Ready to Ride!

One sick kid and then one sick wife meant no overnight trip for me this week, which left me with time to build the new bike. And it didn't take long. I had been acquiring parts over the last six months thinking I'd either upgrade the old Rig or buy a new frame. John at Cyclewerx hooked me up with some Race X Lite's on closeout last fall, Dwayne gave me a deal on the Juicy Ultimate's he took off his Superfly (in return for me ebaying the rest of his take-offs), and somewhere along the line I picked up a new set of XT cranks, King cog, and chain.

All the new parts I scored had been sitting in the basement since last fall, but I just couldn't get myself to put them on the Rig. After 4 seasons and 2115.0 miles, the Rig was tired. But, everything on that bike just kept on going... and going... and going and didn't seem to need replacing. So why waste the good stuff when those parts deserved a better home anyways? I tell people all the time, but I'm still quite amazed at how well everything held up on the Rig. I never once touched the stock hubs and the rear wheel was maybe trued twice. I had the same chain, cog, and chainring on the entire time (wow!), and the original BB7 brake pads are still in place (who are these people that wear out a set in a race?!?). Even the Reba held up beautifully, requiring only one change of oil and an upgrade to Enduro seals around the 1k mark. Still, it was time for a new ride.

Using the above mentioned new parts and the WCS stem/handlebar and Thomson post from the Rig, I had everything on the new bike last night minus the brakes. I dropped it off at Alpine Shop this afternoon for Chris to install those and cut the steerer tube and picked it up tonight after bedtime. Before I left, we put it on the scale. Dan told me over the weekend that his 2009 (with rigid fork) weighs in around 18 lbs. He even made me pick it up to see he wasn't bs'ing (even if he usually is). Still, Chris and I took guesses and I went conservative and said 23. My Rig stock was somewhere around 27 lbs and with my setup around 25.5. The Superfly weighed in on Alpine's scale at 21.5 lbs complete. Wow!

Not one to be one-upped, BLM was walking into Alpine as I was on my way out. He (and Chris too) couldn't let me be the only DRJ guy on the new SS so he ordered one up last week only hours after I did, but in some silly huge size of course. Brenden's should be built tomorrow and he seems to think I need to wait for him for the maiden voyage, in memory of old times I'm guessing. So the first ride will either be late tomorrow night at Lost Valley or Chubb Friday afternoon. Either way, I can't wait!