A new racing rig.
My collection of bicycles will almost double in about 3 months this summer. I have to say, this addition to the fleet is pretty damn cool. Feast your eyes on the 2006 Specialized F.A.C.T.(functional advanced composite technology) Carbon S-Works hardtail frame. It weighed in at the shop with our highly accurate fish scale at 2.9 lbs. Then again at 3 lbs. I am going to shave almost a lb. off of the Salsa and will be flirting with a sub 20lb. mountain bike. This morning will be my last ride on the Salsa as it is now. Sniff, sniff. I will be building up the new S-W after my ride this morning. Then at some point next week building up the Salsa with my old parts from the Kona. Remember that frame? Booger green and dirty white. Once I build up those two bikes, I will be doing some work on my dads road bike. He is getting my old Ultegra parts. After that, I am flirting with the idea of building a single speed out of the old Kona. OOFTA, its going to be a busy couple of weeks for me building really, really cool bicycles. It will be nice to have two fully built mt. bikes
so other people came come riding with me. I know my roommate and my brother have been getting that old itch back. Its that itch to get back out on the bike and shred the gnar. I love that itch, and don’t think I will ever be able to fully scratch it. So hopefully I will have some really cool pictures for you guys to look at. New bikes and what not.
This week, is the week that I really start upping the ante on the training. Two-a-days are going to be a common theme now, and longer rides. This morning I plan on doing about and hour and a half on the Salsa, then in the evening we’ve got the Tuesday night ride. So a solid 3 and a half hours today. A day off tomorrow, then Thursday will be another 3-3 1/2 hours, and another ride on friday. The check for the 24 hours went in the mail last week. Last year, I was the 46th person out of 72 to sign up. Just for shits and giggles I sent mine in as early as possible to see how low of a bib number I could get. This years theme is "Grow a Spine".
I have never had a bike defeat me and have had to make that call to the customer "sorry sir, but we can’t get this part out and you will need to buy a new bike". I was worried that streak had come to an end last week. A customer brought in a very old Cannondale mt. bike for some service. Turned out he needed a new bottom bracket. The original was totally shot. Bearings, spindle, and cups all worn out. No big deal. remove old one, put new one in. This cup you are looking at is notorious for being a pain in the ass to get out. There are two flat spots on each side of the cup that are designed for the tool to settle on to remove. The problem with this design is keeping that tool on without sliding off. Especially when the cup is seized up and does NOT want to come out. After a couple of days of soaking, heating, soaking and heating it wasn’t moving. I wish I had a picture of this, but we had that bike upside down on the floor, one mechanic holding down the back end, another the front end, and my self holding the tool that had been clamped against the shell, winding up full swing with a hammer. This cup was so seized that the tool actually started digging into the cup. Nothing. I sent out for help and got a tip. Use a Dremel to grind out two notches that fit for a bmx freewheel tool. After about a half hour of grinding, more lubrication we FINALLY popped it free. All good right? No, It still took us an other 20 minutes just to un-thread the damn thing. I was worried that the cup was going to pull the threads out with it. I don’t think this bottom bracket was greased when it was installed at the factory over 15 years ago. Aluminum and Steel don’t like each other, and when putting two and two together grease has to be in the picture at some point. Luckily, it was ok. Some re-tapping and re-facing and the new BB was finally in and the customer has a bike back. Kudo’s to Jon for the helpful tip. It was like a huge load off my back. It was stressing me out at work. Yesterday was a good day and the first one in a looooong while at the shop. Looks like our heat wave is over for now. Time to ride and enjoy the sunshine. Cheers….
daily quote - "Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical" Yogi Berra
daily mt. bike term - tea party n. when a whole group of riders stop and chat, and nobody seems to want to ride on.
