I spoke too soon

Well I thought my bike was going to be delivered somewhere else, but alas I was wrong. Less than two hours after I wrote yesterday's post The Pie called me to let me know that a large box had arrived (yet again). She also informed me that the box was left sitting on the porch in a very open state.

Gasp!!!!

Apparently cyclingnews.com has a mole down at the local UPS station trying to get the scoop, and they just couldn't believe there was actually a Niner frame in the Niner box.

When I got home it was time to unpack the frame and get started with the build. Good to see that Niner uses the same type of recyclable packing material that Elk used last August.

The build was a pain in the ass since parts came from three different bikes on the wall plus some outta the bin. It went something like this.

Get my first beer.

Remove black Cane Creek 110 headset, ES 71 BB, and polished XT cranks from the yet to be named Zion. Sweep up all the dried mud on the floor that fell off the yet to be named Zion while I was banging on it with the headset removal tool.

Remove purple Cane Creek 110 headset, old Race Face Deus cranks, Race Face BB from the MOOTS. Clean up all the water that spilled outta my water bottles while I had the MOOTS upsidedown to remove the cranks/BB.

Install the black Cane Creek 110 headset, ES 71 BB, and polished XT cranks (after a ring swap) on the MOOTS. Waste valuable minutes trying to figure out the Cracker Barrel puzzle that is trying to get the stem back on without having the hydro lines all twisted up. Fail. Install stem/bar, remove brake lever, untangle, and remount the brake lever.

Finish first beer.

Install Thomson post in the Niner so I can throw it in the workstand , install purple Cane Creek 110 headset, decide I don't like the purple 110 Cane Creek headset with the Kermit green fork, and decide to replace it with the black Cane Creek 110 headset.

Remove the black Cane Creek 110 headset from the MOOTS, install the purple Cane Creek 110 headset on the MOOTS, and install black Cane Creek 110 headset on the Niner. Become overwhelmed with remorse for having wasted so much time moving headsets around based on fashion decisions.

Go get my second beer.

Remove the newer Race Face Deus cranks from the Thylacine fixed gear cross bike of ridiculousness, replace it with the older Race Face Deus crankset (after another ring swap), and consider taking up another sport that has fewer parts, like ping pong.

Install WTB Silverado seat on the Niner... decide to drink another beer.

Mount up the stem, fork, wheels, and stick an Awesome Strap on the post for good measure.

Bolt the brand new Niner 32 tooth chainring to the newer Race Face Deus cranks, admire my work, and call it a day.

Go to bed.

Wake up coughing at 2:00am. Go back to the bike room, cut the steer tube down, try to install a star nut quietly, fail, go back to bed.

Not quite ready for prime time... yet.

Now, I'm sure some of you were a little disappointed in the big reveal. "Just another scanoodium One 9" you think to yourself as you finish off your morning coffee feeling a little empty inside (which might be a side effect of the coffee). I know some folks were probably expecting something more exotic, perhaps maybe even a crabon beauty like the one that stopped by to say hello back in November. Them crabon bikes aren't even ready yet, and my unprofessional privateer status and unprofessional privateer budget probably wouldn't allow for such a purchase anyhoo.

I liked my last One 9 a whole lot, although I only had it for about four months. Since that time Niner has updated the geometry on the One 9 (and the other hardtails) to reflect modern numbers and fork offsets. Most importantly they changed the geometry on their small frames. "Wasn't your last Niner a medium?" you ask yourself as you wonder why you really know more about my life than you should. Yes, it was, and I chose it based on the two standard bottle mount placements and the fact that I thought I was 5' 7.5". I have not measured myself since sometime in my early twenties, so I took the time to break out the level and tape measure and ask The Pie to assist me (she loves to assist me when it comes to bike related super anal activities). Come to find out I shrank over the last couple of decades, and I am now 5' 6.5" which makes me a fine candidate for a small frame.

The small does have one down tube bottle mount in the standard location and one more on the bottom of the downtube. I woulda thought that was a pain in the ass, but I end up skipping every other aid station using two small size water bottles anyways. The time I waste carrying 1.5 pounds of extra water up the climbs will probably be equal to the amount of time I spend stopping at every aid station over the course of 100 miles... or it won't be... who cares. I've done plenty of races (like ORAMM, Swank, and countless others) on one bottle, but if need be I can use the other mount since Tommawicki (Niner PRO Rider that I keep on speed dial who rides a small frame) assured me that she runs a bottle in the lower position without losing the bottle or collecting manure samples on the valve.

I'd love to get more into this... especially since I mentioned the geometry changes to the small frame, but failed to really talk about it, but I gotta go to work. It's gonna take me 15 minutes to get dressed for my 25 minute commute to the YMCA where I will spend 10 minutes getting undressed and redressed so I can run for 20 minutes before I spend 15 minutes getting dressed again.

I promise more tomorrow.