XC is Suddenly Cool Again

After a decade of 6"-8" travel rolling sofa trail bikes, suddenly cross-country seems to be getting re-discovered.  Behold, article at Singletracks mag: 

It's an Olympic Year, Which Means XC Mountain Bikes are Getting Sexy Again

I really, really dig that tire in the first picture.  That on the back and some medium knobs up front just look like an extra 10% speed.

But of course we already knew all about how sexy XC mountain bikes really are.

BTW, Singletracks online mag is a pretty good mountain bike resource.  It doesn't quite have the down-home funk of 90's Dirt Rag, but hell, what does?  Seems to be one of the better thing going these days.