i ordered some of those formula/mavic wheels for michele, my domestic partner/common-law wife/girlfriend, and they arrived today so i have a delimma.

do i covert the bike for her while she's at work and surprise her, or wait until she's here and let her do it herself/help her do it?

Wait for her! She'll be more attached to the bike if she helped make it.

Whoa, actually a very good question....
Does she have interest in assembling at all?

Surprises are awesome

unless she expressly asks you to do it for her, let her do it, and offer to help if she'd like.

don't be a "i built this for my GF." those are the worst.

wait for her.

haha i'm not sure. probably. she was pretty intent on ordering the parts herself as opposed to me doing it for her.

maybe i'll just strip it down of all the unnecessary stuff and prep it for her. i need to go buy her a chainring cause her current set up is biopace, which i know can work, but seems like it'd be a hassle.

If she was intent on ordering them herself, then definitely wait for her.

what's michelle like? is she interested in the technical?

My wife loves her Bridgestone conversion, but would be perfectly happy if i made a neccessary upgrade or repair without her knowledge (which i do often). she just likes to ride it.

On the other hand my buddy's GF Summer wants to be envolved in every step of the build, so she learns as it goes.

They both have their merits.

yeah, i know you're right. but a surprise is always nice! i guess i just won't tell her the wheels are here, then she'll be surprised by that and she can convert it when she gets home

alright, let her do it herself is the way to go! i knew that from the get go, but i have a tinkering urge right now, plus i'm trying to put off writing a paper. i'll go buy a chainring though. thanks folks!

what would you want HER to do? Wait.

I am totally calling her right now and ruining it for you.

and why would that be?

see, you answered your own question.

haha! she left her cell phone at home! you don't have her work number do ya!?

awww. evanyc is a nice guy!!

i think you should teach her how to as well.

learning things you can put to use is the best!

It makes it seem like YOU want her to ride fixed instead of her wanting to ride fixed for herself.

is it possible that YOU are reading such nonsense into what i said?

and it's a single speed.

I know where she works, holmes. You are totally screwed.

my girlfriend would kill me if i touched her bike and didn't involve her in the process. the only thing she's ever really needed help with was getting an uber-tight cog off of a hub and having me double-check the tightness of the cog and lockring after she replaced them. sometimes she needs a reminder about reverse-threading.

but yeah. she'd kill me...

yeah, she's the one that decided she wanted to go SS/fixed and i never pressured her to do so, so it would be silly of me to build it for her. she wants to ride it and i'm sure she wants to build it. the only reason i really considered doing it for her is because of the nice surprise it would be, and cause i love tinkering, but she does too so it'd be selfish of me to do the build. glad i didn't let my lust for toying with bikes win over! thanks BF for helpin me keep it real!

I didn't mean to direct that at you personally. I'm speaking in generalities. 99% of the time I hear someone say "I built this for my GF/Wiff/Hetero Life partner", I get the feeling the other person wasn't interested in riding or building the bike, and they are trying to mold the other person into their lifestyle.

I would let her do it...but don't be a "I'll stand over your shoulder the entire time" guy

don't you have that cirlce A yet to tinker with?

Why don't you prep for her, like get out all the parts and the tools, pour some wine, surprise her with the fun activity you can do together? Aww...