A New Bike?

Bike repairs turn into bike replacement

Well, not only did ripping my rear derailleur off my bike at the last race squash any chance I had at placing there, it also put me in a bind for my race the next weekend. I was entered to race in Columbia, MO at Trizou. I took my bike to the shop as soon as I could to talk to them about getting it fixed, warrantied, or whatever. The news was not good. The frame where the rear derailleur connects was bent and stripped out. It couldn't be fixed and Trek couldn't replace it (even if they could, it would not have been ready in time for my race). Because the failure was due to the derailleur, it wasn't covered. Plan B. Replace the frame or bike. The best Trek was able to offer was a discount on whatever I got through them as a replacement. I weighed my options which were limited due to the quick turn around I needed. I ended up going with a new Trek Speed Concept 9 frame and moving my parts from my old bike to the new frame. It is a killer frame and a wiked fast bike, but I really wasn't wanting to spend any money on a frame upgrade anytime soon.

The order was placed. It took a little bit for the frame to get in and the shop started working on it. They ran into an issue with the front brake and couldn't figure out how to fix it and weren't going to be able to let me leave without it working properly. Until they had that fixed, they weren't going to continue to work on it. I convinced them to keep going though and that we would deal with the brake last and would figure out a way to make it safe enough. The build started again... and then got stopped again. They were missing some of the bolts needed to fully secure the fork and handlebars to the frame. By this time, there was NO time. I had the shop have Trek send the bolts "overnight" and I went on a search for a more immediate solution. I called around to other bike shops in the area that carried Treks. I found one and only one that was able to help. They sold me 3 bolts that MAYBE would work since they didn't have the bike there to try it and the part numbers didn't exactly match up. I bought them and brought them down to test it. Success! The build continues and they were also able to get the front brake going with a fix. The mechanic worked hours after the shop closed on Friday night to get it done so I could leave for Columbia with it the next morning. No real test rides, but I was in business.

It looks pretty sharp and my display of hardware from previous races in the background doesn't look too shabby either. I hope with this bike, I will be adding to that collection considerably in future races. It's time to see if I can do that at Trizou.