Spotted: Wonder Woman and the KeeWee Cromozone

I’d barely arrived at the Malverns Classic when we were rolling through the camping field and spotted the kind of freak bike collection that no self-r …

By stwhannah

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Spotted: Wonder Woman and the KeeWee Cromozone

I misread the title as “Wonder Woman and the SheWee Chromosome”

I misread the title as “Wonder Woman and the SheWee Chromosome”

you are not the only one!

Love a mad ride like that. Giz a go on yer bike…

Remember seeing KeeWee bikes all over NZ in the early 2000’s, big indestructible things that suited a lot of agricultural riding!  Had forgotten all about them.

There was a 5th element shock on a Heckler I bought at some point, ti spring made a massive difference to the overall weight – was a fancy bit of kit at the time (2003?).

I had a KeeWee Chromo8.  They were imported into the UK by some chap that went by the name of Topshelf on Southern Downhill.  Looking at the pics the Chromo8 design has aged a lot better than the Chromozone. It was actually a pretty good bike, long wheelbase for the time and the linkage was low so it sucked the ground.

Topshelf Components was a shop, they also  imported Aireal hubs, oddly enough the Switch was probably the first hub with easily replaceable caps (no messing about with circlips like Bulbs) and can be upgraded with the same Novatec caps used for the Superstar Switch. Mine are still going strong 19 years later.

My Keewee Chromo 8 is in the garage. I’ve built it up as a bit of a restomod with more up to date parts and I bloody love it.  It doesn’t get ridden much because bikes have changed and the shape feels weird now,  It’s a bit short at the front long at the back.  BITD it was the longest most stable bike imaginable, but now, it’s shorter overall than my trail/enduro bike.

Re the Aireal hubs – I’ve also got a set of those from Topshelf – they are lovely things and mine are also going strong on my DJ Curtis.  Nicely quiet things they are.

I,ve still got my Keewee Chromozone  frame hung up in the garage! I loved it at the time but looking back it was SERIOUSLY heavy (Monster Ts, Sunn Doublewides, Cromo cranks ect). I retired it when someone in either French or British baggage handling put a big dent in the downtube by (presumably) standing on it and the pedal that was taped to it. This was coming back from Morzine one year.