Habitually driven.

The BKB has always been open to the two wheel persuasion, specifically the knobby hobby. Regardless, we've always thought highly of the velocipede better known as the bicycle. When we kicked off the stars and hearts we couldn't have dreamt of the expansion we've perceived. To date, we're aware of seven official BKB bikes and counting. In the first edition of: "bikes of the BKB" we present you with Dan Powell's ZR cycle. Dan, better known as DP has written for such magazines as Dirt Rag, Bike, and currently works for Planet Bike in Madison, Wisconsin where he resides with his wife Jen in the sub community of Sun Prairie.

It started as things often do, some big talk over some beers in the middle of winter...by evening's end, a napkin contained the details, and a Subaru Legacy L wagon that hadn't moved in months had been promised in exchange for a custom bicycle frame...

By spring, both Zack Reilley of ZR Cycles and myself had gotten involved with other projects, but during a ride at Levis, the minutia was finalized, and procuring of materials began. I wanted something with big wheels, but the 29ers I'd ridden all seemed like too much bike. ZR, suggested 650b, and I spoke with Kirk Pacentti about the tube set, the tires, and who was making rims. It was a go. The tubes shortly showed up in June.

If you're going to trade a car for a frame, you might as well do it up right? So thats what we did. Lots of details, and lugs were in the mix. I was going for clean, and classy. ZR included a hand cut heart bb shell, pro looking Paragon Machine Works rear drops outs for an old school SE Racing style looptail rear end, a hot mid top tube mounted seat post binder, and perfectly brazed head tube scallops.

I wrestled with component choices, but ended up going with stuff that I knew would be bomber; opting for a Shimano XTR drive train, Hope headset and hubs, Rock Shox Reba fork, slick Avid Black Box levers and BB7 disc brakes. Kirk came through on the Heavy Mettle tubes and prototype Baby Bear 2.3 tires. ZR came through on the sweet build, knowing I wanted to race it at Ore 2 Shore in mid August. By July I had the parts, and the frame was build, and off to be painted by Vicious Cycles.

The bike showed up 2 days before the 24 Hours of 9 Mile race, and though I was able to get it built, we found we needed a longer seat post... only problem was, no one made a 450mm 30.4 seatpost...so I had to order one from the UK. The bike made the trip with a shim, but I opted to race my current bike.

I only had about 2 weeks of hard riding before jumping in the Ore 2 Shore race with Lyle and Djonn from the BKB. The 48 mile point to point race was a real hammer fest from the start, with a bit of everything (road, two track, open rock, deep sand) to keep me on the rivet (literally) for the whole race.

Shortly there after, an old buddy from Velocity, Flyin' Ryan Olthouse, set me up with some of the new Blunt rims laced up to DT Swiss 240 hubs, Pacentti hooked us up with some full production Neo Moto tires and I swapped out the Brooks Swift saddle for a new WTB Silverado saddle (thanks Dain).

Current set up is around a stout 25 lbs, but its great for the all day grinders. The 650b platform rolls well, and the fat tires eat up rocky trails like Blue Mounds or the Wissahickon in Philly with ease. The best part of the process was being involved with the whole thing. Picking the parts, watching the pile of tubes turn into a frame, smelling the flux...ZR is a pro, and others are starting to notice...