My Bianchi Mutt 7800 Re-assembled

It was 3:00 am on Sunday when I finally finished with the re-assembling of the hardtail. Discovered a few things that went wrong when I assembled it first time many, many moons ago. That rectified, and a bit more being upgraded. Cheap ones, actually – cables and RD hanger.

Just so happened that Aunty’s shop stocked Jagwire L3 brake cable housing when I went there to get new cables. It matches my existing shifter cables. This time around, I bought Jagwire shifter cables and brake cables – loose ones (read: cheaper). The results: smoother shifting and braking.

Also in the shopping list: spare RD hanger. Well, I discovered that my existing hanger is actually a bit bent. So, that’s going to be my spare, and the new one mounted on the frame. This of course, affected the RD tuning. Still hasn’t got it fully right. Just alright for a ride, still.

I put on also Malik’s Titec X-Wing seatpost (for a test ride). I feel that I need to change the Thomson laid-back – perhaps it would make my ride more comfortable. In deed, it does. I feel more comfortable, and the ride is sweeter.

The bike was squeaky clean, and I almost didn’t want to ride it offroad on Sunday. Anyway, PCC Presidential Ride 2009 is a few more days away, and I need to have an offroad ride – to test the bike on a whole, and so as not to have a long break from riding. It has been two weeks since my last ride – in Melaka.

Thankfully the trails were not as wet as usual, and I had a blast during the 35km ride. The seatpost is nice, the brakes are responsive, (although) the RD needs to be tweaked a bit, and the tires need not be changed with new ones (yay!). And, I managed to climb up Bukit Panjang using the middle front ring with 32T at the back. Panjang said I’m the second only after Atuk to have done that. I felt that I accomplished something. It was over when Atuk mentioned that he used the middle ring with the rear at 2 gears higher than I did. Hmmppphhhh…

Well, I guess the bike is lighter a bit when it was cleaned and tuned – perhaps because I shaved about 50 grams or so, from the dirt residing on the parts.

Ha ha ha.