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Posted (edited)

Brent a 61 is almost certainly too small for me. I ride 63+ in everything. Oh and I'm not buying anymore bike stuff until I have more time to ride. Which the government is probably going to provide in short order.

Edited by Dreadhead
Posted

I just got off the phone with Dave Kirk.  I'm going ahead with the build, but I'm going to stay with a mechanical group instead of the Di2 fun I was planning on as it just more expensive than I can justify based on the realities of my ankle and my future riding adventures.  

Posted

ETA, I'm guessing, is still maybe three (four?) months away.  I'm getting all the measurement stuff done this weekend and check mailed off.  He's going to do a blueprint (though that's probably not what it's called), then we'll have a couple conversations, then a week to do the build.  The part I'm not sure about is how long it will take for Joe Bell to get to the paint job.  Parris may be able to jump in here with at least a ballpark timeframe.  I'm going to have Vince from Tune Cycles do the build, and despite all the ShimaNO folks lurking everywhere, I'm going with Dura Ace 9000.

 

On the very good news front, he's changed his decal to something I like better, though I'm not yet aware of the color options for it, which will influence what way I will go with paint.  I also haven't decided if fillet brazed or lugged, and I'll probably decide that once I've at least narrowed down paint choices.  If he has a creme colored decal option, I have a pretty good idea.  It took me a couple hundred hours of obsessiveness to decide on a builder, but I've spent many more hours than that debating paint colors, and am now hopelessly overwhelmed, changing my mind every time I see something else I like.  

Posted

ETA, I'm guessing, is still maybe three (four?) months away.  I'm getting all the measurement stuff done this weekend and check mailed off.  He's going to do a blueprint (though that's probably not what it's called), then we'll have a couple conversations, then a week to do the build.  The part I'm not sure about is how long it will take for Joe Bell to get to the paint job.  Parris may be able to jump in here with at least a ballpark timeframe.  I'm going to have Vince from Tune Cycles do the build, and despite all the ShimaNO folks lurking everywhere, I'm going with Dura Ace 9000.

 

On the very good news front, he's changed his decal to something I like better, though I'm not yet aware of the color options for it, which will influence what way I will go with paint.  I also haven't decided if fillet brazed or lugged, and I'll probably decide that once I've at least narrowed down paint choices.  If he has a creme colored decal option, I have a pretty good idea.  It took me a couple hundred hours of obsessiveness to decide on a builder, but I've spent many more hours than that debating paint colors, and am now hopelessly overwhelmed, changing my mind every time I see something else I like.  

 

this is like...amplifiers

Posted

Cool.  The fitting forms are very straight forward.  The questionnaire took me a bit more time and actually made me slow down a little and think rather than assume.  How's the ankle coming along?  Also don't sweat not going di2 as everything out there now just works so well that we really do live in what could be considered a golden age for bikes and gear.  I'm reminded of it every time I get out on the old Serotta that I raced in the 80s' compared to my new gear.  The old frame is fine and the wheels are decent and as light as what i'm on now but the shifting and brakes on the old bike feel like something out of the Flintstones by comparison!

Posted

Shoot sorry I didn't see your longer post.  As far as paint I think that Joe Bell had my frame for around 6 weeks after Dave had built it.  You're right in it will take Dave just about a week to turn a bunch of steel tubes into a frame.  One thing as far as fillet vs.lug is if the cyclists body or type of build requires something that's far out of the norm fillet is the only way to go.  The JKS ONLY comes as a lugged frame due to Dave not wanting to put the extra heat into the very light tubing that fillet brazing requires.  Fillet brazing is a brass only  method of joining due to how the brass behaves compared to silver.  The way Dave explained it was that brass has a wider temperature range where it can be worked in more of a plastic state but silver goes from an apparent solid to running like water in the blink of an eye.  Brass also has a higher melting point than silver does.

 

I didn't realize that he changed his decal again!  Shimano, Sram, Campagnolo =  Nissan, Toyota, Honda as they all work and last.  I was a Campy guy back when racing but have since gone Shimano and Sram in small part due to the fact that both companies are easy to find spares if something should go down.

Posted

I'm going to have Vince from Tune Cycles do the build, and despite all the ShimaNO folks lurking everywhere, I'm going with Dura Ace 9000.

