Functional But Not Finished

As of 8-30-11, functional but not finished. Plan is to swap the bar and stem and post for silver, the seat collar for blue, the rear skewer for blue, and eventually rebuild the front wheel with a blue hub. The pink bottle cage will stay, natch. Fork: Reba RLT Ti 120mm 20mm TA. Rear Shock: Fox RP23 w/ Boost valve and Kashima. And try to control yourselves, but I moved to 9 speed with this build finally. Currently 2x9, might become 1x9 depending on the use the little ring sees. Trying to dial it in this week for Shenandoah.

I didn't do it.

Anyone else ever know of this happening?

I've never heard of it before. And my petite wife is the one who did it. After getting it out of the frame, I noticed the crack around the collar. And I pulled it apart with my bare hands. This is one King headset that has not outlasted several frames.

That's right, she's tougher than you.

First frackin', now the State Parks?

Corbett seems to have the best ideas. Best thing business ever got in PA...

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/harrisburg_politics/Corbett-mulls-privatizing-state-parks.html

It's a real shame that everyone disliked Rendell so much that the gubernatorial race was a done deal before it ever started just because of voter backlash against the idea of another Democrat Guvnuh.

Public lands in a commonwealth should remain managed by the people for the people, not managed by business for profit. Methinks Corbett has forgotten the meaning of the word "commonwealth."

First give away the environment and public lands to the gas companies and now consider letting them make money off more "public" lands?

Parts and Pieces

Most of the parts and pieces for the third iteration of the Kona Hei Hei are here. Would that be a Hei Hei Hei? Perhaps I could be mistaken for Fat Albert, dunno. The process is definitely going in fits and starts but I am trying to remain patient and put this together correct.

To prepare for parts cleaning, I attempted to pull the old cassette off the rear hub yesterday morning. Wasn't happening. The cassette and aluminum freehub body seem to be permanently entwined in a loving embrace. Ain't movin'. So, I'm ordering a replacement steel freehub body. Steel is real, right?

And of course a new cassette will be required.

I started cleaning drive train bits last night to prepare for installation in the new frame. And in the process realized I just needed to replace most of my drive train. New front rings, new rear derailleur, new front derailleur. Now on order, too.

So, I thought, hey, at least I can press the new Cane Creek headset into the new frame. I have a headset press, cool beans. Again, no go. I have to order the 1.5 headset press adapter.

I still have one more bit I can work on--installing the travel spacer in the Reba to knock it down to 120mm. I hope it goes well!

Now that I have the frame, shock, and fork in hand, of course I'm itching to build this thing and I'm finding all the little things that'll slow it down. Not that I should be upset about it. These are mostly items that I could have and should have taken care of in the month or so I was waiting for the new frame to show up. All the time in the world. All the time in the world to spare...and I spent it doing other things! My choice.

But I'm pretty stoked about how I want it to come together! And pretty stoked that Kona has replaced the frame a second time now with no hassle. And pretty stoked that I moved into the realm of tapered forks. And more rear travel. And more front travel.

I'll try to get off my duff this weekend and take a few pics. The new Fox RP23 shock with Kashima coat is pretty awesome. The Cane Creek 110 headset is a work of art. The redesigned Hei Hei frame has some nice touches--like a better aligned cable stop for the front derailleur and asymmetrical chainstays. The seat stays are beefier than the old frame as well.

As long as I can ride this thing at the Shenandoah 100, it'll be good!