Today was busy at school with teaching and with coaching my 7th grade football team. Despite a 34-0 victory, I found I was more excited thinking about coming home to start building up the Long Haul Trucker than I was watching the 4th quarter scrub action on the field.
Right after dinner,I put the headset and uncut-fork on the frame. I wimped out and ran to my local bike shop to have them put the star-nut in the fork. I was going to jury rig a tool for setting the star-nut, but was afraid I'd mess it up.
The derailleurs and rear brake came mounted with cables attached. I strung up the front brake, put the stem and bars on, filled the tires with air, added pedals and the obligatory Brooks saddle. At this point the bike was ride able. The every thing seemed tuned up far beyond my expectations.
One problem is that I don't have enough spacers for the uncut steer tube. I plan to leave it long and add spacers on top of the stem if I find I want to ride a bit lower in front. Q did this on his Cross-Check. Despite the this problem I could test ride because the brake cable hanger clamps on the steer tube with a hex-bolt. This allowed me to hold the fork tight until I got the stem clamped down.
Tomorrow I'll pick up the spacers, wrap the bars, take of the pie plate, add fenders, mount a rack and do some finish up adjustments.
I cruised around the neighborhood some. The bike is so comfortable and solid. Looking forward to finishing up and going on a long ride.
