Cat Bicycles<\/a> – Rigid 29er<\/p>\n How\/Why did you choose to get a custom frame made?<\/span><\/p>\n I broke my 8-year old Spot Brand frame a couple years ago and started thinking about a custom bike because I\u2019m 6\u20193\u201d tall with a 36\u201d inseam and honestly, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever owned a bike that actually fit me.\u00a0 That\u2019s a luxury that only medium-sized people get to enjoy.\u00a0 I figured it was time I saw how the other half lives.<\/p>\n How did you go about deciding which builder you wanted to work with?<\/span><\/p>\n I came up with a short list of builders based almost entirely on aesthetics.\u00a0 I just looked over the NAHBS website and magazine articles and took note of what I thought were the most attractive frames.\u00a0 Then I narrowed that list down based on who was most experienced and passionate about building 29ers with short chainstays and slack head angles.\u00a0 Todd Ingermanson turned out to be the only builder I had an actual conversation with before making my decision.<\/p>\n What were your design goals with this frame (discuss why you went with rigid singlespeed)?<\/span><\/p>\n The reason I ride rigid is because I ride pretty well downhill, but I climb for sh*t compared to some of my mountain goat friends, so I sort of handicap myself a little on the descents so that I can gain a bit of an advantage on the climbs if I\u2019m lucky.\u00a0 I also enjoy not having to service my rigid fork.\u00a0 I\u2019m a family man; I don\u2019t have much time to burn.\u00a0 I need a bike I can put away wet and have it be ready to rock the next time my wife gives me the green light to ride.<\/p>\n As for the actual design, I told Todd that I wanted a bike with a stout spine.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to actually feel my bike flex under me when I stand and stomp, but I also don\u2019t want a bike that beats the tar out of me on a long day with 7,000\u2019 of climbing and fast, rocky descending.\u00a0 So he used a stiff down tube and chainstay gusset, but a comfy seat tube, seat stays and top tube.<\/p>\n Can you talk a little bit about how the bike rides. The performance you’ve seen out of it? How it compares to other bikes you’ve ridden \/ how it fit better?<\/span><\/p>\n I’ve been riding rigid 29ers for a decade and have been known to call bullshit on the supposed loss of “flickability” compared to 26″ bike.\u00a0 Threading the needle through tight stuff, spotting the quickest, smoothest line is what I enjoy about mountain biking.\u00a0 It’s like fitting pieces of a puzzle together.\u00a0 I’ve never felt that a bike is noticeably compromised by bigger wheels.\u00a0 What I did start to suspect is that the longer chainstays of most 29ers, and the resulting longer wheelbase, left a lot of room for improvement.\u00a0 Todd does short chainstays better than anyone, so I ended up at Black Cat Bicycles’ doorstep.<\/p>\n When I initially built the Black Cat, I set the stays at 17″ (previous bike: 17.75″) and was really surprised by how much different it felt.\u00a0 It was easier to shift my weight over the rear wheel to lift the front end or manual, the bike felt quick and playful.\u00a0 Like driving a Mini Cooper vs. a Corvette.\u00a0 It wanted to slip into turns faster and it has this uncanny sensation of accelerating out of corners.\u00a0 I’ve since settled on 16.75″ (ish) chainstays and in my opinion, it’s the absolute sweet spot.\u00a0 Tucking that rear wheel way up underneath you and then sitting back with a nice slack head angle is the business.\u00a0 It’s the same sensation you get on a motocross bike when you grab a handful of throttle.<\/p>\n Every time I walk in the door and my wife asks how my ride was, I tell her “I love that bike.”\u00a0 “Yeah, you said that already” shes says.<\/p>\n Could you also give some more detail on the headbadge?<\/span><\/p>\n The “custom steel sorcery” head badge was made by acid etching brass with ferric chloride, which I only taught myself to do because I wanted a badge on the Black Cat.\u00a0 The process is really simple and inexpensive and directions are easy to find online.\u00a0 I’ve made a few dozen, mostly as gifts.<\/p>\n What is your bike frame geometry and how did you and your builder determine the geometry?<\/span><\/p>\n I wanted a moto feel with wide bars, a slack front end, and the rear wheel tucked up underneath me. The swinger dropouts are bomb-proof, super easy to adjust, fixing a flat on the trail is cake, and they also allow me to set my stays at 16.5-17.25\u201d.\u00a0 The head angle ended up being 71\u00b0 with the 80mm corrected White Brothers rigid carbon fork or 70\u00b0 with a 100mm suspension fork.<\/p>\nAbout The Bike:<\/h5>\n
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