Quickbeam 2.0

Today I completed a project which I've been mulling over for the past couple of months, which is the most major re-build and reconfiguration of my Quickbeam to date.   I've now had the bike more than two and a half years, and as followers of my blog and Flickr stream know I've certainly changed it numerous times.  In handlebars alone, I've gone from Nitto Bullmooses, to lower flat handlebars, to Bosco Bullmooses, to Albatrosses, to Avenir Circa bars, back to Albatrosses, back to Circas.  I've also changed the brake and rack configuration a couple of times.  However, all of these changes happened basically one component at a time, so they felt more evolutionary.  For this project I considered a number of changes and undertook them all at once, so even though it may not seem totally different it has turned out looking and feeling like a new bike.  So far, I've only ridden it around the block a couple of times, but everything feels great.  I'm slowly getting over a bout of tendinitis in my right knee so longer rides will have to wait, but I'm really happy with how this turned out.



The new stuff:

• Handlebars/stem: Back to Albatrosses, but recently I traded my 70mm Nitto Technomic Delux to a fellow Rivendell lister (thanks, Olivier!) for a 130mm version of the same stem.  I did so after riding a couple of bikes with Albatrosses at Rivendell HQ a while back that had longer top tubes than the Quickbeam--a 60cm Cheviot and Jared's 67cm A. Homer.  I also remembered that when I had Albatrosses on my Trucker in a setup that I was pretty satisfied with, it was on a bike with a longer TT than the Quickbeam and a longer stem than I've ever used on it.  So, I figured I'd try Albatrosses farther out on the Quickbeam, and higher up as well. 
• Brake levers: some Soma "Urban Pursuit" (awful name) inverse levers, to allow for a more continuous grip area, maximizing hand position options on the Albatrosses.  
• Tires: Schwalbe Kojak tires, 700x35.  I've actually wanted these tires for this bike since I built it up the first time, but I've been trying to be a good boy and wear out my previous tires (WTB Slickasaurus 700x37's) before I sprung for them.  I finally sprung for them.  
• Front Rack: the Nitto Campee 32F Mini front rack.  After trying rack with saddlebag on the back and no rack at all, carrying the daily load in a back pack, I've decided that I'm firmly a load-on-the-bike kind of guy.  A friend lent me his basket and Shop Sack Medium for a couple of weeks last summer, and I've been craving one every since.  They will go on this rack. 
• Headset: while disassembling the bike, I noticed that the Tange Levin headset was indexed.  I've had a couple of adjustment issues with it during the bike's life, so I wasn't completely surprised.  Luckily, a coworker happened to have a 1" threaded Chris King headset he was willing to trade for a saddle of mine, so I got the ultimate headset upgrade.
• Gearing: Not necessarily new, but I've been missing riding fixed gear recently, so I swapped back to the original gearing I had on the bike, 42x17 fixed, with a new chain as well.  Should be a good gear for the flatlands where I live now.

I had also been considering a pedal swap, to something wider and grippier, but after getting everything together today I couldn't resist throwing the MKS Touring Lite pedals back on it for a test ride, and I think they'll do fine for the moment.  At this point all I need to do is pick up a Wald basket and Shop Sack whenever I can get down to Rivendell, and rig up some type of light mount on the new rack.  And ride it!