First Part

The first Bike part I have recieved in over 10 years came today. It was my Time ROC Atac Carbon Clipless Pedal. After much resaerch and talking on forums to heavy riders this was the sensous for what I think will work best. Since I am buying the Bike from Curtlo I will buy the rest from him. But for Christmas I thought I would get a head start on some of the smaller things. My shoes are coming next and should be hear any day.

Global Warming?

Well first of all I hope everyone had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a happy new year. I am still under the status of unemployed, but hopefully that will change in the near future. I sure hope so or that Bike dream will be a empty frame sitting in the garage come spring. Well thats the bad but the good is I am down 5 weeks on my build time so its getting closer, even though Im not sure how much closer. Now for the pics as you can all tell it looks like we went home for the holidays but nope, this is the rainy city of Seattle. We had a white Christmas and more snow then then they have seen in a decade. Fortunantly the old man came over from spokane and flew back east to my aunts for the week. I was able to enjoy driving his newer fully loaded 1 ton 4x4 GMC, its a tank in the snow. Well not much else on the front to talk about so happy new year.

Bike Thoughts

I know I wont see my new bike for at least 12 to 15 weeks but it is hard not to start planning for the build. I have pretty much come up with all the components of the bike. Here are some of my thoughts, any input would be great. As a reminder I am 280 lbs which is the reason for most of the heavy duty parts. Weight is not going to be a huge issue to me since it is all relivant. The bike is going to weigh more but I am stronger then the average person so it equals out.

Frame: Curtlo Advanced Mountaineer 29er custom frame
Fork: White Brothers Magic 29er 110mm, 20mm thru axle (ordered with heavy duty crown)
Wheels: 36h Salsa Gordo 29er
Hubs: white industries m16's
Spoke: Aspen heavy gauge
Brakes: Avid Code 5's 185mm rotors
FR Derailer: Shimano XT
Rear Derailer: Shimano Saint
Shifters: Shimano XT rapidfire
Bottom Bracket: Shimano XT
Cranks: Custom 210-230mm
Pedals: Time Roc Atac
Handlebar: Easton EA 70 monkeybar
Cassete; Shimano XT
Headset: Chris King
Stem: Thomson Elite X4
Seatpost: Thomson
Seat: WTB Shadow V
Tires: WTB WierWolf FR 29x2.55

This is what I have so far, some will change I am sure as it gets closer and the prices start coming in. This is just what I am shooting for if the price is not to crazy. I am still not sure about the color. The green on the bike below is more neon then it looks in the picture and I don't really care for it. I might go with military green and call the bike Tank because it will be built very beefy.

10 Hour Bike Fitting

Yesterday I made the great Journey to Winthrop, WA. Why did I drive 4 hours for no apparent reason to the middle of no where? It's easy, to meet with Doug Curtis the owner of Curtlo Cycles. Many people talk about what a great builder Doug is but not many people get to meet him. So I set off on my venture at 6 am for the great Northwest Cascade Highway. This is probably one of the most scenic drives I have ever been on in Washington state. Along my drive I managed to see a heard of elk, 5 bald eagles on a mound of rocks and get a sweet picture of a young buck. I stopped a couple of times along the way taking pictures and looking at the earths marvels.  Finally at 10:30 am arrived in Winthrop. This is a magnificent place to live. For the outdoor enthusiast it is a dream. With rivers running everywhere and trails for miles and miles you could live there your whole life and not see it all. In the winter it is a cross country skiing haven with 2000 km of groomed trails. For the Hunter and Fisherman it has just about everything the Northwest has to offer. When I pulled up to Doug's house and shop it was easy to understand why he moved here. His neighborhood consisted of a few houses sprinkled around a large meadow in no particular order. In every direction a scenic view that could be on a postcard. When I pulled up I was greeted by the the house watch dog. A friendly golden retriever that said hello as soon as I opened the car door. After petting the dog for a minute I walked to Doug's shop.  After meeting and talking with Doug for about an hour I got a feel of his philosophies about building and life. Doug is a extremely nice guy who Builds bikes not to get rich or have his name on every bike across america. He builds them because he loves building bikes for people and it gives him the freedom to live life at his own pace. He builds the bikes at the same pace if he has 10 or 100 orders, his speed is not determined by number he needs to build but what is comfortable and enjoyable. It was kind of funny, he talked about if you were the last person on the list he would not stress to build 100 bikes fast, you would just wait longer until the 99 were built before yours. After an hour of talking we got to the bike stuff. Doug sized me on his own bike, taking some measurements and asking me questions about what I wanted. We talked allot about component options. Being 280 lbs it is important to get stuff that is going to hold up. Doug is pretty amazing when it comes to pricing. When you buy one of his frames he sells you all the components at cost. For example the white brothers fluid 135 mm fork sells online for about $780-$880, Doug puts it on the bike for $650. This is how all the components are priced. Allowing you to build a pretty sweet bike for way cheaper then allot of manufactured bikes. After we were done sizing we talked a little more about Winthrop and his journey there and I headed back for another 4 hour drive home. The whole experience was amazing. From drive there to meeting Doug and even the drive back. It was refreshing to meet a person who cared more about the quality of life and making people happy then the almighty dollar. I couldn't be happier I chose Doug to build my bike, besides the craftsmanship and price I could not have purchased from a nicer guy.   

A new addition to the family!

Some may be as surprised as I am about this new addition, it was a shock to all of us. My Wife said .........................I could get a KEG O RATOR. Thats right this little bundle of fun is going to entertain for years to come. And with Red Hook Brewery being within 5 miles keeping it stocked should be of no problem. It did come with some compromise. My wife purchased the rest of her dishes from the wedding registry and I got this black beauty. It is on delivery as I write this. I have been wanting one for about a year and with being layed off I knew it wasn't going to happen for Christmas. Thanks to allot of gift cards from friends and family at our wedding, a young mans dream at Christmas can come true " To wake up Christmas mourning walk out to the tree a pour a ice cold brew".

Thank you    

My New Order

Here it is a picture of my new order. Well the closest thing to what I am going to order. Since every bike Curtlo builds is different this is the closest to what I want. Still not sure about the single speed and front fork but it will be this color and have all black components. Some may say why would I buy a custom bike when I am just getting back into it. Well I don't have many choices. Being 6'10" limits ones options but after talking to Curtlo he can build me a steel kick A$$ bike for the same cost or less then most production bikes with nicer components.  

It Happened!

Thats right allot has happened. First is that I wrote a blog. This day has finally come, mainly out of a new found time, from being layed off. I never thought I would write one of these. The primary reason being I am a terrible writer. The reason for the Blog is dedicated to my friend Tread29 who's blog keeps me in touch with my friend that now lives across the country. Another thing that happened was I got married, hard to believe but it finally happened. The last which is the reason for the blog is my new bike order. Thats right I have sent my deposit for a custom Mountain Bike. The lucky builder is Curtlo Cycles in Winthrop, WA. And hopefully by June I will role onto the dirt trails of western Washington.