[MtnbikeMike]

Here's the start of my '09 race bicycle, by the time it's finished it'll be quite the Frankenbike.

I'm still waiting on a Easton EC90 flat top bars and EC90 Aero wheels, and a DA front derailleur. From my current bike I'll be swapping over my Rival shifters and RD, DA pedals, and Ultegra brakes.

So far:

 

[pumpkinator]

i'm not sure if i love your bike and hate you or hate you and love your bike..

beautiful!

 

[loco-gringo]

Nice. I rode that frame at SBCU and liked it. We have a Tarmac Expert demo I ride some, but the bars are such short reach I hate to ride them. I may swap bars to try it one day. Fast bikes though.

 

[3MORESTITCHES]

Nice frameset. Always better to be broke over a bike rather than a chick!!

 

[4xBoy]

Always better to be broke over a bike rather than a chick!!

Nice frame.

 

[ire]

Nice frame, I look forward to seeing it built up

 

[James]

Hot bike. Those are pretty damn cool frames. Let's see some complete pics when it's done!

 

[MtnbikeMike]

Friggin' parts need to get here already. I'm getting ancy!

 

[CBJ]

Nice frame but it needs more specialized stickers.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

The term stickers implies they can be peeled off

 

[pumpkinator]

here's a recent one of my baby girl. does have some serious advertisement but i like it.

 

[CBJ]

Good point. Anyway I would love to have a frame and build like that with or without stickers.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

It's pretty light. I haven't weighed it yet, though I'd guess it's close to 15 lbs.

I rode it today, and it's night and day between it and my Fuji with the same wheels; it corners, accelerates, climbs, etc. better. I'm racing it tomorrow, so I'll see how it goes.

 

[loco-gringo]

Nice. I like those Blackburn cages. I HATE gluing Contis though. It's nice they are tight and stay put well, but I HATE f*cking with them. Beautiful bike. How does it shift with Dura Ace front? I thought the pull rate was different.

 

[1453]

nice frame.

Who makes it?

 

[pumpkinator]

i finally figured it out, i do love your bike and now completely despise your very being.

beautiful!!

 

[dhmike]

wow great build .

 

[ire]

very nice!

 

[MtnbikeMike]

Nice. I like those Blackburn cages. I HATE gluing Contis though. It's nice they are tight and stay put well, but I HATE f*cking with them. Beautiful bike. How does it shift with Dura Ace front? I thought the pull rate was different.

The cages are indeed awesome. It's a DA 7800 FD, so the cable pull is the same and provided flawless shifting this weekend.

And yes, the contis are horrible to mount, especially considering it was my first time gluing tubies.

 

[pumpkinator]

my bike needs some upgrades.

 

[splat]

Nice !!

I got sick and tired of Tubies so switched my wife over to clinchers.

Did you pre stretch them ?

 

[-dustin]

Something that's helped me greatly when gluing tubulars...

so you've got your base layer on the tire, right? it's dry, and you're in the process of laying a few layers on the rim. i put the tire back onto the stretching rim and let it sit there until it's time to glue it up. my theory is that as the glue dries, it contracts, so just letting the tire sit around is asking for trouble.

if you don't have a tubie rim to stretch the tire on, slap it onto a clincher rim.

And Conti GP4000s as well as Competitions are the god damned most difficult tires to mount.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

Thanks for the tips Dustin. It's probably not a bad thing that they are tight-fitting, even if I was getting so frustrated I wanted to see how the wheels worked as frisbees. Although I did crash last year in a crit when the base tape separated from the tire and caused the tire to roll...on a Competition tubie.

Splat, I didn't pre-stretch the tires due to time constraints. I got the wheels Thursday night and needed to race on them Saturday, so instead of pre-stretching I was putting coats of glue on the rims and tires.

 

[Internal14]

Nice. I like those Blackburn cages. I HATE gluing Contis though. It's nice they are tight and stay put well, but I HATE f*cking with them. Beautiful bike. How does it shift with Dura Ace front? I thought the pull rate was different.

Cages look like ARundle carbon-copies.....no pun intended!

Conti's aren't bad. Let them stretch a day and get er done. Just have to start stretching them from teh valve stem, not half way around like a Vittoria.