A White Christmas - Project MB-1 Assembly & Fabrication

Well, this being Portland, OR, it was a white bicycle xmas. That's right, Project MB-1 is now road ready! I was able to get all the parts on and fitted in time for a xmas eve ride with a  couple of ride buddies for a tough, hill climbing 32 mile inaugural ride. The picture above is from our high point at Bald Peak Park.

Last week Gene from Rad Finishes called to say the bike would be ready and we arranged to pick up the frame on Thursday, 12/22.

As soon as I saw it I was, "Wow!" While the factory color is Pearl Tusk, which is a stronger ivory white, this is more white-white with the orange pearl on top. Then, when we took it back into the paint booth for some pictures, it just glowed.

The cool thing about picking the frame up on Thursday, was my vacation starts the following Friday, so I can start assembly immediately. Having collected parts and visualized how I wanted to fabricate the various pieces over the last two months would be a huge jump start. First up was the fit up the wheels to ensure paint clearance at the drop outs and to being fitting up of the SKS Alley Cat fenders. I was liking these with their matt black finish rather than the standard shiny black. These would help to keep the focus on the frame rather than distract the eye away from it.

I started with the front fender and already knew I wanted to minimize external attachment points and paint marring. My plan was to fabricate an insert to fit inside the steerer tube that the fender mount would attach to. Since a hole existed on front and back, I used the front hole as the allen wrench access to the allen head screw on the inside. The insert is a piece of aluminum that I shaped into a round shape, drilled the mounting holes, then cleaned up the edges.

I used an acorn nut on the outside for a cleaner look. (I may see about reversing the fastener set up for an even cleaner look. All fasteners are stainless steel. Once the mount was finished up, it was just a matter of adjusting the stays for an even fit around the tire.

Next, it was on to the rear fender. Again, with the goal to create simple, aesthetically pleasing fabrications I utilized the chain stay bridge threaded insert and the newly installed threaded insert in the seat stay bridge. The lower mount uses a button head M5 allen screw, a couple of aluminum spacers and a washer to protect the paint. This provided the base tire to fender gap.

Once the lower mount was done, I moved on to the upper mount. Again, a piece of the aluminum strip was just the answer. I fit the aluminum bracket to the fender mount first, allowing for some up and down adjustment. Then I measure for the seat stay mounting hole. The finished bracket is actually a little narrower than in the picture below and I moved the fender mount bracket to attach to the lower side (the side you see in the picture). This provides a nice clean look from the other side. Now all that was left was to adjust the fender stays for an even spacing around the tire.

Seat post, seat, handlebar/stem, crankset, derailleurs and chain came next. I had to shorten the 9 speed chain some but the new bottom bracket and crankset lined up nicely with the Ultegra 9 speed cassette. Of course, I suspected no problems since the 107mm bottom bracket and Sugino XD600 are the same set up as is on the MB-5. Project MB-1 was beginning to look like a whole bike, again.

I set up the handlebar in as close to actual as possible so I could begin brake and cables installation. Brake installation was straightforward since I was using the originals, just like I used the original derailleurs. The Jagwire ripcord cables and housings were a breeze to install and I actually like the black teflon coating, subdues their noticeability against the bike frame a little bit more. For the shifters, I first tried a set of Shimano 9 speed index shifters. The indexing did not line up well with the Suntour XC Pro rear derailleur, so I figured if I was going to go with friction only, I would use my Silver set. Well, their feel is great, but on my long ride, they kept auto-shifting, especially when the derailleurs were at their extended points (lowest gear in rear or large ring up front). I would then switch it back to friction mode for the Shimano Dura-Ace shifters, which  have a bit more friction.

I wanted to keep the frame lines clean, including the chain stay, so I thought about how to protect this area. The clear, thin film you can buy did not appeal to me as it did not necessarily protect against chain impact and was ugly after a while of being hit and all. What I am currently using is a piece of thin wall, vinyl tubing from the hardware store.

I kind of like it. It allows for the color and decal to show through and is thick enough to provide good chain stay protection. It is cheap and does not require adhesive, either. Well, with all the cables routed and adjusted, it was simply now just fine tune the handlebar position, which only took a few up and down the street trips, then it was time to wrap 'em up.

And then, it was like, "cooooooollllll!" MY bike, for sure. Since I knew I was going to ride it on the xmas eve ride, I took it out for a short test ride to make sure I did not miss anything significant and make sure everything was seated well. The ride was sweet, felt good, felt like an old, trusted steed, not a newly built from scratch, new-old frame bike.

The bike felt just right and quite familiar - I suppose some of that is the handlebar and seat are from the SUB (MB-5). It was more than those, though, as the comfort and feel of the bike were great.

It could be just me, but the bike seems very photogenic, too.

The xmas eve ride was physically tough, since I have not ridden any terrain like we did for the distance (2500' elevation gain, 32 miles; high point 1600 some feet). The weather, though, could not have been better - sunny, amazing views and great company. Hopefully my riding partners did not feel too held back.

The bike, save for one overshift which caused the chain to jump off the 46T big chainring, performed flawlessly. Okay, the Silver shifters could not hold against the max extension of the derailleurs, but that was relatively minor. We rode on pavement and hardpack dirt/gravel. I think I hit somewhere near 45 mph coming down from Bald Peak Park. The bike was very stable. I was very, very happy with how uber SUB has turned out.

And, here are my two riding buddies, Tom (left) and Mark on Mountain Top Rd., not quite our high point, yet. I am grateful they are great riding buddies and did not complain about having to wait for me at the tops of the climbs.