I won this on Ebay last week for what I thought was a very good price. Buying unseen is always a bit of a worry - but sometimes you get a nice surprise!
The first problem was the bikes location. Given that it was in South London (and marked as collection only), I posted a thread on here to see if a friendly face would put their hand up to collect it and pack it up and post. I got a number of responses (this really is a great community!) and it turned out Ishaw was relatively close and was happy to volunteer!
Can I just say Ian is a top bloke and covered himself in nothing but glory during the collection and forwarding process (his packing was the best I've seen!) So thanks to Ian the bike landed at Ringo Towers at around 1.00pm.
The first job was to sneak the big box past the wife (who was reclining on a sun chair and looking pretty asleep to be fair), this successfully completed we could get the box opening done!
There were also some goodies that Ian was able to supply for the front end... namely M739 shifter combi's and a nice Controltech stem.
On the stand -
First job was to get the bike back to a frame and fork. Always a worry as you wonder what bolts are going to be seized... fortunately none on the frame were (although a couple are proving difficult on the forks). The lets see if there's anything other than a UN53 BB game disappointed, with a UN53 emerging from the BB shell. A quick clean and we ended up with -
So, plans... well, Controltech stem will be wedded with Pace bars (in red) with the M739 shifter brake combo's. Seat post may well be a carbon 29.2 Condor one that I have in (depends if I have enough length). If not the Controltech post that came with it will be polished up. A tidy black Flite will also be fitted.
New chain and cables (goes without saying) and there might be the tiniest hint of green ano...
The big issue is brakes... it came with STX V's and I need a set of M739 XT V's pronto!. Cassette will be switched for a period XT one and i spent all morning polishing up an M739 rear mech (to replace the current modern XT one).
The frame will need touching up in places (there's a bit of chain suck) and I'll be onto Gil for The Ritchey tubing decal and a couple of others!
Watch this space it's going to be a quick build!
The first problem was the bikes location. Given that it was in South London (and marked as collection only), I posted a thread on here to see if a friendly face would put their hand up to collect it and pack it up and post. I got a number of responses (this really is a great community!) and it turned out Ishaw was relatively close and was happy to volunteer!
Can I just say Ian is a top bloke and covered himself in nothing but glory during the collection and forwarding process (his packing was the best I've seen!) So thanks to Ian the bike landed at Ringo Towers at around 1.00pm.
The first job was to sneak the big box past the wife (who was reclining on a sun chair and looking pretty asleep to be fair), this successfully completed we could get the box opening done!
There were also some goodies that Ian was able to supply for the front end... namely M739 shifter combi's and a nice Controltech stem.
On the stand -
First job was to get the bike back to a frame and fork. Always a worry as you wonder what bolts are going to be seized... fortunately none on the frame were (although a couple are proving difficult on the forks). The lets see if there's anything other than a UN53 BB game disappointed, with a UN53 emerging from the BB shell. A quick clean and we ended up with -
So, plans... well, Controltech stem will be wedded with Pace bars (in red) with the M739 shifter brake combo's. Seat post may well be a carbon 29.2 Condor one that I have in (depends if I have enough length). If not the Controltech post that came with it will be polished up. A tidy black Flite will also be fitted.
New chain and cables (goes without saying) and there might be the tiniest hint of green ano...
The big issue is brakes... it came with STX V's and I need a set of M739 XT V's pronto!. Cassette will be switched for a period XT one and i spent all morning polishing up an M739 rear mech (to replace the current modern XT one).
The frame will need touching up in places (there's a bit of chain suck) and I'll be onto Gil for The Ritchey tubing decal and a couple of others!
Watch this space it's going to be a quick build!
