RSS Feedin other news, the new fetish frame that i got was still giving problems as of last night. that cheap frame really is a POS. powdercoat everywhere like i mentioned before. in addition to powdercoat being in the bottom bracket area and head tube, we found yesterday that the powdercoat had created a ring around the seatpost that measured 32.2mm. now i’m not a genius, but they don’t make collars that size. phil finally got a 32.0 to fit on there correctly. but oh wait, there’s more: on fetish’s site, the seat collar is listed at 31.8 with a seatpost diameter of 27.2. but somehow the donkeys in china didn’t get the message because it actually takes a 27.4 seatpost to fit snugly.
oh yeah, about that bit for reaming out the headtube to fit an integrated headset: the tool itself is about 240 bucks, and i got the frame for 100. there was no way in hell that steven was going to order that tool to work on a shitty frame that’s less than half the cost of the bit. so justin was nice enough to sit there and file the powdercoat out enough so that the bearings could actually fit in there correctly.
of course i try to call the donkeys at fetish, but maybe if they had a voicemail that actually worked and wasn’t full all the time things would be easier. or – if they didn’t have such wonderfully sucky products, people wouldn’t have to call all the time to complain.
lesson of the day? don’t buy fetish frames on clearance. those “specials” every month? my guess is that they are all jacked up in some way. and in case someone from fetish somehow reads this blog and wants to contact me, call the shop.
johnny sprockets: 773.293.1695. ask for justin, cause frankly, i’m done dealing with you retards. (fetish corporate, not ridefetish.com folks)
got the new fetish frame last wednesday, and although for the most part it looks very clean, the wonderful suppliers in china/taiwan made a stupid-assed mistake of somehow painting/getting paint into the entire frame. we’re talking there’s paint where the seatpost goes, where the fork/headset go, and where the bottom bracket goes. although sprockets has all the tools to amend this situation (except for the internal headset reamer adapter), it’s still a slight inconvenience. the good news is that i’m probably still going to make my september 14th projected deadline of building it up.
the upside is that i was able to prevent my carbon seatpost from seizing inside of the tube of the track bike…whew, that was a close one. so what it looks like right now is that i’m going to buy some parts off one of the mechanics: vuelta xrp xlite wheels laced to the vuelta/xrp hubs, durace cranks, ultegra bottom bracket, and r600 brakes/levers. i also have on the way one of the cool surly 1×1 singulators – which in the catalog look really awesome. oh yeah, also need another cane creek is-2 headset and a new stem too because i am actually going to keep the track bike as well as have the new fetish. i already have a nice deda elementi handlebar that i’ll just throw back onto the track bike. so looks like my bike count will actually be at 4 after all.
steven also hung the tarmac pro frame up in the shop. i have gotten many compliments for it, including one from the owner of the shop. it looks very hot right now with the red and white on the frame plus a white alias saddle. cashay for that bike will come soon too i hope. ha.
this is a scam on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Specialized-Tarmac-SL-Team-Gerolsteiner-road-bike_W0QQitemZ170142894370QQihZ007QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
same thing happened awhile back with quintana roo bikes, asking you to EMAIL ASAP OR YOUR BID WONT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!
i’d also have to agree that today was a good day for Fetish Cycles. got through on my second try and ryan was helpful, per usual. you may be asking, ‘why did he have to call fetish?’ – and i’ll tell you why.
quite frankly…i’m too old, too nervous, and too cautious now to be riding through the streets of chicago with a fixed gear. i even tried to do what wesley did with his position (with the rear brake) but the shop won’t do it for me. justin says that if something happens (and it probably will), he doesn’t want to be held responsible for it. plus it’s hard to drill a completely straight hole into that bar anyway to put a brake on the track frame.
so after some thought which was influenced by my girlfriend getting a bike too, i decided to go ahead and get a 47cm white inizio frame. ordered it today, should be here next week. i mean, overall it’ll be a straight part swap. all i’ll need to do is get a flip flop 130mm hub, rear brake set, another brake lever, and some type of chain tensioner. i was thinking either the singulator that adam runs, or i’ll just throw an xt derailleur on the back and ride it. i’ll be able to coast again, and i’m even going to go down to a 44/16 and ride a little more leisurely through the city, and along the path with jennifer. i’ll no longer get to be a hipster, or have spoke cards or padded top tubes, but i can live with that. ah haha…never had those things anyway.
also did some final calculations for the tarmac pro frame. the most it’ll cost to finish the build is around 600 bones plus maybe a 12 pack of good beer for justin at the shop cause lord knows i can’t assemble anything myself.
tentatively, the build schedule is as follows:
Specialized Tarmac (Kacela): October 5
Fetish Cycles Inizio (Kallan, Jr?): September 14.