white shirt, white bike

Well, here she is, my new pride and joy. My new 2004 Santa Cruz Blur. I’m insuring this one and registering it with the National Bike Registry. Don’t even try to steal it, motherf#$%ers!

No comments on the hair please.

I got it this evening and I’ve been putting it together, but I accidentally squeezed the brake levers on it without the discs between the brakepads, and I need to make an adjustment on both of them tomorrow to finish with the wheels. Also, this bike was built once already, and I cannot believe that whomever built this thing up would mar it like they did with all of the extra stickers they put over the damn thing. They are so damn ugly. I count six extra on the frame, and four extra on the fork! What the hell? They’re coming off once this thing goes for a test ride and I decide that it’s good to go and I can keep it.

Here’s a thought on bikes: While I’m going to enjoy this one for what it can do, and let’s face it, with the specs on this thing, it can probably do more than I can ever hope to get out of it, it’s going to require some diligence and effort to maintain. There is a hydraulic disc braking system, a suspension fork in the front, a suspension frame with an air shock in the rear, and of course, front and rear derailleurs. It’s a complex machine. A complex machine means more parts, more parts means more maintenance, and more maintenance means that there is more to forget to do, and that of course means that there are going to be more things that can fail.

Thinking about this makes me looks forward to the mechanical simplicity of my rigid singlespeed when I get that project done

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