The frame has shipped!

Well I got the e-mail today that my frame has finally shipped, almost two months to the day that I ordered it. The bad news is that the headset and bottom bracket are not going to be installed for me as they have a ton of them to do and it would have taken an extra week. O well, I was/am taking it to Zoo City to have the chain and cranks put on anyway, so they can just do it there. I'm pretty lucky I decided to order when I did as some people have been waiting on their frames since October, but they paid about $150 less so I don't feel to bad for them.

The frame is being shipped UPS from Traverse City so I would expect it to be here on Friday or Saturday. I really hate UPS because they consistently come at the worst times (i.e. when I have to leave for work), and if I miss the package the pick up place is really far away. I hope if I take the whole thing to Zoo City they can do it all in a day. Not too sure what the weather is supposed to be like, hopefully not raining. The tracking number is 1Z185VX60363162057 in case anyone is bored.

Here's some pictures

Still alive

The frame will be arriving in Chicago on March 21st. From there it will be sent to Traverse City, Michigan, about four hours from Kalamazoo. There they will install the headset, cranks, and bottom bracket. THEN it will finally be on its way to me.

I do have all the other parts in my possession now. The double toe straps do not fit in the pedals so well, but I think they just need to be broken in a bit. The saddle is amazing. I almost do not want to ride it because it looks so perfect. The rails are gold which I overlooked, but it doesn't stick out that much. I can already tell that it will get dirty after about 5 minutes of riding. I would take some pictures, but Erica has my camera. Maybe some time this week.

Waiting on the frame

Here are the pictures as promised from the previous post



Kalloy seatpost 27.2, not much to look at but gets the job done



Velocity Deep V 700c with surly cog




The money from my final record sales went into my account today so I bought the rest of the things I need. The bike is now 100% completely bought and paid for. So from here on out its just a waiting game on the frame. The forums received word from Alien that the frames are on the water and are scheduled to be shipped late march as promised. Here are the final components:




San Marco Rolls saddle, I'm pretty excited about this. Since I skimped pretty hard on the seat post it was only right that I got a decent saddle. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend but I was on a roll and this was the last thing I needed so I just clicked the BIN button to finish the job.



Soma white leather double straps, I'm glad someone decided to make affordable leather double straps because before these there were only the $90 Toshis which I'm sure are quite nice but a bit too pricey

I also bought some new MKS clips xl and a chain. Use your imagination on those.

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.