looking at your frame, it seems you screwed up... it has vertical dropouts-- you can't make that frame a 'fixie'... so you better get rid of it and get one thaqt will accomodate :)

Seriously--a nice frame-- congratulations. I have several friends who have Kestrel's and they love them.

Enjoy it!

train safe-

Congrats on the safe arrival! You're going to have so much fun building it up -- we're looking forward to reading all about it.

My best to Tricia, who's demonstrating how to enjoy two of my favorite activities. ;)

Like a kid the day after Christmas I got up early to check and mke sure it was still here.

My 17 year old daughter came in and did a great acting job of trying to pick it up. "Heavy!"she said as she laughed at me.

Bud Bent: What bike are you waiting to be delivered?

This won't be finished until Friday. The headset fork, and cutting the fork, as well as installing the bottom bracket, are over my head so I'm getting some professional help (for the bike, wiseguys.)

I'm looking for a bait shop with a fish scale to weigh my existing bike and the compare this one. The bathroom scales are digital and only show .2 pound increments. Not that it matters. Everyone knows that new bikes are lighter and faster....

So is copper the new white? :D

That's wise. The BB part is easy but the headset requires special tools that are too expensive compared to what it costs to have the LBS do the work.
Regarding the fork I would rather have the LBS messing it up than myself, at least they will pay for a replacement if they crack it.
One thing to be careful with is tightening the stem and cap. Make sure to check the proper torque and use a torque-wrench. It can be done without it but don't overtighten the thing. I speak of experience as I once cracked a fork while installing a stem. :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=cccorlew]

This won't be finished until Friday. The headset fork, and cutting the fork, as well as installing the bottom bracket, are over my head so I'm getting some professional help (for the bike, wiseguys.)

QUOTE]


Are you re-cycling (oooo, a pun...) the components from one of your other bikes?

If so, you might need some special tools to get the crank arms/chain rings and/or the bottom bracket off the 'doner' bike, depending on the style of crankset and bottom bracket. If you don't have them, you will have to get your LBS wrench to take the doner bike's crankset apart.

When I did my BD build on the Bottecchia frame in October, I borrowed some tools from a buddy so I could get the crank arms off the square taper bottom bracket on my doner bike, and to get the bottom bracket bearings out of the frame, and then to put the bottom bracket into the new CF frame and torque it in. The crank arms were torqued with an 8mm hex key, I think (bike/tools in the basement, I'm upstairs).

If that frame uses an integrated headset (was it included from Bikes Direct on the 'buy'?), the head set bearings just slip into the top and bottom of the head tube. I did have my LBS set the crown race on the fork (about a 2 minute job), and then later cut it for me (another 2 minute job) after I decided how long to leave it.

Some other things you might consider:

New shifter and/or brake cable housings, and new cables for both.

And...the CF frame should be easier on the old bod'. The Bottecchia frameset is way smoother than the Trek 1000 I parted out.

Cut the steerer about 1" longer than you think you need it. It can always be recut at a later date- but difficult to get a stem with enough of a rise if cut short.

Explain to me why technology has developed a non-adjustable stem? That just seems like nonsense to me. Even if you own the bike for 20 years, you're going to want to adjust it up or down. Even in my first season riding again I was ready to adjust it down a little, and I sure know it's inches higher than it was than when I was in my 20's.

The answer has to be more than "to sell more stems", because, well, I'm a believer in free enterprise and capitalism!

I suspect that it has to do with making things more economical for the bicycle factories. For one thing, they only have to inventory one fork length and they don't have to thread them.

Whenever the bicycle manufacturers do something like that, they are real good at selling us on whatever the spin-off benefits might be. In this case, a threadless system turns out to be a little bit lighter even with a steel steerer tube.

Thanks for the warnings. My "help" is a bike pro, with all the requisite tools, knowledge and experience.
I was thinking I might leave the tube a hair long for a while, even though it will look pretty stupid. I guess I'll need more spacers tan i really need while I'm doing that.

And yeah, the idea I have to cut a tube, and then have only a tiny bit of adjustment is annoying.
I think I'll start a 50s rant/thread about it.

In other news, Tricia think we should hang it on the wall like sculpture until I start working on it.

Please reference the beautiful picture of the Bianchi TT machine in other post. See......an adjustable stem............look again...yes its adjustable! And if that doesn't warm your heart, look at Look ergostems. Count your money in your wallet first though.

I love adjustable stems. I just bought two more of them yesterday at the swap meet, for $2 each.

They are heavier, which is why many don't like them. You could make them out of carbon fiber, but I've never seen a CF adjustable stem.

What I like about them is that you can play around with different settings, then once you find what works, you have the option of purchasing a fixed stem at those measurements.

Specialized uses a variation of an adjustable stem on several of their bikes. It is a four position stem that weighs only a little more than a fixed stem. You can set it at -16 or -8, or flip it for +8 or +16 degrees.

I thought adjustable stems were for people who couldn't make up their minds.