A little trailer...

Well they call them trailers right? Like movie trailers? Hints of things to come if you will....

Well I got my bike stuff for my bike finally! Its very arousing if I do say so myself! Going back to my post about my super awesome bike it was going to be a white and orange masterpiece of hand built in Canada buy some funny French guys who like to ride bikes just as much as I do! I got to choose the colours and everything, and when some stuff didn't come the way I wanted it - no problem! Bam! I would get what I wanted, and I sure did! The orange on the bike is perfect, and well white is white, as long as it's white (and not black) it's going to look sweet.
There was a fairly stressful point yesterday in the quest for the perfect setup for me. I didn't get a remote lockout fork like I had asked, and was seriously worried because my race style  is [was] to attack as soon as I'm on double track, fork locked out and just go! This tactic on a 29er mountain bike would be completely dependent on how fast I can accelerate up to speed. Of course I would need the best power transfer, and I didn't want to reach down to my fork to lock it out, forget that it was locked out until I felt it in some singletrack, reach down to unlock it, and "eat shit" (risking a serious hospital visit for another head injury).

 Xprezo said to go get my fork converted to a remote lockout by the local bike shop, keep the bill, and they would pay it.
SWEET!
Just had to get down to the bike store and do it. So I stuffed the fork into my bag (uncut steerer hanging out to the side...) and left. Didn't even make it a block before I somehow got the steerer caught on a bus. But I'm okay. That's just the most exciting thing that happened that particular bike ride. Get to Speed River Bikes talk to Mr. Tim Plunkett, order the parts and away we go. Problem is I didn't get a quote for the parts.

There was a slight problem yesterday when I went to pick up the fork...A $316 bill. I almost couldn't believe it! Over $300 for a switch of a cap?? Would they really pay that? They may as well have given me a new fork...
I collected myself and inquired about the price. Yep that's the price..Plus $20 labour (which seemed reasonable for the fork labour). They had to switch the internal bit (damper) on the right fork stanchion. The bill had 3 things on it, 160 for some part, 100 for another, and 20 for labour. They said that obviously Xprezo would know the price since they are a bike manufacturer, and told me not to worry. So I tried to call the Xprezo rep. No answer. I was about to just leave the store without paying and without the fork unitl I figured out whether Xprezo would pick up the bill for sure when I realized I could likely save $100 off the price by getting rid of the lockout handlebar piece, Xprezo had one for me anyway. Shockingly that piece was the $160 piece, which dropped the price to within reasonable amount. So I payed my $124, hoping that Xprezo would honour what they had said and fix me up. And that was it. I had all of my bike parts! It involved almost getting stranded in Toronto on Saturday, some serious waiting, almost paying way more than I can afford. But now I'm ready to build the bike. There are two concerns though: my bars are 580s, which means ridiculously skinny. I rode skinny bars before though, I like them, there's no school like the old school. I never got that 140mm rear rotor I wanted this was the response (with a thick French Canadian accent):
"No we will not give you de 140 miiliimeeter rotor, you won't stop properly wit de 29" wheels. Especially not ici a Quebec!"
Well that's reasonable...They want their racers to have control over their bikes...Makes sense...I guess...
So here are the teasers..

We walked all around Toronto that day

Silly fork part that worried me pretty seriously

mmmmmmm

OoOoOoO world cuuup...

Count the cogs! Stoked!

Orange, right?