Wednesday, November 25, 2009

DONE.

Finally. Its done. Gears are tuned, brakes are sharp and the tired are aired up. Finally.

Here is the finished product, still to come is a red saddle and some decals for the tubes.






New campy crank set


Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Finally.

After 3 weeks at the bike shop I was finally able to go in and pick up my bike. All the bike needed was a bottom bracket and crank set installation; this should take 2 hours. The guys at the bicycle shop took their sweet time in ordering the parts and on occasion ordered the wrong part. The bike shop only made orders twice a week, so it took 3 weeks for my bike to finally be ready. The mechanics also lost my work order, so I think they forgot about it when i came to pick it up. So, all in all, not a good experience with this shop. On a whim I called another bike shop (Scooter's on SBHwy) and they had the part that had to be ordered in stock. Had I taken it there, I would have had this all wrapped up by now. Live and learn I guess.

So the bike came back with a new bottom bracket and the Campagnolo crankset (which I got on eBay for about a 90% discount.)


Here is the bike before I did anything, you can see how nice the paint looks. Its so glossy it still looks wet. Notice the dog having a seziure in the back ground.

I didn't really feel like driving all the way across town to get the steel fork painted, so i just sanded and painted it myself. I went with a light gray color and I think it came out great.


After adding the derailleur, tires, fork and stem.

I also put the new tires on. I bought some fat street tires to make the commute to school easier. The white dots you see is reflective tape for night riding, it'll light up the whole tire while moving. I also cleaned the cassette; which I always assumed was black--it turns out that it was silver, but due to neglect on my part it was black. whoops.

shiny.

I spent the rest of the afternoon adding the chain (which took me far too long) and tuning the gears. All that is left is the breaks and bolting on some bits and pieces. More to come this weekend.



This is where the bike currently is--so glad I can finally start working on it.



Friday, November 6, 2009

Nearly there

The bike came back from the painter today and was subsequently taken to the bike shop for some work. The shop is installing a new bottom bracket and a new Campagnolo Mirage crank set. They are also switching the crowns from the old GT mountain bike so I can use its suspension. Once I get the bikes back the GT will be quickly reassembled and ready to ride. The 820 will be ready in a few more weeks. Hopefully I can get everything done and get some riding in while the weather is still beautiful.