New stuff

I haven't updated in a while and it was brought to my attention recently that some people are actually keeping up with this so hear goes. Sorry, no pictures though. I will post some when I get back to my apartment in a few days.

I got the rear wheel last week. I decided to go with the velocity deep v instead of the dp18 because I could afford to. Now that I have it I really can't tell a difference between the two aside from the velocity comes with a fancy cloth-ish rim strip. The surly cog on the other hand seems like a solid piece of equipment if ever their was one. Comparing it to my other cog I can definitely tell that the surly one was cast or forged, and not stamped which hopefully means it will last quite a long time.

I hit up the bike shop in bucktown this weekend to pick up a new lock, and just to see what kinda stuff they had that the shop in Kalamazoo might not carry. Aside from a shit load of chrome bags it was a pretty average shop. I asked one of the guys if they sold used parts, specifically a seatpost, and he seemed genuinlely surprised that I would be asking for bike parts in a bike store. Nonetheless, they had a new one for 20 bucks so I got it. Now all I need to get is a saddle and a track chain. For some reason chains are either 10 dollars or like 75 dollars and nowhere inbetween. I would really like to get a nice saddle like a fizik or a san marco, but they are so goddamn expensive. I'm probably just going to get the nashbar one, not bad looking for 14 bucks.

Front wheel

Got my aerospoke in the mail at 9 am today. It is a lot heavier than I would have imagined, about three pounds I would estimate. I went to the shop and get some tubes and put them on the wheel. I can really tell the difference in quality between the rubinos and the cheap stock tires on my other bikes. The rubinos feel about twice as thick, and were a lot easier to put on.



Still searching for a saddle. I will probably just end up getting a plain nashbar one until I find one that I like that isn't ridiculously expensive. Ditto on the seatpost.

Almost done

Ordered my front wheel today. I was going to wait until I got my tax returns to get this but my auctions have been going pretty well, and the guy offered me a deal. Anyone who knows me can probably guess what its going to be. Another classic example of things that are still cool to me, but would totally get me made fun of if I were riding in a big city.

All that I have left to get it a seatpost and a saddle. Both of these things cost stupid amounts of money. Especially seatposts. A name brand one can cost around 60 bucks. As for now I'm just trying to find a plain chrome one, but its a lot harder than it sounds as most of them are black or not the right size. I found a chain I got two years ago that I was originally going to put on my Langster but never got around to it. I don't remember what size it is so hopefully it works out.

Good mail day

Got my handlebars and pedals from Ben's today. If only all ebay sellers shipped so fast. Here is everything I have so far. I took the MKS clips and straps from my langster. I'm trying to find some affordable double straps, but so far no luck. I might end up ordering some doublelizers from cadence depending on how much they are.

No mail monday, presidents day, bullshit

Little comment

My stem and grips came today, pretty exciting. I took the stem to work today and hit it with some stainless steel cleaner, and now it looks like a mirror. I wrapped it in saran wrap to keep it clean and deter me from putting it on my other bike. Its pretty heavy too, about a pound. I wonder what the alloy jaguar weighs... Grips seem to be of decent quality and if they suck they were only ten bucks so no big deal.

My frame, fork, cranks, chainring, headset, and bottom bracket are delayed until late march which kind of sucks because I think I will be able to afford the rest of the parts in the next two weeks or so ( seatpost, saddle, front wheel, and chain), which is a hell of a lot faster than I ever expected to have everything purchased. Plus it would be nice to actually install the parts as I recieve them instead of just having a bunch of bike parts on my floor, but what are ya gonna do? Hopefully my wheel, cog, and lockring come tomorrow, then I will have an excuse to go to the bike shop and get a tube.

Makin that honey

My last round of auctions ended two nights ago. Not as much as I had hoped to make, but enough to buy some quality parts. I have some hard decisions coming up about which records I am going to sell next. Some pretty expensive records possibly on the table. I'm sure I'll definitely be psyched to sell them as soon as parts start coming in the mail and I can actually start putting the bike together.

