As it says, a little orange bike, in this case a cross bike for an old friend, the great Bridget May. Bridget has always had bikes with small wheels, this is the first 700c bike for her. Nice parts all around, DT240s hubs on Velocity a23 rims, Force drivetrain and the super cool and curvy new Paul Minimoto cross brake. I was fortunate enough to get one during cross season and it is the finest cross stopper I have used. Assembling this bike was neat, I have been out of the bike shop for some years now and haven't put together a bike of all new parts recently. I was struck by the general ease of use. No loose bearings, no fiddly cantilevers. Pretty much ran the cables and that was it. I know this isn't exactly news, nice new stuff is, well, nice, but it is worth reflecting on how little this stuff asks of us as mechanics. Adjust the bb, the hubs. Huh? No need, all done and for that matter, you couldn't if you wanted to. Compare this to say a Super Record bike and the pie chart of what your time goes to looks very different.
Thanks,
Cameron
