-Slideshow below-
(Photos © J. Maus)
7-foot 1-inch backup center Joel Przybilla of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers is the proud new owner of a fully-custom, 29-inch wheeled steel mountain bike made by Signal Cycles (a small, two-man shop based in a residential neighborhood in North Portland). I got a peek at the bike last week before it left the Lake Oswego Bike Gallery store.
The first thing I noticed when Assistant Manager Rian Lasley rolled it out was the very tastefully executed team color paint job (I’d expect nothing less from builders/artists Nate Meschke and Matt Cardinal). And then, there’s the size. It’s big!
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Usually bikes for seven-footers tend to look a bit awkward, but this beauty is very well-proportioned. In fact, the 29-inch wheels — which, to me always look big regular-sized bikes — don’t look big at all in proportion to this frame.
As for measurements…
- Top tube length – 68 cm
- Fork steerer tube (special order from White Bros.) – 20 in
- Center of bottom bracket to top tube – 76 cm
- Head tube – 25 cm
Despite the bike’s size, a mix of high-end components (Race Face carbon, Avid, SRAM, etc…) helps it weight in at a mere 31.8 pounds. Not bad for a front-suspension, off-road ready mountain bike made for a 7-1, 245 pound rider.
I’m scheduling a sit-down interview with Przybilla out at the Blazers’ practice facility in the coming week. I’ll ask him more about his plans for this bike and about biking in general. Until then, check more photos in the slideshow below…
UPDATE: Kelly from Bike Gallery in Lake Oswego just sent me some photos of Joel picking up his bike…