Speaking of parts I ordered my handlebars and pedals from Ben's ebay store last night. For some reason it costs $12 bucks to ship handlebars if you buy them off their site, but only $7.50 to buy from their ebay store. Anywho here's what I ordered:

Nitto B123 39 cm cro-mo



MKS Pedals


I wasn't really sure what to look for in pedals as they never really made a difference to me. MKS has never done me wrong in the past, and the price was pretty good too. As for now I am out of money so more parts are going to have to wait for a bit. I'm having a hard time finding a saddle that I like so it will give me some time to decide.

Tires

I found the vittoria rubinos I was going to order for 10 bucks cheaper than retail on ebay today so I picked them up. The boxes are a little beat up, but the tires are still brand new, folded and everything.

Still no word from Flyleaf. I will drop them an e-mail if I don't hear from them tomorrow. I ordered some tracks grips last night too. There was a bunch of different brands and prices so I just ordered the ones in the middle of the price range. They are this style:



I've been shopping around for handlebars too. I know what I'm going to buy as I have wanted them for about 2 years, but more on that later...

Nice stems v. 2

Well I will not be getting the mystery stem. I just do not want to spend the money and have it not fit correctly in my frame as I am on a pretty tight budget. I messaged the seller and he said he will second chance the other bidder, no problem.

As fate would have it there was a STEEL 110mm Nitto Jaguar up on ebay. This is a true track stem that is way to expensive for me to buy new. It retails from Ben's for $124.99 and I ended up getting it for $69 including shipping. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Its technically used, but looks brand new to me. It was even used by a Keirin racer which is pretty cool. Here's a picture of the actual stem from the auction:



- 110 mm
- 58 degree drop
- steel
- 25.4 clamp
- 100% awesome

My wheel guy was supposed to send me a paypal invoice today so I could get my wheel paid for, but he didn't. I'd like to pay for it asap so I don't spend all the money in my paypal account and then have to wait to raise some more. Hopefully he'll send it tomorrow...

Nice stems

I bid on a nitto stem the other night on a whim not expecting to win it, but I woke up this morning with a paypal invoice.



I'm not sure what the exact model is because it was just listed as a used nitto track stem with a 65 degree drop. The bottom of it looks different than the other quill stems I've seen. Who knows, maybe I just bought a piece of shit, but if it works out it saved me $40 bucks. If not I will just put it back on ebay or in the trade section on bikeforums. It was listed under vintage parts which I didn't realize when I bid on it so hopefully it still fits on my new frame. Heres a quick recap of stuff I still need to get:

- Tires
- Saddle
- Seatpost
- Chain
- Front Wheel
- Handlebars
- Pedals
- Straps

I might pick up some mks chain tensioners too, but I want to see if I can manage without them first.

Rolling right along

I finalized my wheel order with Longleaf Bicycles today, white velocity rim with silver spokes and a fixed/free hub. I decided to go with the Veloctiy rim because there is no point in buying the crappy yet cheaper DP-18 if I can afford the Velocity. Despite the picture I'm not ordering from wheel and sprocket. I e-mailed them about it and they didn't get back to me; just one of several companies I have tried to contact that doesn't seem to want my money.



Along with the wheel I'm also ordering a 16 tooth surly cog and lockring from the same shop. I was originally going to order those parts from my local bike shop, but Longleaf gave me a deal on the lockring and said they would install it on my wheel for free so I'll end up saving $15-20 bucks. I think my LBS charges $10 to put a cog and lockring on ( I have zero bike tools apart from allen wrenches).

I have changed my mind about the all white tires based on some bad reviews and the fact that they will get dirty almost instantly. I'm probably going to end up getting vittoria rubinos with white sidewalls. Still fits the color scheme, but just an over all better tire than the zaffiro that won't get dirty as fast.

No turning back now!

Its a strange feeling spending a lot of money. On one hand I'm beyond excited to get my stuff, and on the other hand I'm just thinking damn that was a lot of money. Oh well, I'm sure my mood will change when I get a 5 foot package from UPS in a couple weeks. The best part is I still have some money left over so I can start buying other parts now! Ebay is going to be a better resource than I thought because a lot of online shops like Ben's and Eighthinch also have ebay stores. Eighthinch's prices are all the same in their eBay store, but for some reason you get free shipping when you buy through ebay, whatever, I'm not complaining.

I found a shop online called the Bikesmiths to build a wheel for me, but I will have to call in the custom order. That means I will have to transfer funds from my paypal into my bank account. No big deal, but it takes about a week for the money to actually show up in my account. Who knew selling records could be so profitable? Ok I did.

