Picked up my new ride from Simon at Harry Halls in Manchester earlier today. I’ve been waiting for this since February and despite all the rumours about why they’re been delayed so long since the rave reviews last year, I’m glad to say that on first look it appears that it was worth the wait. It looks mint!
There are of course a few things that needed tweaking. First up I managed to give my left hand a stigmata wound on one of the cable tie ends under the top tube (so turned them all 180 degrees to prevent being stabbed any further. I then spent the next few hours fettling. The plan was to fit a Saint bashguard and a 34t TA middle ring, but it turns out that Saint bashguards need specific chaiinring bolts so that addition is on hold for a bit.
Fitted an SDG Bel Air RL Titanium, some candy pedals and then covered much of the key areas of the frame in ‘Copter tape. Top tube top and sides, underneath of the downtube, sides of the seat and chainstays and all the cable contact points. I also managed to track the irritating noise from the front wheel under rotation to a couple of bits of swarf trapped in the rim behind the rim tape. Experimented with the shock and fork pressures and riding positions.
It then continued to rain all day. Riding postponed to Sunday. Update: A few photos up on flickr from Sunday’s ride with details of the bike setup as comments.
R O T H A R . C O M 