It's Here

The UPS man stopped by this afternoon and delivered my frame and handlebars, but for some reason the rest of my parts aren't going to come until tomorrow. It looks like this may put me a day or two behind on the building process but I should still be riding by the weekend so it isn't a big deal. The frame looks great. The color is darker than it looked on the internet pictures but it looks really good. Although the frame isn't super light, it is light enough for a steel mountain bike. I expect the bike to be around 24 or 25 pounds when finished. I can't wait to get out on a ride with this thing. I'm going to be busy tomorrow night but hopefully I can find time to spray it down with Framesaver before going to bed. If I do, I should be finished building it by Thursday night and go on a nice long ride Friday afternoon. Here are some pictures for those of you not here, but I must warn you that good lighting and photography skills were absent from this photo shoot.

Anticipation

Sitting and waiting on my frame and parts to arrive is starting to wear on me. I am so anxious to get back on the bike that I find myself checking the UPS tracker several times a day even though I know that the stuff won't be here until Monday. On the good side, I know that everything is going to come in the next couple of days and that I should be riding by the end of the week at least. My Speedgoat order is scheduled to arrive on Monday afternoon so I am planning on treating it with Framesaver on Monday afternoon and letting it sit over night. Hopefully I can find some time on Tuesday afternoon to go by one of the shops and have the headset cups pressed in. It is tempting to do this myself with a cheap homemade press like this one but this headset isn't cheap and I don't want to screw it up. If I can get that done Tuesday then I should have time to assemble the rest of the bike on Wednesday afternoon. It is possible that I can get it built in time for a quick trip to the trail on Wednesday evening but even if I don't I should be back in the woods by Thursday afternoon. I went by the shop today and got Gennie for the afternoon so I could steal some parts. Now that I have those, all that I need are the handlebars and the stuff from the Speedgoat order. I can't wait to have this thing up and rolling. It has been almost six weeks since I have been on a mountain bike ride which is way to long to be off the bike. The guys at Cycling Spoken Here this morning said that Trek had lost my paperwork and that they had to resubmit the claim so who knows how long that is going to take. Fortunately, I don't have to wait on them any longer.

Once this project is complete, I guess I will have to start waiting on the '08 road bikes to come out. They had a new Madone at the shop this morning that was a really sexy bike. I haven't really been that interested in Trek but that bike definitely caught my interest. Then I saw the $3500 price tag. So it looks like a Specialized, Orbea, or maybe a Felt. Or it could be something totally different. Specialized and Orbea are my favorites right now. Specialized makes a good bike and they are definitely popular, but I am not a big fan of the giant corporation or having a bike just like everybody elses. Also, it looks like Specialized prices are going up in 2008. Then new Roubaix Comp is up to $2400 from $2200 last year. It looks like the only difference in the bikes is the paint color. I guess I will wait and see what they do with the Tarmacs. It is hard to beat the support of the smaller companies like Orbea where you can call them with a question have someone actually answer the phone and talk to you. Not that Orbea is that small but they are compared to Specialized. I am trying to support the small guys with this SS project and it is nice to not get lost in the crowd (see Treks warranty process). On the other hand, Orbea bikes are not as common and it is going to be hard to find one to test ride. The spesh is a relatively known commodity having ridden both Tarmacs and Roubaixs, although neither in my size. Hopefully one of the two will come out with a really sweet bike that blows the other out of the water so my decision will be easy.

Pulled the Trigger

Another sweet addition to the bike came last night when I won a set of carbon handlebars. They are the Monkeylite SL model which are at the very top of Easton's lineup. They are unbelievably light at only 135g (4.75 oz). This was the last big thing that I was really looking for on Ebay so I decided that it was time to move on from the hunter gatherer phase of this bike build and ordered everything else that I needed for now. It looks like this entire project is going to end up only costing me a little over $1200, not bad considering that this includes a workstand and some tools in addition to a top notch bike. All I need left to buy is a new set of pedals, seatpost, and a couple of water bottles. Hopefully I can snag some pedals and a seatpost off of Ebay soon or I can just use the ones from the Fisher. I am going to need to have a little bit of the labor done at a shop so I can pick up some bottles then. Nothing to do now but sit and wait for the mailman.

One of the reasons I am so anxious to get this bike built is that I still haven't heard anything from the shop about my new GF frame. I saw a thread here about a guy that broke his GF Rig in the same spot as mine (great design their Gary) and was told that they are out of those frames for 07. I am afraid that the same thing might be happening with the Tassajara and I do not want to wait any longer to ride than I have to. It has already been a month since my last good ride which is way too long.

Pictures and a new part

Last night I bought one of the final Ebay parts for the new bike, the crankset. I ended up getting a great deal on a brand new FSA Afterburner triple crankset instead of the Truvativ SS specific crank that I was planning on. It retails for about $240 and I payed $108 plus shipping. That includes the bottom bracket as well because this crank has the integrated external bearings. I'm not sure if I like the silver arms on this one as much as the black arms of the other cranks that I was considering but the bearings should be more reliable than Truvativ or RaceFace. I'll have to wait and see how it looks on the bike. Hopefully I can get some brake levers and new carbon bars in the next couple of days. Once I get those it will be time to order the frame and remaining parts. I expect this bike to be built and ready to ride in two weeks or so. Per Steve's request, here are some pictures of the one I used to love.

It begins

So I have been thinking lately of building up a killer singlespeed to replace the geared bikes that seem to stay broken. It seems that when you get to my size that most bikes just don't seem to hold up. After breaking both of the wheels on my Fisher on consecutive rides I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to a more durable set. Unfortunately, I only got a handful of rides on these wheels until I cracked the frame. With the bike in the shop getting fixed under warranty for the past three weeks, I got so desperate that I set up Ethan's old road bike, Emaline, and went out for a road ride with him. That bike lasted me about 1.5 rides and 25 miles before I snapped the chain and was left stranded in Cary. So I am hoping that if I get a beefy steel frame and ditch all of the unnecessary components, like the shifters and derailleurs, that I can ride a bike for a full year without it completely blowing up. Anyway here are the planned specs for my new ride:

Frame/Fork: Surly 1x1 22" Lemon Lime Green
Headset: Chris King in mango
Stem: Easton EA70
Handlebars: Easton Monkeylite Carbon Risers
Grips: Oury in orange
Levers: Avid Speed Dial Ti
Cables/Housing: Jagwire Ripcord in Maxxis Orange
Brakes: Avid BB7
Crank: Truvativ Stylo SS
Front Wheel: Shimano XT disc hub mated to a Mavic XC717 rim
Rear Wheel: Surly New Disc Hub mated to a Salsa Delgado rim
Freewheel: 18t ACS Claws
Tires: Panaracer Fire XC Pro
Seatpost: Whatever I can get cheap
Saddle: Fizik Aliante
Pedals: Time Atac
Cages: Alloy cages in orange


This bike is going to sweet looking with the green frame and orange accessories. I have been searching Ebay for the last couple of weeks for some good parts for cheap and so far I have the rear wheel, stem, cages and saddle. The brakes and front wheel are definitely coming off of the current bike. I am planning on buying the frame/fork, headset, tires, and cranks new and I may get some of the smaller stuff new while I am at it (How much will I really save by getting grips off of Ebay?). If I steal some temporary parts from the Fisher the only thing I really need to get is a good set of carbon bars and maybe a seatpost. Hopefully I can get some pics up later of the things I already have but until then enjoy the riding.