It looks extra wonderful. Those silver clamps, compared to zip ties, are so classy. Love the rainbow nipples. Most of all, though, I love that the front dyno is red with an orange light and on the back, you have an orange hub with a red light. So nicely pulled together.
I'm especially happy that you had three glorious miles with Dyno and tubeless GravelKings. You, me, and another other #RivSister M. took a leap of faith with tubeless and I think it's safe to say we are all quite happy with the ride. The Edux light you got I think is the same one I got and is super bright compared to my other Dyno light. It's nice that the bike shop stood up to the quality of your bike with the quality of their work. Roberta On Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 2:00:20 AM UTC-4, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > Weeks ago, I took my 2019 Clementine to a bike shop for a major makeover. > I plunked down the money to make my only bike (until the Playpus arrives) a > Next Level Clementine. I decided I’d finally get dyno, which I’d never had > an longed for for years, and I’d get new wheels and tubeless tires to > lighten up my heavy bike. I’d seen Analog’s beautiful work on Instagram, > and dyno and hand built wheels and tubeless tires are their wheelhouse. > Candice and James created and shipped the most colorful, beautiful > wheelset/tires/dyno you could ever imagine. Ever. Now all I needed was a > mechanic. But this is Vegas, and good bike shops are hard to come by. > > These are the days of COVID 19 and bike shops are overburdened everywhere. > I don’t have any options close by, so I had to point the van SW and drive > 35 miles, deep into Vegas. I got to the bike shop 20 minutes before opening > and there was already a line. I grabbed my Clem, secured my spot, waiting > in the sun. The mechanics came out to and explained no repairs, save simple > flat fixes, would be done - they were swamped. I turned around and put my > Clementine back on the rack. From the parking lot, I called several bike > shops (one had 6 handwritten pages of names on their waitlist) and found > only one that could 1. Accept my bike (other shops were too full to take > more bikes) and 2. Get the bike back to me in less than a month. The catch > was that the place was called Pro Cyclery. Yikes. How can I show up at a > place like that with a bike like mine? They will laugh me out of the > parking lot. They will think I brought them a beach cruiser. > > I bit back tears. I looked back at my fancy Analog wheels. And then I > pointed the van in the direction of Pro Cyclery, arriving 15 minutes later. > > When I arrived there were employees apologizing to a mother-son duo that > they could not get parts, due to a worldwide shortage. There was carbon > fiber and drop bars and mountain bikes everywhere; it was just as I > imagined. An employee met with me to write up my ticket. I had a long list > for him. The list was: > > ~Remove old wheels and install Analog wheels (tubeless tires were already > set up and ready) > ~Hook up dyno > ~Adjust brakes, which were too loose > ~Grease stem > ~Adjust derailleurs > ~Check click in pedal - bottom bracket? > ~ Install new 38 tooth front chain ring (had a 35 and it was too easy) and > trouser guard > ~ Install new Kool Stop ebike brake pads > ~ Check rear fender to make sure it’s correct because some idiot (me) > installed it. Without taking off the rear wheel. > > The mechanic looked at me uneasily. He said he was sure his more > experienced mechanic would help us. “Is this going to be ok?” I asked. “Do > you ever hook up dyno here?” > > “Well, I see them at community bike projects. But I can’t see how I’m > going to hide this wire,” he said, frowning at my fork 😂. > > The shop really stretched itself to figure out how to set up the dyno > (they even called Candice), but when they were done they were really proud > of their work. They used fancy metal clamps instead of zip ties, something > I’m not sure they ever have cause to do. They hated drilling into my pretty > VO fender, but they did it with great precision. They cleaned that bike > until it sparkled - and this is no exaggeration if you’ve seen RBW Blue > paint. They recognized my bike for what it was - “Whoever made this bike > really cares about quality. We know quality when we see it. We don’t see > bikes like this come through the shop.” By the time I arrived to pick it > up, they had all ridden my bike and they LOVED it. I brought my bars to > show them I was swapping out the 55 cromoly Bosco bars for the 52 aluminum > Boscos. The senior mechanic said, “Oh, no! That will change how this bike > rides and this bike rides perfect! It’s so nice - we’ve all ridden it and > it’s so smooth! If I were you I wouldn’t be concerned with weight.” Hahaha > - you can all feel the irony of the words leaving his lips in a room full > of carbon bikes with a sign on the building saying Pro Cyclery. > > Anyway, I paid them way more money than they initially quoted me (oh well, > it’s a Next Level Clem), left them a 6 pack of chilled hard cider and drove > home. I swapped the bars, which took some time because I managed to screw > up the cabling, and then only had time for a quick 3 miles. > > Oh, but those 3 miles were glorious. If you’re going to have a Clem and > you live in hilly/mountainous country, then you owe yourself a Next Level > Clem. Dyno is sublime - oh, not having the dumb light on the bars blinding > the people you meet is really fantastic. Never needing to turn your lights > on/off - fabulous. The light and easy ride of tubeless Gravel Kings - be > still my heart. And then the COLOR. I told James and Candice to go wild > because that’s how I think Clems should be and they did. The wheels rainbow > from one color to the next in the spoke nipples, and they are larger and > more visible than the ones that come stock on a Clem. #RivSister Roberta > gifted me bright orange valve caps (also from Analog!) to put on the > magenta valves, and it was a nice touch. 😘 The hubs are mismatched - a > beautiful burnt orange on the back and a red on the front. The Edux II > headlight is burnt orange as well, tying it all together. > > My parts are now worth more than I paid for the complete bike but I can’t > feel badly about that because this is a Next Level Clem. I’ll attach a lot > of pics and a couple videos, which will take a couple of posts. I’ll write > here as I discover more for anyone interested in how these wheels/tubeless > tires ride. > > Now, onto the photos and videos! Thanks for hanging with me if you made it > this far. > Leah > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3d62ae9e-857d-48b0-8d74-1ed2ed7cd332%40googlegroups.com.
