To make things fun I enlisted the help of Keesha and M to help design the masking on the front fork. I didn't want to leave the fork just a basic carbon look and I wanted everyone to be a part of my project. Here is Keesha drawing out stars, a sun and a moon that I will cut out and use to reverse mask before painting the fork to match the frame.
Here is M hard at work on her stars and moons. I asked them to just create what ever they wanted to. They decided on a sky theme and I love it! I get asked all the time, "What's with the stars and moons?" I get a big kick out of telling people how my wife and daughter designed it.
The fork is hanging and fully painted. I will pull off the masking and bury the lines with satin clear.
Here the mask is freshly peeled away to show the reverse effect I was after. This was Keesha's design and it came out great! The sun hits the now matte carbon and it really pops from under the satin black.
I have the bike on the work stand and have started all the assembly. It went together very quickly as there were no derailleurs to adjust and wire. I used a new Cane Creek IS3 headset, Shimano Ultegra Octalink A1 bottom bracket, Ritchey WCS compact cranks (only using the 50 tooth top ring), Forte Apollo wheels, Continetal Gatorskin rubber, stock brakes, stock fork, stock seat post, stock stem, stock bars, Forte brake levers, and lock-on grips.
Here it is completed! It rides very nice and smooth. I was worried about the Forte wheels because of my previous experience with the brand, but they ride very nice. On close inspection they are a direct knock-off of Mavic Cosmic Elite wheels without the aero-spokes.
Here is a close up of my bargain basement (literaly) Ritchey WCS cranks.
The Forte Chain Tensioner works very well and is easy to set up. Given this frame has rear drop outs meant for a geared bike this part is neccessary to properly tension and align the chain. It just bolts to the rear derailleur hanger.
Using my EP power and finding some SWEET deals I put this whole thing together for around $200. Not bad for a bike that pedals out around 22 mpg and climbs easy too. The only issue with the bike is the strength of the frame itself. I put so much stress on the lower triangle that the frame flexes under load. When I really start putting power into it the bottom bracket flexes about 3/4" causing the chain to "pop" on the front chain ring. No doubt this will be fixed by a proper single speed chain (I had to use an 8 speed chain as we were out of stock on ss chains) but I'm not dropping any more coin into this bike. This is a temporary holdover until my Lynskey arrives.