Score one for me

Alien is now offering pre-painted frames in black and white for 50 bucks cheaper than buying the frame and the powdercoat separate. They are only offering black and white which is perfect because I am buying a white one anyway. The frames are backordered until February 26th, but that doesn't matter because it would take the extra time to powdercoat it anyway if I got a regular one. This bike may come together sooner than expected if things keep going this way (knock on wood). My first round of auctions end tomorrow night. If all goes well I could possibly order the frame on monday. AWESOME!

I'm having a bit of trouble finding a rear wheel. I'm looking for a white Velocity or Weinmann with silver spokes and nipples, and a silver or white hub. The problem is that everyone I've contacted who stocks these wheels only sells them as pairs. Oh well, I still have plenty of time to find one.

66.6666%

Sold some records on the Vinyl Collective board last night for a quick $150 bucks. I'm now 2/3 of the way to placing the first big order. I'm going to call or e-mail Alien before I order online to see what their stock situation is. I know there was a group buy on Bikeforums that started in November I want to say and their bikes still are not in yet. Alien's site says a few sizes are out of stock until February, but who knows. I'd rather order knowing that my stuff will get here relatively quick instead of ordering all of it and waiting like 3 months. Hopefully this is not the case as I really have my heart set on an Alien frame.

I realized today that I couldn't care less what kind of seat post, and especially pedals I have as long as they are silver/chrome. Name brand seatposts cost stupid amounts of money, and pedals are all pretty much the same (to me anyway). Plus you can hardly see them over clips and straps. I'm probably going to end up buying just generic stuff from my LBS unless I can find a good deal on a Thomson or Nitto on eBay. If I skimp on this stuff a little bit that means I can get a really nice saddle which is more important to me.

This is one of my all time favorite bikes:

Its a waiting game now...

So right now I am just basically waiting until my auctions end to determine what else I am going to have to sell. I am genuinely considering breaking up the rest of my Saves the Day collection as I have expensive tastes (especially when it comes to wheels). I have already broken up the complete collection by selling the Under the Boards presses, but those do not fetch as much as the earlier albums, not to mention the I'm Sorry I'm Leaving seven inches. Also, I might be placing an early order before the frame for my tires which are going to be the white Vittoria Zaffiros. I have a feeling these might be hard to come by if I wait until spring time. They might be cliche as far as the internet is concerned, but I am the only fixed gear rider I know so they are still cool to me!






My uncle gave me a gift certificate to Gander Mountain for Christmas last year. I was confused by his decision, but was grateful either way. Today I went to see if I could just get cash for it, but no dice. So I had to find something at Hillbilly mountain that wasn't bright orange or a boat. I managed to find some black wind proof gloves that would be perfect for cold riding. Now I don't look like a jackass when I'm riding my bike in brown leather "dress" gloves.

It was 30 degrees today and dry. Very rideable weather indeed, I'm getting excited...

Minus one guitar, plus half a frame

To save shipping money I'm going to be placing 3 or 4 big orders from online retailers instead placing separate orders for every part. Along with the frame, I'll be ordering a bottom bracket, chrome headset, and silver track crankset from Alien Bikes. This will be order number one, and I am hoping to have enough money to place one order every month. Since this one will be the most expensive its good I am getting it done first. I'm also saving some money by having Alien install the bottom bracket for me, which I was planning on having my LBS (see definition 3) do. I'm not sure if Alien will install the chainring and cranks for me, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Here's the crankset from Alien:




I am already well on my way to having enough money to place this order soon. As of right now, I have about 40% of the cash I am going to need. If all goes well, and my stuff on eBay sells for a decent amount, I plan on ordering with Alien by mid-February. I'm hoping that the Saves the Day test press will make up a bulk of the funds, but I guess we will just have to wait and see. If I sold some of my really rare records I could pay for this whole bike tomorrow, but that would be like cheating (plus I don't want to sell them!) Also, I put my old Raleigh on Craigslist last weekend, but so far no one has inquired about it. If no one in Kalamazoo wants it I'll probably just list it in Grand Rapids.

Here are some of the other places I'll probably be ordering parts from:

Eighth Inch

Milwaukee Bicycle Co.

Nashbar

and of course my LBS if they can get what I'm looking for