Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The Return of the Banana Head

Or I made a really big boo-boo.
First of all, I am really pooped!
All day I was working on the YKW, a cutting and a tweaking and a adjusting and a turning the screws.
Still not done!
I finally got the headset done at the LBS, took them like forty five minutes to figure everything out as the crown race was giving us some problems.
I got out of there around elevenish and headed on back to Flat Tire Central to finish up The Build.
Or so I thought.
I got the seat post cut down:



Lemme tell you, that took a bit o'courage!
I mean it's not like you can add any back on.
If you know what I mean.
Then I messed around with the fork, cutting that was easy as I knew it was above the stem.
Then I had trouble with the steerer tube and the expander plug thingy:



I put it in, then tried to take it back out.
Stuck.
Which is a good thing I suppose.
Just not sure what I'm going to do when I finally have to cut it down to size.
I mean you can't get to it from the bottom of the fork, it's sealed up down there.
Speaking of the fork, the LBS saved me some trouble as I needed an extra long recessed brake nut, one that was 30mm long. It still doesn't feel like it's grabbing enough thread, so I may have to order one that's longer.
Pesky carbon forks!
So then I'm measuring up the cable housing and get my brand new Park Tool cable cutters and make the cut and-
Well gee Mr. Flat, next time remove the cable from the housing before trimming to size.
So there went my rear brake cable!
Too short to even use as a front cable.
Luckily my old cable was still all nice so I just used that.
So I get my Lizard Skins chain stay protector:




Put on the wheels and I'm all set to give it a go.
So go I well, go!
Lots o'rattles and stuff, turns out the bottle cage bolts were loose.
So was the headset so I tighten that up and back down the hill I head.
Hmmmm.
Something is binding.
Brakes?
I didn't bother to adjust them, I just made sure I could stop.
Seat is too high, must cut the post down a bit.
What the hell is rubbing?
OMG!
O
M
G
!



I'm going up and down the hill and my freakin tire is rubbing against the seat stay!
I want to cry.
I mean seriously, I can't believe I was banana headed enough not check that.
Okay, it's not the end of the world, just the end of a small part of it.
I needed to take a break anyways, so off the drug store I go and find some white nail polish:



Okay!
Good as new!
Sort of.
At least it's in a place where I can't see it.
So anyways, I cut the seat post again, tighten up the bottle cage bolts and off I go down the hill again.
This time I went about a quarter of mile this a way then a quarter of mile that a way, until I felt more banana headed for riding around without any bar tape.
Then I came back and spent an hour trying to tune the derailleurs.
Slight problem there, but I think I know what it is.
I gotta say, it's sort of weird this carbon frame as it sounds all hollow as you're riding around.
Seems comfy though, but I was mostly checking for fit.
Which is pretty good so far.
I won't get back on the YKW until Thursday, but that will give me time to think about everything I did today and make some final tweaks.
I also need to figure out how to get that expander thingy out of the steerer tube.
Just a few more things before the Big Debut.
Oh, and I need to figure out a name, you know, something catchy and fast sounding.
Maybe White Lightning?
Okay, maybe not.

5 comments:

TrevorW�� said...

You know how kids will hide behind the sofa if they are watching something scary on TV.....?
Well as I was reading this post I was peering at my computer screen from behind the sofa.......
Scary....very very scary.!!!

-Trevor

Steve A said...

I sense another post in "The Carbon Series" coming on. Heh, heh, heh. MGHMOYS...

limom said...

Trevor, I sometimes hide from myself.

Steve A, HHHRBAY.

John Romeo Alpha said...

I'm just happy this post didn't end with "...and the brand new carbon frame failed explosively with a loud BANG! and a cloud of toxic fiber and resin."

limom said...

You and I both!
Turns out the front wheel was tweaked a bit too!
More on this later.