I'm not much of a photographer, but I did my best. I'll be honest, it was tough; I wanted to rip the box open and build it up immediately. I tried to slow down a bit and take some images along the way.
I've put the whole thing on my flickr page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgps-bob/sets/72157622964863214/ The sets starts with the bike being taken off of the UPS truck...yes, I kept checking the street. :-) I hope the images document the packing enough for folks to at least get some idea of how they do it! Here's what happened... I didn't have time to do anything when the bike arrived besides open the box to be sure there was actually a bike in there. I snapped a couple of shots, then dragged the box inside so I could get off to a luncheon and go back to work for a bit. After what seemed like a really long time I made it home. It was really only about 3pm at this point. I then began pulling things out of the box, photographing as best I could as I went. Once it was all in pieces everywhere I made some executive decisions. I could either build it up completely, putting on the fenders (the SKS silver plastic model) and the Nitto front rack, or I could get it mostly together and go for a ride. I chose the ride of course. It took about an hour of unpacking and building before I was ready for a test ride around the block. For those of you who wonder, the bike was packed superbly. Even the plastic bubble wrap was cut precisely to fit around stays and the like. I was very impressed. Still am. After a ride around the block I took it back upstairs and packed a little kit just in case I had trouble, readjusted the seat and handlebars, and took off down the road. Within a block I realized I was going to have to get swap sides on the gearing. I had Rich build my wheels to be a bit better than stock because I'm a bit of clydesdale. They have the standard QB Suzue hubs rear and aft but Synergy rims instead of the Mavic. I have a White dual 16-19 on one side and no name 22 on the flip. Up front is the standard 32-40, for now at least. When bike shipped it was running 32-22. I could climb the walls on the side of my building but was outrunning myself on the flat Honolulu streets. No trouble switching - took a minute the first time. Because I had no 700c tubes around I went to one of the several LBSs in the area. I'm not going to mention it because the guys were a bit confused by my Quickbeam. "Dude, that's way, way too big for you." "How much does it weigh?" "Did you take the derailleurs off?" In short they didn't know what to make of it. After getting a couple of tubes I was off. I rode down the Ala Moana Park and then to Kakaako Waterfront Park, then home. The ride was...superb. That's the only way to describe it. I did have to adjust the seat height a couple of times...probably will again tomorrow. This bike is nimble, easy to ride, and very, very comfortable. It is, without a doubt, the best bike I've ever owned and the best single speed I've ever ridden. I rode a couple of geared bikes at Rivendell last March so those take the cake as best geared bikes. :-) I've got to work out some details yet. There's the front rack, the fenders, and I'll have to do something about lighting. I'm thinking of getting a SON at some point because this really is my commuter and I ride a lot at night. But I'll worry about lighting later. For now I'll get by with what I've got. Aloha! On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 12:22 PM, doug peterson <[email protected]> wrote: > Robert: > > As you unpack the bike, please take the time to take photos of the > packing and post those as well. I regularly ship my bike for tours > and thought I'd gotten good, but when my Atlantis showed up it was > fantastic how they'd packed it. I took photos, stored them on my > computer, only to lose the hard drive (argghh!) without back up. I'm > sure others would appreciate seeing how Riv does it. They've said > they're going to put up photos on their site but it's been a while. > You would be doing a public service, if you can restrain yourself! > > dougP > > On Dec 8, 12:45 pm, "Robert F. Harrison" <[email protected]> wrote: > > My QB arrived about 5 minutes ago. I went in to work very early so I > could > > run the jobs I absolutely must get done on Tuesdays (without making my > > co-workers do them). Then I headed home as soon as I saw the "out for > > delivery" notice on the UPS site. > > > > About 10am HST I got a call from the UPS driver asking if I would be home > > later. I said yes, except that between 11-2pm I needed to be away and the > > manager of my condo would be in. He asked me to please make sure because > the > > box, while not heavy, was bulky. I asked when he thought he'd make it and > he > > said not till afternoon. Sigh. > > > > Then he drove up. I could hear him joking with someone outside saying, "I > > told him this afternoon." I immediately broke out the camera and snapped > my > > box being offloaded. It'll be part of a flickr album later. > > > > He brought the box up to my apartment and I gave him a cold soda and told > > him he was my hero for the day. Apparently I'm going to have more than > one > > hero though because, as you guys said, the bike is packed immaculately. > And > > unfortunately I'm going to have to leave it that way for a bit as I have > to > > dash out for my companies annual anniversary banquet. Folks with years of > > service in multiples of five are being feted. I made ten years and they > are > > pretty insistent about showing up. > > > > Luckily it'll be over around 1:30pm so I can ride home on my other single > > speed (now my "rain bike") and start putting things together. There > doesn't > > appear to be a whole lot to do (thankfully), so I'll probably be able to > > take it out for spin before dark. > > > > I'd love to stay and play with it, but the sooner I get this luncheon > over > > with, the sooner I can play with my "anniversary present." > > > > Aloha for now! > > > > Bob > > > > -- > > Robert Harrison > > [email protected] > > statrixblog.statrix.com > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<rbw-owners-bunch%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > > -- Robert Harrison [email protected] statrixblog.statrix.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. 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