November 24 2008

I got the bike today! I realized that I had not been this excited about getting a bike for a long time. It was like being a kid again. I went down to UPS to pick the bike up and watched them as they brought the bike out on a dolly with the BOX VERTICALLY IN THE AIR. I looked at the arrows on the box pointing "This Side Up". O well. I got the bike home and while unboxing I noticing the packing was done well minus the front wheel could have been a little better protected.

A little bit of paint was rubbed off the rim. The lockout cable for the front fork had unraveled which I quickly wrapped and put a cable end on.

I started building the bike just like an Average Joe Biker. To save weight Motobecane puts Ultegra 12-27 cassettes on their bikes. I am not strong enough to push a cassette like this in the Rocky Mountains. So I put a XTR 12-34 cassette on that I had sitting around adding 22 grams over the Ultegra. If you go on eBay you can find an XT 12-34 cassette for $77 or an XTR 12-34 for $140. The XTR is 31 grams lighter. Keep in mind you may want a 32t not a 34t. A 34t may cause the front end to come up and cause you to shift your weight forward.



I also changed out the FSA crank for XTR saving 74 grams. eBayers love FSA stuff. I sold the FSA Team crank for $253 and bought XTR for $384. $131 bucks for an XTR crank is a good deal. Please remember that special tool are required to take off and install cranks. XTR cranks require 2 additional tools costing me $20 on eBay.

The reason I put the XTR crank on is 2 fold. I wanted the bike to be FULL XTR and I have experience building many bikes with FSA cranks with not great results. Don't get me wrong, FSA makes nice stuff but when Shimano makes a new crank with all the cool engineering, they do an awesome job. Basically Shimano leads the bike industry for component innovation. Shimano also has design patents that they will kill to protect. These patents force other companies to design around Shimano all while trying to accomplish the same outcome with their products. FSA wants their cranks on new bikes. They want bike companies to put their cranks on new bikes. So FSA has to change designs even if the ISIS system worked great. If a company wants to survive they have to design around Shimano patents. The FSA Team crank that comes on the Fantom is a nice crank and once I took the chain off the chain rings to check the cranks ability to spin freely, I was impressed. In the past most FSA integrated crank systems had a lot of tension on the bearings only spinning one rotation. When I pulled the FSA bottom bracket out there was no and I mean no grease in the shell.

This is not surprising because if Motobecane put lube in all the BB shells then that would cost some money in grease. We couldn't have that. BB shells are a high torque/stress area of a bike and lube does need to be put on the threads and on the inside of the BB cups.

I kept the old chain, which is too short for the XTR 34t cog on the bike so I cannot accidentally cross chain the gears big to big or the rear derailleur will explode. I will just be careful because the chain is 38 grams lighter than a none hollow pin chain.

The gears were all set up the limits set correctly. The brakes took a little bit of work since the front rotor does not come on the bike and BikesDirect does not supply a torx wrench to put the bolts in. Luckily I had one. Remember to put the bolts on in a star formation. The rear rotor had one loose bolt and the rear brake caliper had one loose bolt. The main pivot behind the bottom bracket shell was loose. Just make sure when you build any bike to check every bolt. The wheels are true to the eye and the bearings feel fine. I want you to know that when a bike is built at a bike shop you can run into many of the same issues I had with the Motobecane. Bikes are assembled very quickly in the factories then boxed, ready for the bike mechanic to build it. The best bikes are built with personal care, the right tools, and by a PROPERLY trained bike mechanic. I left the 1/2 inch spacer on the top of the stem and switched the tires out for Hutchinson Pythons for now. The Fantom is all set to go and I am off to Nor Cal.