sers

About 3 weeks ago I posted a pic of my new Mark V out of the box.

Here's how I have it set up at the moment...



...complete with brakes and toe clips!

I really like my new Thomson Elite Stem. While it doesn't have a sexy drop, it has allowed me to get low on drop bars comfortably. I think it looks rad as well. It's 1-1/8 x 5° x 130 x 26.0. I picked it up for $34 + shipping new on Ebay.

Upgrades aside, I'm in love with the thing. It's made Boston a lot smaller and more accessible. I guess it reminds me of when I got my first bike as a kid. It was sort of a bmx styled bike that you could lock up the rear tire by backpedaling, and skid all over the place. While I haven't gotten skidding on a fixie down yet, it's a hell of lot of fun to ride.


Also, here's a closeup of the seat that came with it - the IRO logo has since worn off:

Revit

nice man! looks awsome.
okay i have a newbie question...you know when u buy the bike set from IRO. does it come in assembled? like the bb is in . head set is installed .. wheels built.. all u need is to slip it in and tighten it?
or am i just a cheap/lazy bastard who cant be bothered to do it my self?

xunwedsailorx

again, flip your stem.

bostontrevor

Again, ride what's comfortable.

"Hey, look how sweet my bike is! Too bad I can't ride it for more than 10 minutes without hurting my back or my neck or riding on my stomach."

xunwedsailorx

brunop

duder! thing looks sex! way sex!

emayex

sweet deal on the stem....i still need one to match my seatpost....bahhhh

slopvehicle

Rubbercouch Rubbercouch Rubbercouch Rubbercouch

46x17

No! Do not flip the stem. It will make riding less comfortable.
The way it is set up is great! Screw that fashion nonsense!
I really dislike it when people do the threadless drop stem thing especially when they add spacers below it to get the right bar height again. The shorter your steertube is the less it likely it will bend, so the best thing you can do is chop it as low as you can and add a stem with a proper rise to get the right height.
If you can't get the right hight with a stem from a fully chopped steertube then your frame is too small.

wunder

Woooord! I like it.

(My Mark V has red Aeroheads and red bar tape)

kurremkarm

Nice bike, keep that stem where it is and use your drops!

xunwedsailorx

sers

When you take it out of the box, basically all you need to do is the following:

1) bolt front wheel on
2) install handlebars
3) install seatpost
4) install seat
5) install pedals

I ended up having inflate the tires a bit as well. So if you have an adjustable wrench and a set of metric allen wrenches, you're all good.

As far as the stem goes, it's going to stay that way. I'm way more comfortable on drops than I was on my old stem, and I have good visibility for city riding when dropped down as well. It's only 5 degrees, so it's not going to look that different flipped anyways.

DiegoFrogs

You might want to invest in a [decent] metric socket set, too... I can't stand the thoughts in my mind of an adjustable wrench chewing up your tracknuts. Actually you don't even need a whole set since your wheels are probably using 14mm tracknuts in front and 15mm in the rear. You can probably find what you need locally for a few bucks.

dolface

get a set of craftsmans from sears; relatively cheap, well made, and warantied for life.

if you buy cheap tools you'll end up breaking something and have to replace them anyway.

junioroverlord

In regards to the stem it might be nice to flip it. I used to mr high bars for a while til I got a new stem and bars with a nasty drop. At first I didn't like it, but now I can't stand being up too high. I like being able to kiss my front wheel.

Cynikal 

The beauty of threadless stems is that you can do both. Long ride, keep it up. Short ride or just f-ing around, drop it. Choices are great.

Surferbruce

looks good. no dummy hood? my other hand would be bummin.

tlupfer

how is it easier to flip a threadless stem than it is to move a quill up and down? i don't get it.

sers

i've actualllly disassembled the left brake, and seen how just the hood works. in practice, i very rarely have my hands on the top of the drops anymore. while it would serve the occasional purpose, the utility of the left brake hood would be limited.

all my brake does is save my energy for uphill pedaling.

LóFarkas

You don't have to hammer it for two hours and spill oil all over your room to move the wedge... Unscrew 6 or so bolts, flip, put bolts back in, tighten, go. (Ok, you have to readjust your headset as well) But threaded is a royal PITA, if you ask me. Threadless is so much simpler to deal with.

DiegoFrogs

You should try greasing your threaded stems... I have no problems adjusting mine up and down with only the one allen bolt.

Cynikal 

When did we start comparing threadless to threaded? I was referring to the responses to the post.

Revit

yeah i'm gonna get a set of SOMETHING so i can actually work on my current bike... e.g tightening brakes. nuts. stuff like that.

dolface

i know you're on a budget, but check out the bike kitchen link i posted in your pedal thread, and freewheel hayes also has a deal where, for $30, you get to use all the tools in the front of the shop to work on your bike. travis is often easy to coax into showing you how to do stuff if you don't know how.