things were going right all day. i called bicycle recycle and dude tells me he has a bmx lever that will fit a max 27mm diameter (wtf?) so i make the hour and half out there to get the one brake lever in melbourne that will fit the clamp sleeve on my cinelli drops. i get there, paranoid he measured it wrong and it fits!!! fuck yeah. then i ask if there is any chance in hell they have any cinelli 26.4 stems, he says no way, but i’m welcome to dig through the bin for anything i might see. i pull out 2 cinelli, one silver one black and a fucking long 3ttt with a mad aero shape. they’re all missing bolts or something so the owner says $5 each…fuck yeah!!! so i start looking closer at the line of track bikes dudes always got up front that i can never afford. there was a Farleigh i’d never seen there before and…its in my size…complete…for $575!!! i take it for a spin to see how she rides then call my gf to transfer funds to my card and BAM!! its now in my living room. dude says the bike’s been there for 2 days. track shit only lasts about 5 min in this shop because they usually wind up on fyxomatosis before i even knew they were there.
its dark sparkly purple with very nice lug work and VERY tight clearances (with 23s in the back the tire hits the ST and i’m not sure about the fork yet, its still got 19s on it that it came with) a white fork with a double plate crown with F cut into the tops and bb shell. complete with an aero shimano 600 stem (the internal bolt ones), cinelli crit bars, a strong? seatpost and wobler (i think) hard anodized gray rims laced to zeus, but i think the rear hub used to be a road and someone has re-centered the axle and dished it centered and then…tied and soldered the spokes. the chainline to the SR Royal track cranks is like 20mm off. i’ll have to put my DA hub in the rear and my 110mm bb in to sort that out, but FUCK YEAH…
Yesterday I Felt the most hated
I thought I couldn’t take it, they said I couldn’t make it
And today I’m Feelin’ brand new
I got nothin’ to lose, I’m bout to make moves
Yesterday I Felt the most hated
I thought I couldn’t take it, I fought until I made it
And today I’m Feelin’ brand new
I got nothin’ to lose, get out my way move
after working on it all day to get it rideable i found a number of things troubling:
rear axle bolts barely tightened, and they let me test ride it
rear hub chainline on zeus pista hubs was…like 37mm
crank bolts barely tightened
bb completely un-greased and spindle too wide
it seems at first glance that at least one bb cup was left in while painting
again it seems that it was painted over the last coat of paint…i’m hoping for a cool blue effect when i chip the paint over time
i don’t have an allen wrench long enough to reach the internal bolts in the stem, so the bars with neon pink tape are staying on for now
overall i’m happy with the buy, but i would have much appreciated a bit more disclosure about a seemingly ready to ride bike.
This was an in-person sale, not the internet. They don’t have to disclose anything, you have to be a smart consumer and examine the bike closely before purchase, although I agree that leaving the rear bolts on loose was dangerous and stupid, though anyone who works in a bike shop can tell you how common it is to have customers test-ride a bike with a loose stem, or some other kind of frightening oversight. Shit happens.
as for the disclosure. i know they don’t have to say anything about it and i knew exactly what i was getting when i put down the money, but letting me test ride it was stupid and irresponsible, i even had to ask them to put enough air in the tires and had to explain (briefly) why i wanted to put on my own pedals because they had straps and i didn’t want to ride a brakeless/retentionless bike for a test.
that said, i’m stoked about my new bike and its a fucking blast to ride…even in Melbourne’s pissing rain.
yesterday sucked
i spent half the day at CHEO (childrens hospital of eastern ontario)
my 11 month old son has a really bad ear infection thats spreading to his other ear, antibiotics aren’t doing shit, he’s drinking tempra like it was apple juice
having a unconsolable crying baby in your arms seriously sucks
That chainline looks wonky.
Do I spy tied and soldered spokes?
Hope your baby gets better, I was plagued with chronic ear infections when I was a kid. I didn’t really mind though cause I got to miss shool all the time./
what kind of cranks do you have on there?
check to see if that bottom bracket is the right one.
also check to see if someone didn’t swap some weird spacers into that hub. your chainline should be pretty close.
sweet bike though. you got some good parts on there.
