[Breitness24]

My soon to be year long journey...**new pics!!!**

A little bit of history for those who care to read. Back in 95 Mom bought me my first nice bike in h.s cannondale m600. Got stolen a few years later got my permit to drive and forgot about riding. fast forward to april of 2010. Im 263lbs married in FL and not feeling the best. Went to two LBS here in tampa rode a couple of bikes but with a mortgage and car payment so on I couldnt swing the prices for what I wanted. Found this site ordered a cliff 29er pro thought it had decent components. Mind you I had no idea what a 29er was.

Sept 2010 with biking around 2 hrs every weekend and running everyday im down to 220. Figured I want a FS now. So I bought a kona hei hei 2-9 frame to swap parts over. Im still a noob so of course when I got the frame I realized some parts wont fit. So i started to build a new bike taking my time. My goal this year is to get under 200. So here are some pics of where its at. Enjoy~!

Ive never built a bike before so I thank the forums for the material and those members that helped answer questions.!

 

[gregnash]

Congrats on the weight loss and the new found passion!!! I am with you on this as I have been building a bike over the last 5 or so months (first bike and 29er at that) and now just need wheels and I am done! Cannot wait to get this baby running and drop that last bit of weight that I want to lose.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Right on, good job on getting healthy and keep it up! That Hei-Hei 29 is a nice bike, I almost bought one myself. Are you going to be running the mechanical discs instead of the Juicy Fives that come on the Cliff 29er?

 

[Breitness24]

Yeah Im trying the mech brakes because of the reviews ive read on this forum. I find my juicys a bit squishy. I admit i bought the bleed kit but im intimidated to bleed them even after watching the youtube vids so many times. I bought them off c-love so if i upgrade it wont be too bad since i got the bb7s at a great price. coming in the mail today are my single speed bolts for my 1x9 setup. still waiting on my spacers to cut my stem and pedals on the way too. last up will be the wheels I already have sb8s and might consider tubeless.

 

[Mailman953]

Congrats man! I think I must be your long lost twin cause your story mirrors mine, 260 in April now down to 190 and back into riding. Sweet looking bike enjoy the build. Just got word that the nice FedEx man dropped off my new Air 9 today. Can't wait to start the build

 

[bloo]

that Kona is going to be a sweet ride! i need to lose some poundage myself so i'm going to ride my bike to work more often since i can't hit the trails after work...too dark these days.

keep us posted on the Kona!

and oh, building my own 29er was one of the most rewarding things i've done in cycling, i'm sure you're finding that out yourself.

 

[Breitness24]

that Kona is going to be a sweet ride! i need to lose some poundage myself so i'm going to ride my bike to work more often since i can't hit the trails after work...too dark these days.

keep us posted on the Kona!

and oh, building my own 29er was one of the most rewarding things i've done in cycling, i'm sure you're finding that out yourself.

it def is. I spend more time tracking packages at work then working!!!

 

[muzzanic]

that Kona is going to be a sweet ride! i need to lose some poundage myself so i'm going to ride my bike to work more often since i can't hit the trails after work...too dark these days.

keep us posted on the Kona!

and oh, building my own 29er was one of the most rewarding things i've done in cycling, i'm sure you're finding that out yourself.

Get good lights:thumbsup: the last 3 years I have ridden more in the dark than I have in the day,It is much more fun ( You can push much harder without over heating ):thumbsup:

But then It might be warmer here.

 

[PLAID813]

That's going to be a sweat rig when you are done building it! I'm sure i'll see you out at Alafia sometime.

 

[dubdryver]

Congrats man! Another great inspirational story!!! If your rig is together, I am coming up from Miami, camping out at Alafia and riding Balm/Alafia Sunday/Monday. Not sure which vehicle we are taking yet, most likely a Blue Toyota Tacoma 4D or a white Hyundai Santa Fe at campsite 12 if you want to ride with us!

 

[phillabong]

u da man

Congrats on the weight loss!

I too got back into cycling after ballooning up to 240+ lbs. I used to ride/race road bikes back in the late 80s when I was a svelte 165 and doing 150ish road miles per week. But I got married, got kids, got lazy and got fat. One day I couldn't even bend over without my belly getting in the way and became really disappointed with myself for being so complacent. Bought a used KHS Montana Comp with a Gervin Flex Stem (remember those?) and hit the trails. Hated it but didn't give up. I'm down to just a shade over 190 now and only want to lose more weight and go farther & faster. My goal is to enter a race this year to test myself. But truthfully, all I want to do is flow some singletrack every available opportunity. I ride my trainer when I can't get outside and I honestly feel like a kid again every time I clip in and feel the cool air hit my smiling face. Not to mention that my lovely wife - who totally supports my new addiction - is totally diggin' the fact that my "endurance," among other things, is up. Life is good dude.

Every time I read a story like yours all I think about is how much I wanna go ride.

 

[Breitness24]

update 1/14/2011
my derailleur housing cables finally came in . i was able to ride the bike whooohoo!!! This was my first build and it was pretty fun and rewarding im sure my der. needs some minor adj. I still need a chain keeper and my rims but im gonna take it for a spin in the morning!!! enjoy!!! when i get my rims im hoping to be right at 27lbs or less. total cost was about 1900. the rims will be stans flow rims and i have sb8s waiting to be mounted.

p.s. can someone tell me how to rig up the pop lock. I just have the mech. no cable. What do i use? I have spare der. cables.

 

[J3SSEB]

Dude, that's a nice looking first build.:thumbsup:

 

[phillabong]

Gotten it dirty yet?

 

[gregnash]

Yeah, it has been a long weekend, where is the update!!!! Great looking build and if you arent going to keep those rims/hubs sell them to some poor soul trying to do a budget build!!

 

[D1PHAM]

Congrats on the weight loss! Yes, a extra derailleur cable should do the trick.

 

[Breitness24]

Well its complete rims came today and the MRP 1x mounted the SB8s. still running tubes but with the logging ive done it should be right about 26.5lbs. Im very happy and Heres the end result, with holidays and family and all still hasnt made her maiden voyage im hoping this thursday will be the day. The total cost for this build is $1750 and every single thing done by me which is the most gratifying part. Except i might need to get the casette tightened since i dont have the tool. Ive been trying to get co workers to ride with me because its boring alone and since I have 2 bikes now why not.