One second…

I recently built up a new race bike for Daniel, a local high school kid who races in the NorCal high school mountain bike league. A nice, light, no-frills Orbea aluminum frame, Fox Float RLC fork, SRAM X9 drivetrain w/ XT crank, light wheels with Stan’s rims and White Industries hubs, and Juicy Carbon brakes. Came it right at 22 pounds.

I love building up bikes like this. Getting a bike race-ready and dialed-in is something that I really like. I got to do this for an entire season of NORBA races when I was the team mechanic for the Haro squad in 1995. Mechanics take as much pride in a great result as the rider and this was no exception.

Finished Daniel’s bike on a Thursday. He did a couple shake-down rides, brought it back for some minor adjustments on Saturday. Race day on Sunday and he’s second – by one second. That must have been some battle looking at his and the first place rider’s lap times.