I’m Pretty Excited

But Carl is moar excite:

You see, Monday was New Bike Day.  One of my perks as a Niner Ambassador is that I had a chance to get a new bike.  I didn’t really need a new bike, but the temptation was there anyway.  It shipped last week, and when I got a notification from the shipper that it was delivered I got pretty giddy.

Except that I was at work and no one was home.  Shit.

I got in touch with Lunchbox, and he was heading home but not soon enough.  I didn’t like the idea of my new bike sitting in front of the house (in plain view for would be thieves), so I texted The Chili Man to see if he was around.  He was, and kindly hauled the box down to his crib for safekeeping until I arrived back home.  A few hours later I got home, went down to his house to retrieve my new toy, dragged that sumbitch up the hill to my house, and got ready to build it.  At that very moment TomTom rolled up and got to witness me opening the box. 

While it did come mostly assembled, I had to make one change.  I removed the stock tires and replaced them with Maxxis Ikon (front and rear), and after a few minor mishaps I got it all together.  I rode it up and down the street to make sure shit wouldn’t fall off (it didn’t), and prepared to take it on its maiden voyage the next evening.

I gots a new EMD9, and yes, those are gears.  With the option to choose anything they had, I sorta went practical.  I had no use for fancy full suspension nonsense, but after racing with gears last Sunday I did have a need for those pesky things (once in a while anyway.)  Plus, as an ambassador I figured that I can show people that Niner does indeed have an affordable option instead of all crabon this and that. 

One ride with a group isn’t enough to tell the whole story, but my first impression is that I really dig it.  While I’m probably never gonna be really efficient trying to shift gears, I will find them useful on really flat sections when I need some top end speed. 

The handling of the EMD9 was really a nice surprise.  With basically the same geometry as my ONE9, I was comfortable digging into corners and sprinting out of them at at high rate of speed.  The front suspension will take a while for me to adjust to it, but I guess it was nice having a little bit of cushion over small bumps.  My shoulder has been hurting a lot lately from my crash nearly two years ago, so riding this will be a nice break.

I’m sure I’ll ride this thing quite a bit more around here to get a better feel for it, and I will definitely be racing on it next weekend when the Southern Classic Series resumes.  By no means am I permanently giving up single speeding, but this bike will be a nice change of pace every once in a while.  I guess that’s another reason why I got it.

Besides, single speed is dead.

I’m already dead inside anyway.

Enduro™ Isn’t Dead Yet

Since I have an Enduro™ approved bike though, it soon will be.

The new ROS9 is done.  Wednesday night after work I went over to Casa de Dicky to drink beer, I mean convert my wheels to thru axle.  I got home and attempted to finish the build, but had an issue with the rear brake hose routing.  My never-cut hose wasn’t long enough, and after a couple more beers I just couldn’t get creative enough to find a solution (other than waiting for a new, longer hose to magically show up.)  So, I waited and picked up where I left off the next morning.

After Lunchbox headed off to school, I got back to work.  I came up with a sorta good idea to route the hose in a most unconventional way, until which time I can obtain a new, longer hose.  That particular part of the bike doesn’t look pretty, but it will work for now.

And it’s good enough to be Enduro™.

You might notice some extra (previously unmentioned) shit on there.  That’s because Dicky was kind enough to let me test out a drooper post to be even more Enduro™.  It’s the fancy Thompson one, which is probably way too fancy for me. 

Originally I wasn’t gonna build this bike with one, but after getting a chance to try one out for a while, it looks like a drooper post will remain a permanent part of this bike from now on.  I’ll get my own eventually.

Instead of taking my new bike up to the hills for a test ride, I decided to stay local.  I pissed away too much of the day to go out of town, and I needed to go by The Cycle Path anyway to order a new brake hose.  While I was there, all I heard was how big of a bike it is.  I always ride an extra large frame anyway, but this thing is huge.  The big 140mm fork and 780mm wide Niner bars probably have a lot to do with it I guess.  I’m not complaining at all, because it actually fits me quite well.

Just for poops and hahas we decided to throw it on the scale to see what it weighed.

Not bad for a big ass bike I suppose, but it’s almost ten pounds heavier than my rigid single speed.  Hopefully that means it can take some abuse.

Since I was on the north side of town, my first ride took place at Fisher Farm.  It’s not super tech and doesn’t have a lot of mileage, but I’m familiar enough with it to get in a proper test ride.  Plus, I rode the last demo ROS9 there and it was good enough. 

