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Built the Habanero
I don't have a whole lot of review to give yet since I've promised to
ride the bike gentle until the Head Mechanic gets back on Tuesday. I trust the bike shop manager, second mechanic, and trainee not to be blithering idiots. I've known the three of them for quite some time and I also know enough about bikes to see that they didn't make any glaring mistakes but a promise is a promise. My first attempt at anodizing it failed because the 9-volt batteries I'd bought were ****. The second attempt at anodizing it failed because I wasn't willing to complete rewire my friend Jason's e-bike battery pack to get the voltages I did want. The third attempt at anodizing it was performed with an audience of literally dozens in a motorcycle repair shop in a small town outside the Hainan Provincial High Level Sports Training Academy. With clever use of coca cola, tide washing powder, and sandpaper as well as two twelve volt batteries, and some jumper cables, an irridescent purple mottled with blue and bronze was achieved. Unfortunately, despite the cast of many, I was the only person with a camera of any kind (my cameraphone) and very few photos were taken. I then got my old race bike (a second-hand mostly aluminum frame with carbon seatstays and chainstays), slung the frame over my shoulder, and biked to the bike shop. Future plans to eventually get a shiny pretty Chris King headset in a complimentary color and maybe hubs to make wheels to go with were immediately thrown out when it was discovered that the somewhat acceptable Cane Creek headset on the old frame was incompatible with the new frame. Now that I have a very nice brand new FSA headset I'm not especially likely to go around buying a new headset anytime soon. And if I don't have a reason to have a King headset my blingbling purty reason for getting matching King hubs goes away. The mismatched components from being sold a race bike with a handful of old training parts on it were mostly replaced. Per the recommendations of rec.bicycles.tech I went with an Ultegra double. Per the recommendations of the Merida China mechanic I spent a large amount of the Tour of Qinghai Lake geeking with I chose 105 for the brakes and front derailleur. The 105 rear derailleur and 105 ten- speed cassette were chosen for the purely practical reasons of 'being what was in the store at the time'. Although Ultegra brifters were on sale the 105 brifters I already had were barely touched when I got the bike and I decided to keep them...besides which when it comes to brifters I like the handfeel of Dura-Ace better than Ultegra. I also kept the original Shimano 550 wheels that came with the old bike. I also got mixed carbon-aluminum handlebars that have the comfortable flat top found on fancy carbon bars without the fancy price tag, and an oversized carbon stem. I still need a new saddle (on order), a carbon seat-post (on order), a proper seatbolt (on order), and the frame decals. I am not a proponent of custom geometry. I think the whole idea of custom geometry is silly. But Mark at Habanero Cycles was very insistent that I was not a perfect fit for their smallest stock frame and equally insistent that their very first customer in Mainland China ought to get something perfect. I thought this was entirely unneccesary overkill that meant the purchase of The Bike took an extra six months. I wouldn't have done it if he hadn't been so thoroughly insistent. I wouldn't have done it if he hadn't given me such a deep special discount for being the first customer in Mainland China. I would not say that I have an especially short torso but at 5'6" I am short enough to want 'small' in most bikes and because I'm female I'm carrying weight on my chest that makes me want the bars up a little higher. I have, so far, ridden the bike somewhat less than 20km. Slowly. Because I made a promise to the shop not to stress test it until after the head mechanic got back. But wow. Even though this bike is supposed to be the race bike and even though this bike is set-up so that it needs to have the funny shoes and padded shorts ... I have a feeling this bike is going to get more use than the other two bikes. A lot more use. Enough of a lot more use that I may have to follow up on that guy in Shenzhen who does custom steel bikes so that the very nice sport touring set up I have on the other road bike can be used. I won't go so far as to say it is the nicest bicycle I've ever ridden. That remains the bicycle that a member of the Japanese National Team let me try out at last year's Tour of Hainan. But it fits. It fits so well that I'm actually thinking of turning the stem down. My resting position has my hands perfectly on the brake-hoods. Down on the drops is a bit strange feeling because my hands are naturally right there in that bumpy ergonomic hook space and I can't push them forward because they are already where they are supposed to be. -M |
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