Fred-a-licious!

Back from the shop and ready to roll!

Parts is Parts on the Fredmobile

Using electronic retailers, eBay and Amazon I found some great deals for the parts I needed to put this bike back together:

1. SRAM PG-1050 10 Speed Cassette (11-26).  I found this on eBay (Buy It Now!) for a really good price and I think I saved $20 going this route.
2. SRAM TT 500 bar end shifters 
3. SRAM PG-1031 chain
4. FSA 48T Chain ring
5. FSA 34T Chain ring
6. FSA Torx Chain ring bolts
7. Carbon Seatpost (not using on the bike at the moment)
8. Origin 8 Cable Hanger (which I ended up not needing)

According to my Roadie Guru, this cassette might be a little tall for my ability so I am going to ride it and see how it goes for now.  What I might try to do is get a 12-30 and at get a smaller geared crankset with smaller arms (175).  For the time being I think I will be OK for a more roadie drive train.

The average price for SRAM TT 500 bar end shifters seems to be between $96 and $150 and I was about to get them from some UK online bike parts retailer for $94 when I found a pair on Amazon for $84!  The picture above is exactly what I got.  Just what the seller advertised, a pair of Sram Tt500 TT/Tri 2X10Sp Bar-End Shifters, Front/Rear Set, "BAM!"  No box, no instructions, just a pair of bar end shifters.  Can't find much on the seller but it was a great deal that couldn't be passed up!  Maybe they were used but I couldn't tell because out of the package they looked brand new.

The new seatpost looked great with the bike because it had some orange accents but when I found the right position for it which was just about all the way down I didn't see how this would differ much from a much shorter aluminum one that I had laying around.  My thought is that more carbon fiber between my fourth of point contact and the frame means there is a greater dampening or absorption effect by the seatpost.  I put this on the Qball and went back to the original aluminum one.  

The FSA chainrings were a perfect fit for the SRAM Rival cranks and they look really good, too.  As I mentioned earlier, I am probably going to get another crankset with 175mm crank arms and I might even decrease the teeth for both rings, maybe a 44/32 like a mountain crankset.

During the build I added a very important Sandy Hook Ride on Washington decal!

My wheelset is Dura Ace hubs and Mavic rims.  The bearings in the hubs are awesome!

Again, another Fred-ism here: how colorful do I want to go with the bar tape?  My choices were orange, purple/white, red/white/black, and red.  While the orange actually matched the frame I thought it would be too orange.  Can you have too much orange?  Red/white/black wasn't going to work so it was between the purple/white and red.  I couldn't decide so I asked my son, Elliot to help me.  He pointed out that the red would go nicely with the red rims so red was it!

Like the red bar tape, and bar end shifters, I wouldn't be true to Freds across the world if I didn't had a few more Pieces of Flair.  All I had left in my box of tricks for gear cable was this blue piece.

Here are the cranks mounted.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to adjust the front derailleur but couldn't get it to work properly.  I took it in to the Brookfield Bicycle Center and the experts there looked at it and said the reason it was behaving as such was due to the cage (or whatever you call it) was bent.

The Gany Porter was consumed to celebrate the completion of the build.  Final build pix will be in the next post!

Fredmobile: DIY Canti Cable Hanger

Rube Goldberg, eat your heart out.  I had already purchased something from Origin 8 but I couldn't wait.  I was rummaging around the parts bin when I came across an old bike reflector mount.  In fact I tried two other ones first but they didn't do it for me.  This one did.

If this doesn't hold out, Plan B is to modify a Canti brake bridge by drilling a hole at the top and mounting another makeshift cable hanger. 

This solution works nicely

Bars for the Fredmobile

I wouldn't be a Fred if I didn't do something that my roadie colleagues would consider drastic.  The first thing I did was replace the bars.  Standard drops with no flare just aren't sexy and make you look like half a dozen roadie posers out on the roads.  Salsa Cowbells were recommended but I decided to go with the Gary2 bars I recently acquired.

The Gary2's don't have as much flare as the Salsa Woodchippers and since they are chrome I thought that it would compliment the cranks and seatpost that I was planning on using, also both chrome.

The Fredmobile: 1999 Cannondale XS800

The Fredmobile is has arrived!  Picked up my first true Cross Bike two weeks ago from a friend at work and basically got something that resembles the picture above but not entirely complete.  According to Bikepedia, this is a  60cm, 1999 Cannondale XS800 in Charger Orange. The funny thing is the 1999 version went to V-Brakes from the 1998 version with Canti's.  Since I am not a big fan of V-Brakes I am going the Canti route.

 The first thing I had to is to see what the Monstercross potential would be for this bike and it doesn't look good.  I threw the Qball's front wheel on sporting a 700x40c Kenda Kross and while it fit up front, I am not sure it would fit in the rear.  The dream of running a 700x45 on this bike has been dashed but that wasn't the reason I wanted this bike.  The real reason for getting this bike is the fact that it's the perfect bike for gravel grinders and rail trails.  This is the kind of bike that I could ride at Trail of Tears and Willow Street on the Cape, or the Carriage Roads at Huntington State Park or even the singletrack at George C Waldo.    

As you can see in the shot below, the 40c won't fit.

I wonder if 38c knobbies will fit?