Excitement for ALL!!

Playing the air guitar Niner

So, I was/am obviously excited!!  Who else is excited?  Annie, at the very least, enjoyed the child-like enthusiasm and awe I displayed as I unraveled my new sweetness.  She was very pleased with the aesthetics of the frame, and was 100% on board with my first alterations.  I'll get to that in a second.

Sit back and enjoy the pictorial account of the unveiling:

So I found the sweet deal on the One9 frame at Competitive Cyclist.

I mentioned earlier that in my initial notification of shipment that the weight for the box seemed whack.  I had postulated that maybe there was a bonus with my purchase.  No luck, the box was the very definition of NOT 13.9lbs.  

The packing job was superb.  And this is where the added excitement about this whole ideal would come.  And that excitement would come from Maggie.  Maggie LOVES to not only help unwrap gifts, but she is more than willing to lend her talents to opening cardboard boxes.  Although she would certainly have no part in opening this package, she would have gone bananas at the sight of the "air bag" packaging you can see on the right side of the box.  

(The "air bags" will be saved for her arrival so she can dispose of such packing materials "appropriately."  Scout will be excited, but won't know why... she'll just go off with unfocused energy due to Maggie's reaction)

Locked up tight and safe... no movement during shipping.

Niner EBB - pretty big part of the whole Niner fame.  Here is where things get shady.  In the whole write up on the website there is much discussion about the EBB - and I think (or assume) it is widely understood that an order of a Niner One9 includes the EBB.  I got a little nervous about the lack of explicit mention that the EBB was in fact included so I "chatted" with a rep from Competitive Cyclist to ensure that my assumption was correct.

During my chat I was informed that the 2012 frames came with the EBB - no mention of the 2011... I didn't completely buy that response and researched where I would acquire said EBB if in fact it did not come with the frame.... but it came with the frame of course.

This was something I did NOT expect with the frame - most sites explicitly state that they do not ship the One9 with a seat post collar.... but I got one!!  One less thing to gather for the build - SWEET!

So not only was the frame nicely secured when shipped, but they went through and prepped everything - all with a thorough checklist - very nice

And they even included a bag of goodies - touch up paint and cable ties!

 The frame is freed!!

And upright!

Time for the first "customization." Sticker removal.  

So fresh and clean!!  Removed a "Made in Taiwan" sticker from the bottom of the bottom bracket as well.  

The frame is smooth and naked 

Now it's just waiting for the build.

I wanted to display the frame with pride over the fireplace.... but Annie nixed that idea immediately.  

well...

There is news.  Some exciting news, some "everyday" news, and some not so fun news.

Everyday:

Got a couple applications in - so that's good.

Annie is a champ and got everything together to get our car insurance transferred down here (whole new carrier - as you can imagine, that was a lot of fun!).  Next step is to get our licenses, then back to the insurance company to get a form so we can get our license plates - what a freakin production!

Not so fun:

Although Maggie is recovering well, she has a long way to go before she can chase squirrels and run down tennis balls with the vigor she has... so it looks like we will push back the arrival of the puppies another month to ensure her recovery goes as smoothly as possible.  Big thumbs down to that one.  We are dying to have the puppies here, but we have to do what's best for Maggie - hence getting the surgery in the first place.

Exciting:

Certainly not planned, but after submitting a couple job applications the other night I happened to check the price on the One9 I had been eyeing.  The site I had been tracking gave me a scare as the price went back up....  ugh...  so I did a quick google search and found another site with a HUGE discount on the frame.

Exciting in that I'll have the frame I've been drooling over for a while now... but with this not being the optimal time for me to start dropping wads of cash all over the place, this is going to be a long term build - so that is going to be a killer.

Gives me more then enough time to pour over each and every part, weigh my options, throw out my build list and start again, and track the "deal" sites and classifieds like a maniac for the foreseeable future.  While seeking out deals on the parts I do want I'll likely be tempted by things I don't want just to keep costs low and get the build done quicker.  

In the end I know I will take my time and get parts that I want piece by piece.  After all, that's why I'm building a bike up - to get it the way I want it.  For a lot of it, I know what I want and it's basic, so I'm not worried.  But of course the whole fork argument/discussion will be a big one when it comes time to pull the trigger.  I do enjoy the fork on the HiFi, so the easy thing would be to get pretty much the same thing.  So some research will have to be done on that end.  Of course, there is the rigid avenue... part of me likes the idea, but having not ridden a rigid mountain bike since 1997 (maybe 1996 even) I dunno.  I guess I could always grab a steel fork to save some money and try it out before going all in on a carbon version.

As plans/parts come together I'm sure I'll share - and of course I'll welcome any feedback from the single speeders out there.  Parts you love, parts to stay away from.  Advice, suggestions, personal preferences, I'll take it all.  Other than the fork I'm thinking the crank/bottom bracket will be my biggest challenge due to lack of experience in that department.