Wow, leaving work and who do I see, the UPS guy! I asked him if he had a delivery for me, and he said "Yeah, I think its a bicycle or something!". .008 seconds later, I have the hatchback open and both seats laid down so I get to bring my first new bike in 10 years home.

First off I notice a rather large hole in the box...

Next, I started unpacking:

I notice a few scratches. The seatpost sure doesn't bother me, and the skewer (where it poked out of the box) isn't too bad either, but I sure hate to have my lever scratched right out of the box. Looks like the seatpost and lever got together. The protective paper on the lever had slid down enough for the scratching to occur.

Next I popped in the seatpost... waaaay too high, but I didn't want to scratch it, and have to move it up where the scratch could be seen.

Items not installed, or extra were pedals and clips, front brake, and extra red bar tape. Spiffy reflectors too!

Bar went on next. Its been a long time. I hope I got the routing correct. Cable housings could use a trim.

I hope I put the brake on correctly. Not sure if the include washers were needed. I didn't see a use for them, and left them off.

The brake cables were a bit long so I trimmed them and added some shrinkwrap tubing.

wow looks nice, whats that RD? Tiagra?

Bike looks hot, especially the wheels!!!

Now the first problem. My bell mountain bike pump wouldn't get the front tire past 70lbs, and when I started pumping the back tire, I noticed a bulge.
I deflated, and checked the tube for proper seating and tried again. Same result. Pretty obvious when its rolled. The sidewall looks thin in the area of the bulge.
I emailed chicabike to see what my options were. Hopefully I'll get a replacement.

Next step is to get a decent pump, and a safe rear tire (front looks fine).
So far, my experience isn't perfect, but I really like the bike, and look forward to getting everything setup.
If anyone notices any improvements I could make on initial setup, please let me know!


Thanks ovoleg, Sora on the front, tiagra on the rear. Looks pretty decent, but of course I'm used to browsing the bikes at Walmart

All I can say is I would pay the $40 and have a pro put it together... unless you know how to true wheels, adjust hubs, adjust a headset, etc etc... it really scares me to hear someone say "I hope I put this brake together", though it looks as if you did... just thinking about your safety though, the longevity of the bike and the safety of anyone you may be riding with.

Here's where I stand right now... got the seat close and adjusted the bars a bit. I'm wondering if I should start with the stem high, seeing as how I haven't ridden a rodie in about 10 years.

or maybe just take it around the block and kick the tires, but yeah--have a wrench look at it before you put any miles on, or take any descents

congrats, btw

I really like the look of the bike actually!!! Too bad your having bad luck with the rear tire, those tires look awesome in red!

I understand where you're coming from seely, but there aren't any bike shops within 75 miles of twisty mountain road here.
If I don't get it right...its wrong!

I'm just thinking, if you don't have the headset adjusted right, and ovalize the head tube, you're out a frame... 75mi to me would be worth it to make sure its built right so you have a good starting point, but its your call.

75mi is FAR!

I would bring it to the LBS anyways just so they can fix the rear tire or hopefully buy a new tire. At this point, you might as well get everything dialed in correctly. Looks like you did a good job though

I do appreciate it, but working on my own equipment is as much fun to me as riding it. I just rebuilt a 1971 Harley Davidson superglide from the frame up a few summers ago, and I try to do all my basic auto mechanics work as well. I teach at a vocational school and love to wrench on my own toys.
Resources like parktool.com are a lifesaver for me.
That 75 mile shop is a mountain climbing/kayak/rafting/running/skiing/bike shop with a couple of floor salespeople who are great folks, but not exactly who I would want setting up my bike. They pretty much stock a few mountain bikes, and the occasional roadie. I'm not sure who puts theirs together, but honestly I don't think its much better than the average Walmart assembler.
I wish I did have a nice shop locally so I could take your advice...

Lookin good Newberry! That is exactly how my Motobecane came, in fact, that looks like the same box. I noticed that your front brake is mounted with just one of those thick ridged washers between the fork and the caliper. When I did that my front brake pads were touching the fork so I went to my lbs and got another washer just like it that moved it away from the fork a bit further. Do your pads contact the front fork?

Hey JF1, Nope, no contact. I did have to line the pads up with the rim of course, but everything else is working fine.

If I just had a tire and some air! Oh well, supposed to rain here for the next few days due to the latest superstorm. That will give me some time to doublecheck everything.

What's up with the maple leaves?

.

I guess the artists in the factory in taiwan thought they were way cool.

I'm seriously considering removing all the stickers (except the kinesis and downtube stickers). It looks like a heat gun would take them right off. What I'd really like is to get to ride it!

They're probably under clearcoat. Might be hard to remove them without also removing/damaging some of the paint underneath.

Re: the front brake. I had the same experience with my Dawes Lightning Sport...5 washers with no explaination for where they went. I assembled the front brake as you have shown and so far, no problems.

I'm a few weeks into owning and riding and I continue to be very pleased...well enough that we just bought my wife a bike from Chicabike as well.

BTW, your's is a lot cooler looking than the one I bought!