It has arrived!

I finished up the ECR. It was a challenge to be sure. I learned a hell of a lot and it was fun but I probably wouldn't do it again.

Schmidt hub and Supernova lights. They really are bright.

Finished building the front wheel, put the rotor on, and the tires!

Front light and handlebars with shifters and Paul Engineering brake levers put on.

So close I can taste it. Just need to put the rear wheel together and string the cables and housing up!

All done!

Beastly.

I took it for an inaugural ride to Birchwood with my buddy Joe who helped me finish it. It is a lot of fun to ride. I took a leap of faith on it, buying and building it up sight unseen. I had never ridden one. I suspected the geometry was exactly what I wanted and I was right. Let me tell you that these Knards are a lot of fun. The bike doesn't accelerate super fast but when it gets up to speed, holy crap it just rolls like butter. Hopefully Surly makes a smooth tire for the 29+ crowd like they did with fat bikes and the Black Floyd.

I'll be doing a little longer ride tonight to school, we'll see how it holds up.

Marcus Nalls

On Monday Februrary 3, Marcus Nalls was hit and killed by a drunk driver while he was riding home on his bike. The fellow that hit him blew a .27 which is about three times the legal limit. He has been charged with a felony and will start trial tomorrow. Yesterday was Marcus' memorial ride. Over 200 people showed up in solidarity. It went very well and everyone was respectful; the police, the riders, and the drivers whom we were holding up for the ride. It doesn't matter to me that he was a cyclist, I'm just bummed he was taken away so young.

Lots of people showed up at Loring Park.

More ECR...

Rear wheel with rotor!

Cranks

Bryan posing with my bike.

I added more parts to the ECR today! Cranks, deraillers, brake calipers, and a rotor to the rear wheel.

Planning....

Coming to a reality near me in fall 2014....

The ECR is coming, the ECR is coming!

My ECR frame has arrived. I have begun building it up and I am super excited.

I ripped open the box that contained the frame so I could get started chasing the threads and facing the bearing cup surfaces. I wanted to get it done so I could spray frame saver into it. Low and behold, Surly is now using the ED coating just like All City does. Hooray!

ECR

Faced and chased. Coated on the inside, yum.

So after I faced and chased the frame with help from my buddy Joe, I got to work putting in the headset. I went with a nice and easy Cane Creek 40. It is a solid headset and economical. I threw on the stem and didn't really have any of the other parts available so I called it a day.

Headset, fork, and stem installed.

 A couple days later I came back to build up the rear wheel. I have never built a wheel before so I tapped my friend Joe for help again. He walked me through it while I did the labor. It was fun and a very cool experience.

The pieces.

The whole.

I laced the DT 350 to the Velocity Dually rim. It is a beefy wheel but surprisingly light. Today I ordered the front hub a Schmidt Son generator hub. The hub and the lights should be arriving this week I hope. Some of the parts came in from Shimano, but no crankset yet. I have everything else besides the handlebar which is on order from Soma Fabrications. I decided to go with the Clarence bar, it should work out well.

I am really stoked to get this thing finished up so I can start riding. I was worried I wouldn't have it turned around in time for spring, but I found a solution. More updates to come soon.