Sometime ago I had made a post about a friend who bought a new Legend Safari recurve bow. If you remember the post I was thrilled with the way that bow shot and I had made up my mind that sometime in the near future I was going to contact Mike Rash at Legends bows and have him build one for me. Well, I got the opportunity to see mike not to long ago when he came out to my archery club and was showing some of his bows to everybody. I had made up my mind that today I was ordering a new Safari. Well, Mike started pulling out his new longbows, The Cyclone, and he asked me if I wanted to try one. Me being a bow-a-holic that I am I told him yes. After about two dozen arrows from that Cyclone and I had a big problem. Which bow should I get. That Cyclone shot like no other longbow I had ever shot, and I've owned and shot my share, believe me. After a long debate with myself I decided on the Cyclone. I couldn't wait for mike to get it done. Then, he called me one evening and said I could pick it up. I could hardly wait for Saturday to arrive. I drove up to Mikes shop and he brought out this beautiful bow. My pictures with my lousy cell phone do not do this bow any justice at all. It is truly beautiful. When I got to shoot the bow I had forgot just how smooth this cyclone longbow is. It's like eating Cinnabon's at the mall. There should be a law aganist it.







After a little experimenting, and changing the rest a bit along with the brace height, I got the bow shooting really good. I had it shooting right away really well with aluminum arrows, then decided I wanted to stay with woods. I settled on 5/16 35-40's cut at 29 inches and they fly beautiful.

Here's a shot of 20 yards


Here's a shot at 30 yards


Now, I'm no rookie. I been shooting a very long time and I can honestly say this is the best longbow I have ever laid my hands on. I can't even tell you everything he does to the bow to make it shoot this well. He has a secret sauce he uses and he will have to fill you in if he reads this. All I know is this bow will never leave my possession.

To make matters worse, before I left I was going to go ahead and order that Safari that I had intended to buy. Then Mike said, "hey Don, you ever shot my Tornado?" Nope! So, I took one he had out behind the shop and just lowered and shook my head. Yep, the Tornado went home with me too. I still don't own a Safari. I fill everyone in on the Tornado after I get to spend some time with it. But, I can tell, I'm lovin it already! If your not on Mikes Cyclone pass around list, well, you should be. You'll be missing out for sure if you don't get to shoot this bow. I wish I had one of these 10 years ago. Great service, and a really great guy. I might even go visit him even if I don't have a bow order sometime    Thanks Mr. Rash. I'm really pleased.

Congrats on the bow, and nice shooting!

Those are some beautiful bows!

Beautiful bow!  I love that feeling when you really connect with a bow.

What is the riser length on it?

Thanks so much Don for your kind words and im glad your happy with your bows.Don wont brag on himself so i will.Don has won more archery titles than probably he can even remember.He shot wheel bow no sights class and lost very few in state and national events.Its nice to see him step into the trad world and im sure he will make a name for himself in trad in no time.Not only is he a wealth of shooting info but he is a very down to earth modest guy.I have known of the name Don Barkley for years.He is kinda a legend in our parts.Don also has a very nice collection of traditional bows he told me about.I hope to see them sometime.It was really a honor to build a bow for Don,and to have him this excited only makes it better.Thanks again Don.

Hey Mike,

If owning one of your bows will tighten up my 30 yard groups like Don's here, I'm going to have to have one myself.

Look forward to seeing you at Western States Rendezvous.    

That a good looking bow Don. and outstanding groups!  

Sorry Kirk,my groups dont look like that when i shot it.Don shot diffrent arrows out of that bow when he picked it up,all his groups looked like that.Amazing!Don made it look so easy.Yep Western States will be a very nice getaway.Should be fun.

Wow. Thanks for the compliments. But I forgot to mention, those antler limb bolts were made by Leon (grayfeather) and are the best I've seen. Mike had a box at the shop and I don't believe I saw a ugly one in the bunch. Really beautiful.  

Very nice!

Don,

Welcome to the crew. I feel the same way about my cyclone. It will always stay with me. I look forward to you getting out and shooting with the Legends crew.

Congrats on the new bows Don and Good Shooting!...

Don .Nice shooting and nice bow. That's the best shooting I've seen.
George

Very nice bow!

nice shooting Don !

Nice looking bow    Great shooting  

Congradulations-Nice form-Hap

My shootings not all that good, but thanks for saying so. The main thing is I know there are lots of bows out there to shoot and I wanted everyone to know that Mike makes one heck of a bow and anyone considering a bow purchase should really include a Legend in their decision making. No kidding. It's worth whatever trouble it takes to try one out.

Bill, thanks buddy. Looking forward to it.  

Nice bow and nice shooting!

What ever you say Don. I have seen you shoot and those groups you shoot dont happen by thier self.I Have always said my bows can shoot better than i can,you proven that.