Introducing: Acinonyx

My previous steed treated me the best she could, but it was time that Gravitas Libertas and I went our separate ways. I had been lusting for carbon for a while and finally let myself use the old bike's badly bent rear triangle to justify the purchase.

After a somewhat sketchy feeling transaction with the folks over at Dengfu and some not so patient waiting my new frame finally arrived.

Here she is on her first day out of the box:

She's a FM098 in size 58cm and a matte 3k finish. Went with the BSA bottom bracket. I didn't really know what to expect ordering direct from China, but I'm more than pleased with the way it looks (and rides). I named her Acinonyx, which is the genus name of the cheetah. I think sprinters are pretty comparable to cheetahs as we can go way fast for a short burst, but expect a long effort out of us and we're toast.

She arrived in the middle of trainer season, so I was in no hurry to get it built up. Plus, I was waiting on new cables, bartape, and the like. Additionally, I had ordered some custom decals from Marco in Brazil that I was still waiting on.

Eventually the time came and I sat down to build it up. Everything went fairly smoothly, although the internal cable routing was a pain. I had hoped to get some solid outdoor miles on it before our first race at Lindsey Wilson, but the weather had other plans. I ended up only being able to put 13 miles on it before we headed down to Kentucky.

So needless to say I was a little nervous when I lined up for our 50 mile road race. The frame didn't explode into a billion carbon shards and passed the crit with flying colors as well. I don't want to give too much away though since those race recaps will be coming soon!

Well this Looks Interesting

Present from the Postman

The mailman brought a present today!

My CX State Champ jersey finally came! The event took place back on Dec 8th at Addison Oaks. Since then I've been patiently waiting for the jersey to get printed and shipped to me, but it came today. 

I don't really know the proper context to wear a jersey like this, but its definitely cool to have and will be a nice keepsake of my first year racing cx. Congrats as well to Danny and Phil, the two other UM students who took home a State of Michigan CX Championship. Once everyone gets their jerseys in the mail we'll have to get a nice little team pic. 

What is This?

Uh oh.

They Survived the Maiden Voyage

Tonight I put the quality of my build job to the test as I took my new wheels out for their maiden voyage. I must say they passed with flying colors! The feeling of rolling on wheels that you built yourself is amazing, not to mention the fact that they are wayyy lighter than my old set of wheels.

Here she is after returning:

 

Next up is a double dose of circuit racing on Saturday at Marian University. In the morning we'll have our MWCCC Men's C's collegiate race in the morning followed by a USAC Cat 4/5's race in the afternoon.

And They're Done!

I put in a bit of a marathon effort last night to get these buggers ready to roll.

They took me a little bit longer than I'd like since I made a few really dumb lacing mistakes, but alas they're put together. I wanted to have them ready for today (Thursday) so I could put a good ride on them before the weekend. I want make sure they're good to go and to catch any detentioning issues as the spokes settle in before the race since a race isn't exactly a good place to be trying new things.

They've given me a pretty nice sense of accomplishment though. Wheels are one part that most people are scared to touch in fear of messing something up, so it was cool to build some from a pile of parts. Pretty crazy that a bunch of weak, bendy spokes can come together to build something that can haul my big self around.

Here's to hoping they don't explode on me during tonight's training ride!

Reinventing the Wheel

Well now that Gravitas Libertas is all pretty it appears that its time for the next step in making her a more respectable race bike. That means time for new wheels!

But I couldn't just buy some, no, that would be too easy (and expensive). Instead I'm building them myself with parts from Bike Hub Store.

 

Hopefully they'll be done soon, but I'm not going to rush it since I want them done right.  

Makeover Complete!

She lives! After some issues getting the headset good to go (we put it in upside down) I was finally ready to get her all put back together today. Everything went fairly smoothly considering it was my first time adjusting a rear derailleur from scratch as well as replacing shifter cables. Here she is in all her glory:

 

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Everything was working in tip top shape on tonight's ride so it appears that I put everything together correctly. A $4 eBay special blue seatpost collar was supposed to add some extra flair, but its way too lightly colored (almost aqua) and doesn't match the blue spacers and chainring bolts at all. Oh well, I still love it and I'm so happy its not red anymore.

Gravitas Libertas is Getting a Makeover

The steed is getting a bit of a makeover. What was once this:

 

Is currently looking like this:

 

Thanks to Julian at Bean's Best Restoration the frame is stripped down to the raw aluminum following a media blast treatment. She's getting a nice once over with the steel wool and will come out looking nice and shiny. The left chainstay (at the bottom of the picture) has already gotten  the steel wool treatment and is noticeably better looking.

Don't worry, I'll post an update after it gets all prettied up.