That polished-to-silver Ultegra goup is, to my eyes, the best of both worlds. How shiny silver transforms the dark, bulky, asymmetrical shapes — am re-reading LOTR for the 20th time; the Ultegra group reminds me of Mordor — into something of beauty. The carbon fiber cages are just bitter resentment. If anyone does this de-anodizing for pay, please contact me. But kidding aside, we’ll see after riding the bike whether it’s important to get rid of matt black components. Perhaps not.
No, no dt bosses, alas, but I’d probably used barcons anyway, if I rebuild the bike. So, keeping the Ultegra group for now, tho’ Sharon, mgr at Fat Tire West, wants it and would probably pay to cover costs to switch to cold forged silver aluminum. This bike, — lovely as it is even with the Ultragra components — will be a “special use” bike, like a Brompton, and not a “real” bike. That may change as I ride it more. But for now, it is an occasional bike for longer group rides involving hills, while my 2 fixed road bikes and the derailleur dirt road bike will remain my “main” bikes. Frankly, again, the thought of having to rebuild this frame does not resonate. If the Ultegra group works well and I continue to ride mostly fixed (or ditchbanks), then this bike will be one that doesn’t need obsessive customizing and can remain stock to be taken down for those 1X/month longer hillier rides. I bought the dim, forbidding black crabon fibre’ (BSNYC’s spelling) bottle cages as a sullen, dreary antidote to Leah’s sunny rainbow anodizing. We’ll see who wins. (Is there anyone who can remove black anodizing and replace it with multicolored anodizing? Then I could beat Leah at her own game. And negate my own premise. And wouldn’t multicolored-anodized Ultegra cranks be something special!) In other news, the RH order containing inter alia 2 pr EL Stamped Pass 32s and a stash of TPU tubes arrived this afternoon. Replace tires ’n’ tubes, add sealant, probably replace saddle with Flite, add 7410 pedals, do some minor adjusments; God willing, inaugural trial ride, short, on Saturday. PS: That Vanilla is delicious. Patrick Moore, who this early afternoon rode NE and returned SW on a 20-mile out ’n’ back to the Balloon Fiesta Park, where they’re holding the XXXth annual Alb Int’l Balloon Fiesta, on the inevitable 1999 Joe Riv Road Custom gofast fixie, with the usual effortless 75” fixed delight despite the daily annoying switch from winds NE to SW from about 12 noon to 1 pm. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgvvwb0ME%3DLA1POrntBjKmLcXgzY%3DjDN6t%2BUgZOa_iQBuQ%40mail.gmail.com.