I think Dura-Ace is the right choice for your bike.  Shimano parts aren't as light as SRAM but their smoothness & quietness is more in keeping with the character of your bike.  To me, Dura-Ace just feels nicer and more polished than SRAM Red, and it has a more classic old school look whereas Red has a high-tech and rather gaudy look.

 

And also, congrats on your weight loss, good luck on your continued recovery, and congrats again on your new bike!

Posted

Thanks, guys!

this is like...amplifiers

I actually thought of you when I was talking to Dave. :)

Cool. The fitting forms are very straight forward. The questionnaire took me a bit more time and actually made me slow down a little and think rather than assume. How's the ankle coming along? Also don't sweat not going di2 as everything out there now just works so well that we really do live in what could be considered a golden age for bikes and gear. I'm reminded of it every time I get out on the old Serotta that I raced in the 80s' compared to my new gear. The old frame is fine and the wheels are decent and as light as what i'm on now but the shifting and brakes on the old bike feel like something out of the Flintstones by comparison!

I had already pretty much decided to go with mechanical, but talking with Dave helped my decision. His take was that all the new mechanical gruppos are as good as anyone needs (he rides Dura Ace and SRAM Red), but Di2 is as good as everyone says it is, but for most people it's the fun factor of it that makes it worthwhile and the fun doesn't wear off even after hundreds of rides. I'm not good enough of a rider, nor will I ever be, to justify a few thousand dollars worth of that version of fun. If I were riding 300 miles a week in terrain where you actually have to shift a lot, yes, but that's not going to happen. I feel good with my decision. My physical therapist wants me to get a granny gear, so I still have some decisions to make along those lines.

The ankle thing has made a leap in improvements in the past two weeks. Thanks for asking. My conditioning is shot to hell, but about a week ago, I had one of those click moments where I just knew I was going to be okay, and I really had been thinking, up 'til then, it was kinda all over for me. I'm back to where I was last year at this time, which is about 15-16 mph and probably 30-40 miles max. That's a really good starting point as far as I'm concerned, even if frustrating. I'm going to take it slow, but the good thing about being injured is that I've taken this time to really focus on my pedaling technique, and am riding far more efficiently than before, have a difference sense of what I'm doing, I'll be over 40 pounds lighter in a couple weeks, and my core is a hell of a lot stronger than when I started out last year, though my legs are weaker. I broke out my rowing machine to help bring back my cardio since I'm going to take the riding thing bit by bit. I think in about six months, I'm going to be back in the game, as they say. I'm motivated, and the Kirk has me really motivated as I kinda feel I have to earn that bike.

Parris, about how long was the time between when Dave started the build and when you got your frame?

Cool Vicki!

ShimaNO... sorry, couldn't help myself :rofl:

Of course you couldn't! I gave you a wide open door. :)
Posted

Shoot sorry I didn't see your longer post.  As far as paint I think that Joe Bell had my frame for around 6 weeks after Dave had built it.  You're right in it will take Dave just about a week to turn a bunch of steel tubes into a frame.  One thing as far as fillet vs.lug is if the cyclists body or type of build requires something that's far out of the norm fillet is the only way to go.  The JKS ONLY comes as a lugged frame due to Dave not wanting to put the extra heat into the very light tubing that fillet brazing requires.  Fillet brazing is a brass only  method of joining due to how the brass behaves compared to silver.  The way Dave explained it was that brass has a wider temperature range where it can be worked in more of a plastic state but silver goes from an apparent solid to running like water in the blink of an eye.  Brass also has a higher melting point than silver does.

 

I didn't realize that he changed his decal again!  Shimano, Sram, Campagnolo =  Nissan, Toyota, Honda as they all work and last.  I was a Campy guy back when racing but have since gone Shimano and Sram in small part due to the fact that both companies are easy to find spares if something should go down.

 

And I missed this post as I was typing mine.

 

Thanks for the info re JK Special, which is what he is recommending to me based on what I told him about how I like to ride: weekend warrior 40-50 mile rides, lots of solo and some small group riding, pleasure only, and hopefully doing some charity centuries, etc.  Guess I'm going lugged!

Posted

I don't know them, but I'd be willing to lay money on the probability that there are at least a couple of frame builders as...er...colorful as Ray is and with a similar business model.

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