build up bizness

of course, the return of my road bike meant that i could get down to the business of building up the new cannondale frame. upon tearing down the old saeco bike, i weighed the frameset and came to a startling conclusion...the caad8 frameset is nearly a pound lighter!!

well, take that for what it's worth...most of the weight savings is in the aluminum steer-tubed fork. the 8 w/full carbon fork was 3lbs 5oz, and the saeco w/aluminum/carbon fork was 4lbs 3oz. only 5 oz of that was in the frame, the rest was the fork. in the end, the new bike will be a bit lighter.

i put the new ride together, sans cables, and came to another conclusion...caad8 frames slope! i suppose that may not come as a shock to most, but it's just something i never thought much about. i like having more seatpost sticking out!! i never have much post sticking out on my road bikes. i have short legs for my height.

i'll finish the road bike tonight, but a bike still in progress is the scott scale. i was waiting for a nice little tidbit, a lightweight 2x9 crankset from middleburn. these gems weigh only 540 grams with rings, and joined with an american classic isis bb (140 grams) put the entire crankset at only 680, about 120 grams south of XTR's. i know, i know, not light by weight weenie standards, but light enough for a porker like me. i'm a little iffy about the chainline, though, because the scale uses an E-type front derailluer, skewing the cranks right-ward by about 4mm. hopefully it will still shift fine.

i installed a new sid team, crossmax sl discs, and swapped the slr xc seat for a standard slr. i was going to get rid of the juicy carbon brakes, but i like the levers so much, i'll live with the extra 100 grams. these changes alone should put the bike at about 21lbs dead even. i'm not even sure why i'm going through so much trouble and worrying about grams...maybe because this is the "other" mtn bike. the kona king supreme is the race bike.

the kona got a once-over, as well. instead of the fox f100, i swapped to a sid race. i know, i know...but it handles so much better with the 80mm fork. it received the XO sram stuff (twist shifters on the kona, triggers on the scott) avid ti brakes and levers, salsa carbon bars and scandium stem, thomson masterpiece seatpost, slr saddle and some goofy stronglight 2x9 cranks and an american classic bb. it's topped off by 959 pedals and an 11-32 XTR cassette (the only 2 shimano parts on the bike...the scott should have only pedals and cassette as well from the japanese giant). all said and done, it's 24lbs dead even on the scale. it is NOT your father's oldsmobile. in fact, it's more like a racecar for the dirt. the suspension is minimal, and pedal transfer is stellar. i'm so impressed by the way it climbs, and it hooks so well in spite of the limited suspension travel.