Team Legend Cycling: New Mountain Bike

Over the last few weeks I have been frantically researching, buying, and waiting (for the most part patiently) for things for my new mountain bike build! Well, my patience has paid off and as of last Friday, my bike was complete, mostly.

If you know me, you can remember the Jamis full suspension bike I had. I saved up and had custom built for me during my high school days when I had no car or bills for that matter, days have changed since then. My Jamis is long gone as you all know :( and I have been wanting a full suspension bike for a long time now. My schwinn is awesome, I upgraded 98% of the parts on it to top of the line and it performed well last year as my race bike, yet I still wanted my full suspension.

I actually started researching for a new hardtail frame about a 4-5 weeks ago, figuring any decent full suspension frame would be out of my budget. To start things out I placed an order for a custom wheelset with speedgoat.com in Pennsylvania, figuring the wheels would take a month to get. They took about 3 weeks since some items needed to be ordered directly from the manufacture. The timing lined up well with my frame and component purchases. I also started setting up spreadsheets galore with costs, budget, weights and selection of all the components I wanted, so that I could try to make a responsibile decision before dumping 3k on a new bike. It came down to two hardtail frames until Taylor & Jonas at Mike's Bikes at Berkeley found me a 2008 Specialized Epic Marathon on closeout for $800, normally $1750, which was around the price I was going to spend on a 2010 hardtail frame.

I wanted it badly, but I would have to wait another week for my new credit card to arrive from Capital One. Now, some of you might think that it is not responsibile by getting a credit card and buying a 3k bike with it. Trust me, I struggled with the idea, since I just paid off my other credit card (with my entire tax refund) which had a balance on it since college, it was quite the relief when I did that. So what compelled me to get into debt again? Well for one thing, I just financed my road bike for 3.3k for 0% for 6 months and I managed to pay that off in full without a single cent interest! This credit card has a 1 year 0% interest and after that it's 13.9% so my plan is to pay it off within 1 year to avoid interest charges. Since it's only 3k over 12 months that is $250 a month, which I can easily put into my monthly budget (Thank you Microsoft Money).

Back to the bike! I was going for a near 23lb bike (without pedals) and I ended up having a 23.17lb bike, so not too far off! I actually ended up spending 3.8k due to my wheelset and some shipping/tax and random items I needed to get but in the end not too bad for what a bike manufacture would sell for $7500 bucks. I also got a good deal from Mike's Bikes with their "Wrench Rewards" February promotion in which you get a $100 gift card if you get their $220 pro tune up. I negotiated that since my bike build was $220, I should be eligible for the $100 gift card, it wasn't a problem! So, I'm going to use that gift card on the stem I want, Syntace Force 109!

Kevin at Mike's Bikes did a goodjob building up my bike over the course of two days and having it ready for me by Friday so I could race on it the next day at Fort Ord in Monterey, I could hardly wait! So thank you. I'll post later (or tomorrow) about my first race on my new bike, stay tuned.

There are a few minor things that remain:
1)Rear brake hose - It came at a set length and it wasn't long enough to route it "properly" so we routed it so it would work while I get a longer disc brake hose (which should be here by Wednesday/Thursday)

2) No stem - I didn't know what size of stem I needed to fit me since they come in a lot of lengths and angles. So in the mean time, I'm borrowing one from Mikes Bikes, a 110mm with 16 degree angle. I'm seeing how this one fits before I put the order in for my Syntace. Can't be on a bike that doesnt fit me can we?

3) Hope Matchmakers - This will allow me to attach the shifters and brakes to the same handlebar clamp, eliminating a clamp on the handlebar, cleaning it up and saving some weight (should be here by Wednesday/Thursday)

4) Rockshox SID Decals - Currently the decals are red, which fit the color scheme of my Schwinn, but I want some silver or dark gray decals to match my new bike. Unfortunately the ones I wanted are not available (yet?!?!) so I will have to wait but the red doesn't look too bad for now. Probably going to cost me another $20-$30 down the road.

5) Grips - I originally put black grips on it but after being told the "rule" I ordered white grips and they should be here this week as well. The "rule" states that the color of the saddle (the seat) and grips should match and the seatpost and stem should match in color as well. Well since I have a white saddle I need white grips. Stupid me huh? haha. Right now I'm borrowing a white stem but my final stem will be black to follow this "rule."

6) Yumeya - I might add some gold Ti bolts to my XTR components to had some "bling" to it, but the stuff would be another $175 bucks and I'm liking the simplicity of my bike right now. It's not too flashy like my Schwinn but when you really look at it, it's a damn nice bike!

I could go into all the technical details of the bike but I'll let the slideshow speak for itself and the link to the spreadsheet which has all the details for those who care.