veneer

jeff.. yeah.. i'm going to go out for a ride tonight for sure.. i rode around the parking lot yesterday when i picked it up.. felt like a nice ride.. but much more aggressive than my commuter sirrus. so, last night i got my old supergo pedals on there.. so going for a ride after work..

that reminds me.. still gotta transfer the cyclocomputer over to my new ride..

veneer

here's my ride report... it's only a 7 mile ride.. but did some errons while i was at it.

what can i say..... i was nervous, excited, thrilled, exilerating.. and so much more all cramped into 1.

it is f-ing sweet! this was a huge difference between sora 8 speed on a 23lbs bike vs. my fetish 9 speed ultegra.

the shifting was way smoother! (couldn't tell the difference between ultegra 10 on the scatt vs. my ultegra 9 speed)

the wheels.. well.. here was the part that i was nervous about.. because i never rode custom wheel with 23mm tires and on a true road bike at that! i was nervous about how it handled and kept looking to make sure i don't run over some potholes or things like that..

just when i was confident the wheel is fine.. and no pothole near by... bam... ran over a 3" threaded nail then after that.. shatter glass from car accident or something like that.. and guess what.. continental GP3000 held up well!

so after calming down.. i decided to ride up the little hills leading to those rich neighborhood 550K and up condos... and man! i guess i was riding a 39/21 or something (my cassette is 12/25) and it felt so lite taht i couldn't believe myself going up the hill that would normally make me turn around and ride downwards. so then i kept going and going weaving in and out of the neighborhood with different small hills... and it's great i tell you! mike garcia's wheel is really good!

granted it's only a 7 miles ride.. i went to test out to make sure all shifting is good. one thing i've noticed is on 39/12,.... chain rubs against front deraileur.. is that normal? 39/25 is fine... like wise 53/12. before i forget.. during my 7 miles ride.. i wanted to see how fast 53/12 really is... and man it's like i'm running twin turbos with 100 shots of NOS! ok ok.. it's not that fast.. but u get the point! hell if i had an exhaust.. i'd be shooting out fireballs like Fast n' Furious...

but i'm hoping to ride more tomorrow night... for now.. i'm exhausted from being bored at the jury duty! i have to report tomorrow morning at 9am again to see if i'll get picked. sigh!

blandin

Glad to see you got a ride in and happy to hear about the hill climbing and your satisfaction with your new MG wheels. Riding in 39/12, or 53/25, for that matter is called cross chaining and it should be avoided as its hard on the drive train and it will rub as you noticed. Next we should see a longer report on a longer ride!

jitteringjr

It is possible to get the 39-12 combo to work smoothly, but it has to be perfectly dialed in. However, it isn't a gear you should be spending much (probably any) time in. Are you saying that the FD rubs in the 53-12 too? If so, then that is not right.

veneer

blandin.. yup.. i can't wait for the long ride as well. but it feels like i'm kinda stretched forward. i'm already using a 110mm stem (which on the hood i can't see my front hub), but i'm guess perhaps i have the seat too far back.. cuz i'm sitting on the nose of the saddle more than the arse part. so still got some more stuff to dial in first.

jitter.. nope.. only 39/12... on the 53/12 it's perfect. i'll try not to use the 39/12... cuz i didn't think it was right either.

i've adjusted my cleat position on the shoes. before it was mainly toward the front of the toe.. but now i've move it as far back as possible so it's more on the middle of my feet. that really help me with my climb.

ZappCatt

dude, when are we going riding????
not even a ping to tell me you were going on the maiden voyage???

cryogenic

Nice bike.. the white is really clean. Just to warn you, though... on paper it's 17.9 but in reality it's going to be well over 18 lbs. Mine came out to under 17 lbs on paper and weighed in at 17.5 on the scale. I'm still happy either way.

Treespeed

Where can I find those frames?

Grasschopper

eBay

Hey Veneer - the cleat position should put the ball of your foot over the pedal spindle rather than in the middle of your foot.

53-11_alltheway

Good call with the blue rims. It's a clean looking machine. Nice stance on it too.

White bar tape always looks better than black, but you got to always wear gloves when you ride. Haha, then keep your gloves clean too.

Good job putting that bike together. Once you figure out the gear adjustment procedure you won't even need the LBS except for wheel truing, etc.

veneer

Zapp... i would've ping u.. but got too excited when i got home.. so went out to get a lottery ticket before it's too late.. so took my baby with me... u got time to ride this weekend? i know E is in Utah now.. not sure when he'll be back.. perhaps you can come over and try that "hill"

Cryo.. i know.. it will be heavier around 18lbs or so.. which is what i was really aiming for. sure if it's under 18lbs.. then wooohoo.. otherwise.. i'm cool either way!

Treespeed.. not gonna tell you! i want to be unique!!!
Grasschopper... damn you! hahah.. treespeed better not get the same frame.. lol... j/k

53-11.. yeah i know.. once i know how to do the deraileur adjustments.. then i'll be my own lbs.. haha. good call on the gloves.. my old ones are too damn dirty... got any recommendations anyone???

cryogenic

I use Louis Garneau ErgoAir gel gloves and they work great. They're pretty well padded in the palms but they have mesh between the pads and on the top so they keep your hands pretty cool... You can turn your palms face-out and get some airflow through the gloves to cool your hands off if you get hot. I think they were $30 at my LBS.

veneer

cool.. i'll keep that one in mind. i think i was looking at a pair of LG's or cdales.

ViperZ

Great job! Your bike has to be one of my favorite DIY'ers here. It looks clean, tight and well spec'ed. It reminds me of a nicely made Hot Rod.

The pictures made me want to take it for a spin badly

veneer

thanks ViperZ.. i very proud of my build too. especially when i was watching all this OCC and American Hot Rod shows added with all this Home Improvement shows.. it got my mind thinking of building my own bike. voila~

Smoothie104

Thumbs up on the white tape, its all I ever use.

veneer

yup.. love the white tape too. but it does get dirty fast though. good think i learned how to wrap it now.

Timanator

Thats awesome.

Whats the specs on the parts and prices and source....


: )

veneer

check my second post with all the product specs. i've added my shopping list on there as well. all of my pricing already have tax included and is rounded up. so i went over the budget by about close to $100.

Apollo

Where did you buy the frame from and how did you get "fitted" for it?

I've been thinking of doing a "project" bike myself. Perhaps a "Project Me."

~Apollo

cslone

I bought the same frame off ebay for my little brother. I am going to build it for him here in the next month or so. I picked up a sweet deal on some used Rolf Vector Comps in red and a large portion of Ultegra components. I think I'm going to do red bar tape though, to match the wheels.

veneer

i bought the frame from ebay after speaking with the guys down at Fetish Cycles in AZ. as for fitting, i knew my size was around 53-54cm. i figured the rest i can tinker with the stems and seatpost to get a closer fit.