It's gonna be a close one

The bike should be complete by the end of the day with the arrival of two big circles of mystery.  The build has not been without its challenges.  The brakes were acquired on Wednesday from Bike Source, but sans the post mount to 180mm adapter, so I left with two 160mm rotors in case I couldn't find the P/P 180 by the weekend.  I went home immediately to loose-fit them onto the bike.

Yes, XTR.  Of all the variables I notice when swapping between two to three different bikes, the one I can notice the most is brakes.  XTR is the shit, a change in the Team Dicky braking paradigm since the reckoning of August '12.  Brake feel is (IMHO) paramount to almost everything, so keeping it the same as possible is key...

Which is why this bugs the shit out of me:

Gripe Shite.   I knew deep down there was a reason I was referring to it thusly.  It's super wide with the stock grip, moving my lever placement over @20mm inboard.  That's significant.  So I took the stock grip off and analyzed the problem.
I wanted to saw the end off old-school style, but the shifter end of the grip looked integral to the actual shifter itself.

photo swiped irrelevantly from BIKE RUMOR

The other end has a lock-on, so no bueno with the hacksaw as well.

I scratched my head, tried to figure out a solution, dug out some way old ODI Ruffian Grip Shift length lock-ons, worried about the "integral" part of the system, almost made a litany of bad decisions on my own, looked up SRAM's digits, called...

closed.

Well, shit.  I went to work Thursday and waited for SRAM to open their doors.  I called once more.

"You need to install the blanking ring if you want to run aftermarket grips."

"What?"

"The blanking ring that came in the box?"

"The what that came in the what?"

"The part that can't be ordered or replaced that should have been in your box but apparently wasn't.  You're welcome."

Two more calls to SRAM, a tossing of all boxes, packing material, bags, manuals and whatnot.  None of the SRAM employess could tell me exactly what it looked like so I would know it if I saw it.

Ironically enough, I found an image of a "blanking ring" while writing this post today.

Sheeeee-it.  I did not get one of those.  I am sure of that.  I checked the box of unused parts thirteen times.

So an unplanned stop at Bike Source last night, my third visit there in under a week.  I inquired into the possibility of an inquiry.  That will happen today.

I went with a new solution.  I bought wider bars...

with "Braaaaaaaaaap" inspiring rise

to mount to my negative rise stem

with spacers underneath.

Soooo close.

The Drooper post was wired up without a hitch (that's a lie).  The brakes lines still need shortened and that in and of itself is a risk VS reward job I will contemplate later, as I intend to ride this bike tomorrow.

So either a ride report next week, or just another weekend as usual with a little short track spectertating on Sunday.