There are lots of fun things to play with out there, and it was enough to tell me that I just built a really fun bike.  Sure, it’s made for riding up in the hills, but I won’t hesitate to take it local and shred the gnar.  I know it’s way too much bike for around here, but I don’t really care about that.  I'm all about the fun these days.  

In other news, The Backyard Experience is this Sunday.

Are you registered?  Why the hell not?  Are you afraid to “race” out there?  You shouldn’t be.  But if you are, come out and join us while we politely toss waffles in the general direction of those that are racing.  It’s gonna be a hoot, and you won’t want to miss it.

It’s Done

Although I was happy with the bike I had (other than the creaking), I’m really pretty excited about my latest build.  With a new Niner One9 frame in my possession, I grabbed a few beers and went to work.  It didn’t take long (approximately two beers) and I’d assembled my newest toy.

What’s with the squishy fork, you ask?  Well, since my only current rigid fork is white, I thought it would look ridiculous on there.  And let’s face it:  looks are all that matter.

Okay really, it is all that matters, but I’m working on that.  The rigid fork will be painted to match (because I’m too cheap to buy a new one) and it will be back on there shortly.  For now, I guess I’ll just go all soft on y’all.

Now, we move on to the name.  The old One9 was called The Falcon (as in Millennium Falcon from my favorite movie), and I just didn’t feel right recycling that moniker on a totally different bike.  So, after standing around staring at my new build I came up with something else.

This is my apprentice, Darth Maul.

Shitty movie I know, but Darth Maul was still pretty badass.  Well, until he got chopped in half.  They should’ve chopped Jar Jar Binks in half instead.  Bastards.

Anyway, I think he fits nicely with my new bike.

Now there’s no turning back from the Dark Side.

And so I won’t be a complete Star Wars nerd on y’all, here’s the first sticker I put on the new ride.

Of course I’m still a Drunk Cyclist.  You know me , right?

I freaking love this bike so far, even though I didn’t really plan on getting a new one.  The maiden voyage was last night after work at BYT and it sliced through the trail like a double-edged lightsaber.

Big thanks to Niner for a painless warranty process and even bigger thanks to The Cycle Path for taking care of me during the whole thing.

Yes, I have a new single speed, but I didn’t stop there. 

More to come.

Hell Yeah

The weather has been horrible and there's more rain on the way, but I don’t give a shit.  I made the best of it somehow. 

I did some riding in a new spot:

Ate a shitload of food:

Drank some girly drinks:

And finished my new bike build:

I’ll get into to all that happy horseshit this week. 

I need to do something with this cat first.

I'm busy today, so I'll see y’all later.

I Didn’t Know What Else To Do

First of all, I figure that there won’t be a lot of people working today so that probably means that some people won’t even stop by here.  It’s a regular work day for me, so I’m posting up anyway.  Since I was off yesterday, I had to ride my bike.  Everything is still wet as hell around here from the rain, so I went to bed Wednesday night with the plan to go on a road bike.  When I woke up yesterday morning I did my best to talk myself out of it.  I don’t care much for road riding, so getting in a pace line, worrying about my “cadence”, and spinning my ass off for hours just didn’t appeal to me.  But, instead of sitting around watching a bunch of people on TV ride their bikes I went out anyway.

I decided to go on an adventure.

 

With no real destination in mind, I rolled out of my neighborhood and hit some back roads.  Eventually, I ended up near the city.

And then I was right in it.

Traffic was really light due to the holiday, so the ride was quite pleasant.  I sprinted every once in a while, but kept an easy pace and just enjoyed being out on my bike (even if it was a road bike.)  I even stopped to take a break about halfway through.

The skies looked ugly when I left, but eventually it ended up being a nice day.  I headed back home, and even took the greenway by my house to get there.  It was pretty fun I guess.  I ended up with about thirty five miles, which was better than sitting on my ass and doing nothing.

With the first part of my day finished, I had other shit to do.  Wednesday after work, I headed up to The Cycle Path to pick up my new frame. 

It was time to build my new bike.

Wait, that’s not it.

My new Niner One9 is here after only a few days.

I’ll get into the build next week sometime.  It’s gonna be so choice.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend (especially if it started yesterday.)  I’m heading out of town Sunday for a ride, and I can’t wait.

We’re going to Rocky Knob.

Never heard of it?  Check out this video:

Yeah, we’re gonna have fun.